The Tin Mine

I finished the Cornish Tin mine painting a couple of weeks ago, thought I would post the results on here. After some painstaking dot action I was able to complete the grassy foreground area. I was most pleased with the (subtle) results. No one will probably even notice the dots, I am however quite happy to know they are there and that there are literally hundreds of them. Next painting I do it on I should really keep a count and mark it somewhere on the canvas.. Anyway here are some pics:

This is the whole painting, my normal camera lens went haywire so I used another camera. After 5 years it has lasted surprisingly long, especially considering the bashes it took. Anyway hence the vignetting on the image. I added in a few details - the shadows and the moon. This was to add some more dimension to the painting.

Dots in the sky, dots on the ground...

I was back in Cornwall recently and was within a stones throw of the site this painting represents. It was interesting to go back and see the area again after over a year.

The moon and shadows.

Scratching the Surface... Part 2!

The second part of our exhibition Scratching the Surface took place at the Arts Complex in St Margarets House, near Meadowbank Stadium Edinburgh. This exhibition showcased smaller works (in the case of Allan and Scott) compared to the last exhibition.

I used it as an opportunity to show works on copper previously exhibited, as well as a new painting on copper.

A view of one of the walls showing works by (from left to right) Allan, Scott, Allan, me, Scott and Allan. The works by Allan are mostly watercolour on prints and Scotts are acrylic on canvas. My painting is oil and enamel on copper. The size of the space was unexpected however it did give us an opportunity to spread the work out more.

A view of the wall on which I hung my copper pieces with a work by Allan (far left) and works by Scott (second from right) and Allan (far right).

Another shot of the space with my works and various works by Allan, Scott and myself.

Works by Allan (far left), myself, Scott, Allan and Scott again (far right).

Various works by Allan and Scott on the walls of the gallery. The space was both interesting and tricky in displaying art works as it had been previously an office, therefore the walls were both long and very bitty.

Works by Scott (left), Allan (middle) and Scott (right).

The main space of the gallery which was very light, being on the third floor.

Another shot of the works by Scott (left), Allan (middle) and Scott (right).

Scratching the Surface

Images of my recent exhibition at the Patriothall Gallery in Stockbridge, Edinburgh entitled 'Scratching the Surface'

This is a body of work I produced for the exhibition, a series of 22 small scale works on wood. Each looked at the city from the often distorting and surprising angle of looking upwards. I used a variety of Media on each, individual images can be seen on my new website soon to be updated (links to which will be posted on here).

An image showing two works I made (Left and Centre) using copper leaf and patenation with various chemicals as well as oil paint and spray paint. The work to the right is by Allan Robertson, a fellow exhibitor (more of whose work can be seen at http://www.allanjrobertson.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/).

A view of the second room of the exhibition showing works by Allan Robertson (two paintings on the right) and Scott McCracken.

Two paintings by Scott McCracken (more of whose work can be seen on his website at http://www.scottmccracken.co.uk/)

A view of the main room of the gallery showing the view opposite my own paintings.

The exhibition was a great success, as the first one I have had since coming back from Germany and graduating. I hope to produce more works for a joint/collaborative show coming up in November as well as Scratching the Surface Part two at the end of March.

EXHIBITION : Patriothall/Arts Com?lex

I am having an exhibition in two parts, at the Patriothall Gallery in Stockbridge, Edinburgh. The first part will show new paintings, the second part in the Arts Com?lex near Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh will showcase drawings and studies.

Exhibition Statement : 

Scratching the Surface is an exhibition of work by three Edinburgh based artists presented in two parts. These exhibitions bring together Scott McCracken, Andrew Smith and Allan Robertson who all work within the medium of painting.  Each artist has his own motivations and observations, but they are united in their appreciation and practice of paint’s materiality and the possibilities of painting as a contemporary medium.  The first exhibition will be hosted at the Patriothall Gallery in Stockbridge and will show recent paintings by the artists.  The second exhibition will take place at Arts Complex at St Margarets House and will showcase recent drawings, prints and smaller works.

Artists Statement:

Andrew Smith's recent work has been a continuing evolution of previous years' paintings looking at the city in the context of civil liberties and notions of how society is sculpted. Andrew's paintings are representations that are realistic, blending into abstracted forms of the city from the distorted perspectives. I am interested in the strata of society, how this is manifested, be it visually or in a more subtle manner and questioning it through a visual means. The human environment, that is to say one that humans have specifically and systematically sculpted, has been a particularly strong theme that permeates through my work. What interests me about these environments is both their psychological effect and the social/ideological issues that they establish as well as the layers of history they reflect.


~~~ Look forward to seeing you there!

Olympian Exhibition Edinburgh

I have paintings for sale at Olympian Furniture store on Angle Park Terrace (Gorgie-Dalry down from the Diggers Pub) along with several other artists. My small copper paintings are for sale and available now! The aim of this exhibition is for Olympian Furniture to support local artists from Edinburgh.

The paintings are the small copper paintings I have talked about in previous posts. One of the main inspirations of the pieces was the artists Paul Bril and Adam Elsheimer (images of work available on the National Galleries of Scotland website online collection and in the gallery itself on display). The idea of cabinet paintings inspired the scale of these paintings, a small painting placed in a small room in the house for contemplation and privacy.

'Mass Games' 20 x 15cm. Acrylic on incised, patenated copper. £350

'Off Work' 20 x 15 cm. Oil on incised and patenated copper. £350

'Mass Games' £350

The paintings are all for sale at £350. Please do pop into the store to take a look at;

8 - 13 Angle Park Terrace
Edinburgh
EH11 2JX

Tel. 0131 337 9284

Public Art Erfurt

Here's some pics of public art from Erfurt, Germany

A pretty excellent use of a tree I'd say and rather witty too!

Sketches from Paderborn

Greetings all!

I have been busy working on several new painting projects but thought I would upload the last of the sketches I did in Germany that are worth looking at in this stage.

A drawing of the Cathedral in Paderborn drawn from a park on the lower side. The whole town of Paderborn was revolved around the cathedral (at least in some aspects). The cathedral is the resting place of the relics of St Liborious who draws massive pilgrimages once a year when they are removed from the crypts for public display. It was very interesting looking in the cathedral which was very badly destroyed during the second World War. You could not tell it was refurbished, apart from the stained glass a lot of which was designed by modern artists. In this sketch I wanted to capture the cathedral from a lower angle which got in the Palace of Charlemagne in the mid-ground and the park in the foreground.

When in Paderborn we were staying in the glass workshop of the company Glasmalerei Peters. Peters is a well established and worldwide glass company that produces modern glass project from various buildings, from embassies to renovated churches. They also restore glass. They were very welcoming to us and we enjoyed staying in this building which was full of mad glass everywhere. I wanted to sketch this to capture the original building with the modern glass attachment.

This sketch is of the medieval city wall of Paderborn. I liked the way it was incorporated into the modern world, history peeking out of the cracks in the city.