A day around the galleries.

I’m just back from staying with a very good friend of mine in her cottage deep in the Angus countryside. We’ve had a bit of a sightseeing day today, we drove up to the glens, admired the view, watched the sheep and caught sight of a red squirrel playing by the side if the road. But yesterday was spent visiting a couple of galleries in the area. First on the list was the relatively new gallery space at the Dundee Botanical Gardens. We went there because my friend is having an exhibition of her work there in a couple of weeks and she needed to leave flyers and posters. We had a quick look around; there is an exhibition of figure work by local Dundee artist John Stour. I loved his work, probably because when I draw or paint, life study is my favourite subject and I truly appreciate how difficult it can be. These pictures do not do justice to his work; it is so much better when seen in the gallery. And these paintings are not the same as the ones we saw yesterday but they do give you a taste of what he can do.

Botanical Garden gallery Dundee John Stoa

http://www.johnstoa.co.uk/

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/botanic/exhibitions/

 
 

We also visited a tiny gallery in Dundee called The Queens Gallery. Here we saw work by Scottish artists Heather Soutar and Hulka Macintyre. Heather paints intricate fantasy images resembling fairy tale characters journying into unknown lands on whimsical vehicles. She usually paints in Acrylic on board and her paintings tend to be mostly in shades of blue.
Hulka produces wood cut prints, paintings and ceramic tiles but it was her ceramic work that was on display yesterday. I’ve seen her work before, I like it, it’s completely original and full of unexpected surprises.
Queens Gallery, Dundee; Hulka Macintyre

 http://www.queensgallery.co.uk/index.html


http://www.macintyre-art.com/hilke/

 Queens Gallery, Dundee; Heather Soutar

http://www.galleryq.co.uk/manufacturer.php?id_manufacturer=94

Lastly, we visited the most recent exhibition at the Meffin Gallery in Forfar where we saw the work of Louise Ritchie. I loved her colours, her work brought a smile to my face on a cold windy day.

Meffin Gallery Forfar Louise Ritchie

http://www.angus.gov.uk/history/museums/meffan/default.htm

http://louiseritchie.com/