Art Sunday; Moy Mackay

                                    Moy Mackay

Moy graduated from  the Glasgow School of Art in 1990 with a BA (Hons). She was born in Edinburgh in 1966, trained in Glasgow and now works in the Scottish Borders.
Her work is rich, vibrant, based on the landscape around her and made from fibers.  She has had numerous exhibitions in the UK and USA.. She works from  her home in the Tweed Valley on the Scottish Borders creating unique pieces using Merino Fleece fibers. She uses her fibers as other would use a paint brush.
The result is a “felt painting” with warmth, texture and light. Her utter delight in the landscape is visible  in every fiber of her unique work.
Moy’s paintings are created by replacing paint as a medium with dyed sheep’s fleece, she combines traditional felting techniques with embroidery. 

Through the action of rubbing and rolling, the fibers are joined together to create a unified work, which is usually embellished with hand and machine embroidery to give results that are rich in colour and texture. 

Art, Seascapes

This weeks ‘Seascapes I would hang on my wall’’ took far longer than I expected to finish. Not because I couldn’t find enough paintings to include, but because I couldn’t decide which to leave out. The list was endless and getting it down to manageable size was difficult, but this is my final choice.
(Something not quite right with the picture posting again... they have all come out very small but they do enlarge if you click).
 
1. CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH
"The Monk by the sea", Oil on canvas, 1809/10
I chose this one because, it’s so ahead of its time, it looks like a twentieth century surrealist painting not an early nineteenth century painting. This was so unlike paintings of the time it caused controversy in the art world when it was first shown. Personally I love the way it depicts the eternal vastness of the sea compared to the frail mortality of man. This painting is the emotional mirror image of how the sea makes me feel. The sea brings life back into focus, it leaves you in awe and wonder at the world while making you realize what a tiny insignificant speck you really are.  Monk by the Sea (German: Der Mönch am Meer) is an oil painting by the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich. It was painted between 1808 and 1810 in Dresden and was first shown together with the painting ‘’The Abbey in the Oakwood’’ (Abtei im Eichwald) in the Berlin Academy exhibition of 1810. On Friedrich's request The Monk by the Sea was hung above The Abbey in the Oakwood.[After the exhibition both pictures were bought by king Frederick Wilhelm III for his collection. Today the paintings hang side by side in the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin. The Monk by the Sea was Friedrich's most radical composition.
 2. KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI
"The Wave", c.1830
Woodblock print,
This had to be included. It changed the face of art the world over. Whole books have been written about the lasting influence this one print had in both the east and the west. The artist KATSUSHIKA Hokusai, was born in Edo (today’s Tokyo) in 1760, he created this, the most memorable image to have emerged from Japan’s whole long, brilliant culture when he was in his 60’s.  It’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa, the wave dwarfs Mt Fuji in the background and has in more recent times been likened to a tsunami Japanese painters and engravers have always offered us a different, mystical interpretation of the natural world. This wave is so much more than a mere swell of the ocean, it's a great sea monster, a giant  that threatens with its fangs any vulnerable  ships that cross its path, It’s the ocean's claw powerfully poised to devour anything in its path even the great and sacred Mount Fuji. Variations of this image are repeated in seascapes from every continent even today.
3. JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER
"The fighting Temeraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up", 1839 (London, National Gallery) Oil on canvas
No collection of seascapes could be complete without at least one Turner. I chose this one because I love the colours but also because it reminds me of the many years I spent in Portsmouth, home of the British Navy. I have spent happy, happy  hours wandering aimlessly around the historic dockyard in Portsmouth; looking around the ships, I’ve lost count of the times I’ve toured HMS Victory, I even worked in one of the museums for a while. I generally immersed myself in the maritime history of our country which added another dimension to my love of the sea. Turner is one of the greatest seascape painters from any age, he has been described as audacious and technically perfect. Turner's masterpiece is an unusual representation of a royal ship, they are normally depicted in all their splendor and glory, but here Turner paid tribute to the brave men who served on the Temeraire by depicting its last trip before being scrapped. This supreme work was elected as the best painting in England in a poll organized by the National Gallery of London in 2005.
4. IVAN AIVAZOVSKY
"The ninth wave", 1850 (St. Petersburg, State Museum)
Oil on canvas,
A Russian painter devoted to seascapes, Aivazovsky regularly practices technical perfection. In this painting he represents a group of unlucky castaways trying to survive the merciless force of the ocean. But; typically of the sea, even in the midst of tragedy, the sun, combined with the sea, the waves, the movement, the reflected sunlight through the water, all combine in an image of absolute beauty. The particular shade of green he uses with such perfection to highlight sunlight through the sea, is a shade I’m very familiar with. It is exact in shade, hue and tone to the waves that crash onto our beach.
5. Claude Monet 1867,
"The Beach at Sainte-Adresse",oil on canvas
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Illinois USA.
Sainte Adresse is a location close to Le Havre. Monet was aged only 27 when he painted this view of a beach near Le Havre, on the Norman coast of France. His parents lived at Sainte Adresse. Monet was fascinated by boats as well as seaside or any form of water. This is one of his many, many water paintings, choosing which one to include was difficult in the end I chose this one because the colours remind me of the sea here on a winters day. This is timeless, anyone who lives by the sea, anyone who has ever seen fishing boats, will recognize this scene. This is a scene that’s so much a part of so many peoples lives, he captures the ordinary everyday and turns it into a thing of beauty.
6. Starry Night Over the Rhone ( September; 1888) is one of Vincent van Gogh's paintings of Arles at night;
This was painted at a spot on the banks of river which was only a minute or two's walk from the Yellow House on the Place Lamartine which Van Gogh was renting at the time. The night sky and the effects of light at night provided the subject for some of his more famous paintings, including one of my all time favourites; Cafe Terrace at Night which he painted earlier the same month, and the later canvas from Saint-Rémy, 'The Starry Night'. A sketch of the painting is included in a letter van Gogh sent to his friend Eugène Boch on October 2, 1888.The painting was first exhibited in 1889 at the annual exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants in Paris.
This is a painting that just makes you sighhhhhhhhhhh. It’s the visual equivalent of the big satisfied sigh as you sit back and relax  after a good meal and a bottle of wine.

7. William McTaggart;  Paps of Dura 1902
This is one I’ve stood in front of at the Kelvingrove gallery and stood and stood and stood transfixed. I have to say; this is one of those paintings that you have to see to appreciate. When you stand in front of it you become lost in it; it’s as if you are there, it evokes the sound of the gulls, the crashing waves and the soft coastal breeze. You can almost smell the sea just by standing in front of this. McTaggart is undoubtedly one of Scotlands greatest seascape painters, he has an instinctive understanding of the sea, his love of the sea shines through his work. He was one of the finest painters Scotland has ever produced, an original genius, a pioneer of impressionism before it even had a label. In his early years he taught himself drawing and painting, and at the age of twelve he was able to earn extra money with his ability as a portrait painter. McTaggart was born of crofting parents at Aros Farm, near Machrihanish, at the present day a farm beside the East end of the airfield at Machrihanish. His parents were Gaelic speaking and his mother was a granddaughter of the religious poet, Duncan MacDougall
8. Sir Peter Scott
1943 WIGEON CROSSING LOW OVER THE CREEK
Sir Peter Markham Scott, the man had so many awards I’m sure he found it difficult to remember them all. He was; CH, CBE, DSC and Bar, MID, FRS, FZS, Born 14 September 1909 died 29 August 1989; he was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer and sportsman.
Scott was knighted in 1973 for his contribution to the conservation of wild animals. He had been a founder of the World Wildlife Fund, a founder of several wetlands bird sanctuaries in Britain, and an influence on international conservation. He received the WWF Gold Medal and the J. Paul Getty Prize for his work. This is just one of his many bird studies that he painted during his long and illustrious career. He has done so much toward raising awareness and conservation of our endangered coastlines, wetlands, and birds he should be included in this collection on merit of his good works alone. But its not necessary to emphasise his acts of conservation, his paintings deserve a place here on their own merit. This particular one reminds me of the Canadian geese which migrate here and then fly back again. Watching for the distinctive V shaped flock of birds, and the familiar cry, is a sign of the changing season in much the same way as the first Robin of winter or the first snowdrop of Spring. The colours in this watercolour are perfect, exactly as they should be late afternoon of a winter day.
9. Joan Eardley ‘’Catterline in winter 1963’’
Oil painting on board.
I cannot explain how much I admire this womans work. I’ve been to the tiny clifftop cluster of cottages where she lived and worked. I’ve seen the small cottage overlooking the sea where she did some of her greatest work. I have a friend who knew her in the 60’s and who visited her at Catterline. My friend tells how this woman would stand knee deep in the sea as the tide came in, desperate to finish capturing the image before her and apparently oblivious to the rising danger. Her work is vast, huge powerful canvases that swallow the viewer and transport them into the center of her universe.

Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley was originally English but by the time of her death thought of herself ( and was thought of ) as a Scottish painter. She was born in Warnham, Sussex, England where her parents were dairy farmers. Her mother, Irene Morrison, was Scottish and  Joan had a sister, Patricia. The girls had a sad childhood, their father suffered mental health problems after being caught in a gas  attack during World War I, when Joan was seven he committed suicide. Joan's mother took the girls to live with her own mother in London in 1929 where an aunt paid for the girls' education at a private school and where Joan's artistic talent was  recognised. In 1939 she, her mother and her sister moved to Glasgow to live with her mother's relatives and in 1940 Eardley enrolled at Glasgow School of Art as a day student.
Eardley set up a studio in Glasgow, close to the deprived Townhead area, where she became known for her drawings and paintings of poor city children, often playing in the streets in ragged clothes, the older girls looking after younger siblings. She also drew numerous scenes of the shipyards of Port Glasgow. Eardley had developed a unique style and she soon had a reputation as a highly individual, realistic and humane artist of urban life. She was often to be seen transporting her easel and paints around Glasgow in an old pram.
In the early 1950s while convalescing from mumps Eardley was taken by a friend to visit Catterline, a small fishing village near Stonehaven, Her friend bought her a cottage there and she started to spend part of each year away from Glasgow in Catterline. Eardley bought another more suitable, but still basic cottage there in 1954; it had no electricity, running water or sanitation. At Catterline she produced seascapes, often showing the same view but in different light and weather conditions. She also painted landscapes showing the changing seasons in the fields around the village, her thickly textured paintwork sometimes incorporating real pieces of vegetation. She often worked outdoors and often in poor weather. Eardley became the focus of the "Catterline School" of artists, a group who were increasingly drawn to the village during the 1950s and who included Annette Soper, Angus Neil and Lil Neilson.
I have seen her work, and I have seen where she lived, and her paintings, although not traditionally realistic, are instantly recognizable, I recognise the sea and the land from her work, it is familiar in every sense
10. James Somerville
East Neuk Storm, oil on canas.
James Somerville is a graduate from Edinburgh College of Art. He worked in art education at various Scottish Art establishments eventually becoming National Development Officer for Art and Design in the Scottish Department of Education. .
He became a full-time artist in 1990. Since then Somerville has participated regularly the RSA and RSW annual exhibitions and has had several solo art shows in Scotland. James Somerville paintings have also shown at Art Fairs in London, Barcelona and New York.
He is another artist who has worked in this area and whose work I very much admire. His work is dark and powerful. It’s atmospheric, the colours he uses eco the colours found here in the sea and they sky. There are several of his works I wanted to include but in the end I chose this one because of the colour green……………..the sea is exactly this colour on a cold winter day.
11. Raging seas
Ruth Brownlee
Ruth Brownlee was born in 1972 near Broxburn, West Lothian.  From 1990 to 1994 she studied at Edinburgh College of Art, graduating with a BA (Hons) in Drawing and Painting with Tapestry.  She is a widely recognized artist and since graduating, she has gained a number of grants and awards.  These include;
The Elizabeth Ballantyne Award, S.A.A.C 5th Annual Exhibition,
Royal Scottish Academy, December 1994
Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust Award, January 1996
2nd Prize British Rail Young Business Travel Award, May 1996
The Hope Scott Trust Grant Award 2000
'Scotland's Year of the Artist Award' Scottish Arts Council/ National Lottery Fund 2000 for Artist-in-residence on board the SWAN, the 100 year old restored fishing boat now used for sail training and charter in and around Shetland Isles from May - October 2000
Her paintings are almost abstract, but the essence of the sea is there, powerful and unmistakable. These seascapes could only be painted in her corner of Scotland, there is no where else where the sea looks like this.


12 & 13 Surrealist photograph's by  Ben Goossens
This work was introduced to me by Nemo. Surrealism isn’t a style I always take to, but this man, a photographer not a painter, seems to capture something of the sea that I relate to. The first one; called music, appealed to me because it seemed to capture the music of the sea. When I talk about the sea, I often talk about the sounds that are part of the sea, the wind, the waves on the beach, the sea birds overhead, the sound of the beach under foot. All of these sounds seem to me to be represented in this picture. His surrealism has added another dimension to the image of the sea.
The second image is called very beginning. This one says to me that the sea is the source of life, before sea there is nothing but dry parched land and then the sea is poured over it and it becomes full of life. I thought this was a positive image to end on. So many of these paintings; beautiful and powerful though they are, show scenes full of destruction, devastation and despair. So often the sea can be cruel and merciless. This last image reminds us that it is also the giver of life, the source of goodness.

A little about the photographer; Ben Goossens worked for 35 years in his native Belgium as an ad agency art director. After retiring, Goossen's turned to creating photo montages with a distinctive Surrealism style reminiscent of his fellow countryman, René Magritte.His  images have received awards in a number of prestigious international photography competitions including Gold and Silver medals at the Trierenberg Super Circuit, the world's largest annual photography salon. Goossens has also seen his work widely published, including an in-depth 10 page exposition in the March 2007 edition of Photo Art International. His composite photos are remarkable for their seamless yet painterly renderings of Surrealism dreamscapes.

And now some fun, the first one is a group of primary school children painting a seascape on a disused wall. The second one is an artist turning a bedroom into a wonderful water wonderland.

Add a Comment

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Dec 4, '11 all of them are really gorgeous and each has its own message and energy. the Van Gogh is my favorite, of course. ; )

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Dec 4, '11 forgetmenot525 said Thanks Nemo..............I guess I surprised myself a little, you have to remember the original list was twice this long and most of the 'pretty' ones didn't make it into the final. Possibly because they lack the power of the 'darker' ones, and the one true thing I know about the sea is that is is all powerful. When I was a child I didn't live by the sea, I loved the sea but I only spend holidays and the odd day out there. That was wonderful, all sun, sea, golden beaches ,buckets and spades, sand in the picnic and punch and judy shows. As an adult I actually live by the sea. Along this coast there are occasionally still fishing boats lost, the air sea rescue is very active here, there are places not far from here where whole fishing villages have been swallowed by the sea. Watching the sea in the winter when it looks black and foreboding, watching the swell and knowing how merciless and cold it is.............teaches you that the sea is indeed..........dark. i was not thinking they would be all pretty i too was struck by the power i have only spent limited time at the sea but i loved each time it is such a wonder ~ much bigger then us :)

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Dec 4, '11 bennett1 said also feel a bit sad looking at it knowing of the tsunami that hit Japan last March. Bennett you are not the first to make that comparison. This little print is iconic, it changed every thing. Before the tsunami the print was famous and often discussed but since then, it almost begins to look like a prophecy

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Dec 4, '11 brendainmad said I feel like I've spent time in an art gallery. This is an extra special post that I've enjoyed from beginning to end. Thanks, Loretta. thanks Brenda, so glad you enjoyed it.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Dec 4, '11 nemo4sun said who did the very top one ~ i love it the image at the top is an image I found on the internet, I think it is a digitally enhanced photograph. I thought about putting a painting at the top but I didn't want it to appear that I was favouring one painting above the rest, so I found an 'image' that captured the theme to use as a heading.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Dec 4, '11 nemo4sun said you kinda surprised me here these are all a bit Thanks Nemo..............I guess I surprised myself a little, you have to remember the original list was twice this long and most of the 'pretty' ones didn't make it into the final. Possibly because they lack the power of the 'darker' ones, and the one true thing I know about the sea is that is is all powerful. When I was a child I didn't live by the sea, I loved the sea but I only spend holidays and the odd day out there. That was wonderful, all sun, sea, golden beaches ,buckets and spades, sand in the picnic and punch and judy shows. As an adult I actually live by the sea. Along this coast there are occasionally still fishing boats lost, the air sea rescue is very active here, there are places not far from here where whole fishing villages have been swallowed by the sea. Watching the sea in the winter when it looks black and foreboding, watching the swell and knowing how merciless and cold it is.............teaches you that the sea is indeed..........dark.

delete reply rabbitfriendhere wrote on Dec 4, '11 I can see why you love the sea so much Loretta. You are blessed to have the sea so close to you! I love the sea as well and I love the paintings you have chosen for art sunday this week. :-)

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Dec 4, '11, edited on Dec 4, '11 you kinda surprised me here these are all a bit "darker" then i was expecting who did the very top one ~ i love it i love them all - "monk" is just a one of a kind perfect and aivazovsky was the master at captureing water all in all ~ you have made me reconsider you i love the school kids when i was a teenager i talked my mom and dad into letting me "paint" my room i had the flying glove from the beatle's "yellow submarine" on one wall with a big rainbow zigzag swish coming out of it on other the ship and breaking world from roger deans yes album "fragile" then my sister moved back into the house and took over that room and painted over the whole thing before it was even finished lol :)

delete reply pestep55 wrote on Dec 4, '11 Would love these on my walls too /:-)

delete reply kathyinozarks wrote on Dec 4, '11 wonderful choices, loved your blog Loretta. I think my most favorite was number 7-the painting is as you have described-I can get "lost" in it

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Dec 4, '11 I feel like I've spent time in an art gallery. This is an extra special post that I've enjoyed from beginning to end. Thanks, Loretta.

delete reply mitchylr wrote on Dec 4, '11 Just watched the two vids. Loved the enthusiasm of the teachers and principal as much as the kids in the first one. Love the name Ballybunion, too!!!! The second vid was brillliant. That guy is a very talented artist. It reminded me of watching a young Rolf Harris. I could almost hear "can yer tell what it is yet?" LOL.

delete reply mitchylr wrote on Dec 4, '11 A wonderful selection of seascapes Loretta!! There are several here that I already know. The Turner, Monet and Van Gogh are all old faves of mine. I've always had a love of Sir Peter Scott's work. One of the WWT's National Wetland centres is not too far from me, and as founder Scott's work is on display there. Hokusai's work is iconic. I think probably most people have come across this work at sometime in their lives, often not even realising on a conscious level. If I had to pick one from your list as an absolute favourite, this would be it.

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Dec 3, '11 forgetmenot525 said KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI "The Wave", c.1830 Woodblock print, This had to be included. It changed the face of art the world over. I stopped at this one. I had, of course, seen it before, but I had never so closely examined it. Thank you for including this one because of its beauty and profound influence. I also feel a bit sad looking at it knowing of the tsunami that hit Japan last March.