Birches in Blue

This picture was inspired by a stand of birch trees with heather in full bloom in the foreground.

Of course this rendering which is unfinished has no relation to the reality. However that is what I am exploring at the moment. I start with an idea and then the painting takes on a direction of it's own. I do very little to control the direction.

Any suggestions on finishing touches to this painting will be welcomed. You may of course suggest it is not worth spending more time on!

Blue Chicken Flys

Blue Cockerel

Some success this week with my paintings. First, Picture This Gallery in Inverness sold a mounted print of my Blue Cockerel and then The Nicholson Building Gallery in Forres sold one of my original paintings entitled Woodland Track in Autumn. Unfortunately I didn't do any prints or photos of this one so cannot show it here.

There are still four originals left in my Blue Chicken Series.

Geese Arrive and Swallows Leave.

As the swallows leave us on their long journey south, autumn arrives. With the winter beginning in the Arctic, the insistent melodic honking of geese mark their arrival here in Findhorn Bay. Vast skeins fill the sky in impressive V formations as they flight in from the north.
I am always moved by these annual migrations and connect to the feeling of restlessness. Something in me also experiences a primordial instinct to leave and go south or somewhere else. It is always strongest as summer ends and autumn begins. We may think of ourselves as modern and progressive but there is something in our ancestral genes which calls to us. I wonder if anybody reading this has similar feelings at this time of the year?

A Trio of Prints Sold

I was pleased to have a flurry of prints sales during the last week. Strangely they are all paintings of Scotland and one went to the USA.

They are Black Rock Cottage, Glencoe. Eilean Donan Castle near Skye and Plockton also near Skye.

Other paintings of Scotland can be viewed on my web site. www.chrisgauntartist.co.uk

Mamils. Middle Aged Men in Lycra ( A Modern Mid Life Crisis )

I have just read this rather amusing article on the BBC News Website. It seems after the success of Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and Chris Hoy middle aged men are forgoing the mid life crisis BMW sports car or Harley-Davidson motor bike and are buying state of the art bicycles and expensive lycra clothing. As you can see I have managed to avoid lycra when cycling in France and in any case I am beyond a mid life crisis! Do read this article.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10965608

 

Swallows

Here is another poem of mine inspired by the change of season, by the sadness of farewells. In this case by the departure of swallows and the amazing fact of their huge journey south. Such small creatures to undertake this enormous and dangerous voyage. What power is calling them? It is also a reminder to obey our intuition and not be fearful.

Swallows

The swallows are sitting on the line;

Their purpose here nearly over.

A pulse, a scent, something calling.

Tiny scraps, empowered;

To ride the wind southwards.

I hear their twittering restlessness.

Primordial longing;

Connecting me to the same fever.

What is it we seek with journeying?

Heed the calling to the source:

Or be fearful and die.

Loch an Eilein at the end of Summer.

This is a time of year when I get very reflective. There is something in the change of energy between summer and autumn which I am very sensitive to. It is a sad feeling but one that changes as the season changes. I notice that I am inspired to write poems during this time.

The Pause

That strange week when nature pauses;

The world falls silent.

Like the tide visits and leaves the shore.

Poignant reminder of time passing.

A dawning sense;

A memory remembered.

That strange week when nature pauses;

Foretelling the end of summer.

A melancholy stillness;

Empty of movement and sound.

Everything is waiting;

For Autumn to begin

Grey. A Buddhist Poem

This is one of my poems. It is expressing the Buddhist concept that life is one unceasing movement. Everything coming into being, fading away and reforming into something new..
According to Buddhist philosophy human unhappiness is compounded by trying to hold onto fixed circumstances. I am reminded of this when I feel melancholy as Summer turns to Autumn and I don't want to think of winter. It also is a reminder that everything is interdependent and independence is an illusion.
We cannot hold back anything or onto anything let alone the seasons. I need to remind myself of this and look forward to the next manifestation which will be beautifully different.

GREY

 

A cold wind moves the grey pines

My heart whispers grey like the air

 

 

The illusion of independence vanishing

Crushed on the grey rocks of reality

The shattered dust of delusion
Reforming in glorious yellow

Human Contact

In Contrast to the previous post I spent the third week of August on holiday with my family at Wells next the Sea in Norfolk. It was a warm week so lots of swimming and fun and wonderful human contact with my son Julian, his partner Vicky and their three delightful children. Ben, Jayden and Isla.

 

Vines and Pines. Languedoc-Roussillon. France.

This is the last picture from my week painting with my brother. This view of Vines with Pine trees is in Acrylic held together with a blue underpainting.