Painting outdoors at Ravenscraig

I love the controlled environment of portrait painting inside my studio, where I can manipulate the light, the pose and have all I need at hand. Yet, sketching outdoors (when the weather is good) is equally delightful and makes up for any lack of comfort.

Painting outdoors or en plein air, as artists would say, forces one to be quick, to observe and make rapid judgements about shapes, colour, value and temperature. It is a wonderful exercise which sharpens the painter’s skills and enhances the freshness of the works that will be later completed inside the studio.

Today we met with some friends at Ravenscraig Park, Kirkcaldy, Fife and while my son was playing with his friends I sneaked out for an hour and a half to a cool and shaded vantage point from which I had a superb view of the castle.

My friend Michael Ross, a photographer, accompanied me. He took photos of the flora and almost microscopic fauna with his special magnifying lens, while I concentrated on the castle. He also took some pictures of me working on the sketch... and when the lid of my tube of cadmium yellow got stuck, Michael was the one who could open it! Thanks my friend!

 
Here we go!

Margaret, Lady Balgonie and Eddergoll (1938 - 2014)

The portrait of Margaret Morris, Lady Balgonie and Eddergoll was presented to her family at their home Balgonie Castle, which featured in The Outlander. The painting will hang in the tower’s staircase and will be on display once the Castle reopens to the public next month. 

Lady Balgonie was a much loved person, generous, thoughtful and kind. When I was painting a portrait of her husband, Lady Balgonie had been battling against ill health for some time, so I never had an opportunity to meet her face to face. She passed away unexpectedly one morning. In 2015, the Morris of Balgonie and Eddergoll Family approached me to commission a posthumous portrait of Lady Balgonie. This painting was completed by the anniversary of her death.

This was the most challenging commission I have undertaken so far. First of all, because I prefer to paint from life with a sight-size-approach (which means painting the sitter on the canvas the same size it appears in front of me). Even in those cases, where one needs to supplement this approach with photographic references, one always makes sure to have a couple of sessions from life with the sitter. Naturally, on this occasion painting it from life was out of the equation.

Another difficulty was that Lady Balgonie did not like to have her photograph taken so her family only had a handful of images available. When I use photographs as a reference, I must ensure that these are taken by me or by a photographer who can follow my specifications closely. This guarantees an adequate balance of light and shadow conducive to a good representation of volume and depth. On the other hand, photographs taken with various sources of light or, even worse, using the camera’s flash, produce weak references for classic portraiture.

Yet, with painting almost all things are possible, so for this commission I had to use my intuition and my knowledge of the behaviour of light to create an image that was convincing and portrayed an accurate likeness of Lady Balgonie. I must admit, I also studied the features of her son, Stuart Morris of Balgonie, as he resembles his mother. We cannot escape DNA and as a portrait artist I have become accustomed to looking for and recognising those features that reappear with every new generation. The background of the portrait shows a view of Loch Tay, as seen from Eddergoll in Perthshire, where Margaret and her husband began their family as the Lady and Laird of Eddergoll before moving to Balgonie Castle to become lairds of their medieval fortified home.

I twice travelled to Eddergoll where I visited Lady Balgonie’s former home, a 16th century mill house initially owned by King James II and VII. I made sketches and took some photographs too. On my last visit, across the Loch I noticed the majestic Schiehallion Hill covered with a pure mantle of snow. What breath-taking scenery! One can understand why she loved living there so much. One just becomes a speck of dust within all that splendour. Their former mill house has apex roofs with beautifully carved bargeboards, some of which were hand restored and carved by the Laird himself. I have included this feature in the portrait too.

I have endeavoured to create a convincing likeness of Lady Balgonie in a 16th century context and style, which somehow suits the stone walls of their home.  Her portrait marks the beginning of their family in Eddergoll and the portrait of the Laird, which features and aerial view of Balgonie, points to the end of her life in Balgonie Castle, a poignant arrangement that reminds me of the transience of our existence.

The moment of truth had come some time ago, when her family saw the finished work for the first time and the Laird, with the voice of an old lion mellowed with an emotive note exclaimed: “Yes! That was my Margaret!”  This was the greatest reward for me, for all those months of toiling and battling with my brush, my mind and my heart.

To a wonderful woman, Margaret Morris of Balgonie and Eddergoll (1938 - 2014).

Painting Professor Sir Godfrey Palmer OBE

This year I had the honour of painting a remarkable gentleman of a moral calibre which is becoming rare nowadays. A good man, modest and unselfishly great, whose life experience is one of the most inspiring ones I have encountered as an artist. Our conversations, the trust he gave me and the human kindness he radiates will be among the memories I cherish.

Prof. Sir Godfrey Palmer OBE, Oil on linen, 2015

Professor Sir Godfrey (Geoff) Henry Oliver Palmer OBE (b. 1940) is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Life Sciences at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and a human rights activist. He discovered the barley abrasion process while a researcher at the Brewing Research Foundation from 1968 to 1977. In 1989, he became the first black professor in Scotland, becoming a professor emeritus after he retired in 2005. He has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by Abertay University, the Open University and the University of the West Indies.

In 1998, Palmer became the fourth person, and the first European, to be honoured with the American Society of Brewing Chemists Award of Distinction. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2003. In 2007, the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade in the British Empire, Professor Geoff Palmer was named among the "100 Great Black Britons". He was knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to the human rights, science, and charity.

Alongside his academic work, Professor Sir Geoff is also a prominent human rights activist and is involved in a considerable amount of charity work in the community. In 2014 I got to know about him through his involvement in Social Housing. This painting was completed during two long sittings which took place this year at The Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC) where the Professor serves as the Honorary President, and many more sessions alone in my studio.

Prof. Sir Geoff and me. Preparing for the second sitting at ELREC.

Brushes that are more than brushes

Rosemary demonstrating the process of handmaking artists' brushes

Last Friday I visited the Academy of Realist Art in Edinburgh which is, as far as one is aware of, the only Atelier-based academy in Scotland. This is the only educational organisation in which one can formally study to draw and paint realism the way it was taught at the French academies during the 19th century.

I went to see Rosemary, from Rosemary and Co. the best maker of handmade brushes in the UK. As she says, her brushes are more than brushes, they are an experience. Not surprisingly she sells them all over the world and since I discovered her brushes I have not painted with anything else. It was an important day, this was Rosemary’s first time in Scotland on business.

I arrived at midday when Rosemary was about to start her lunch and she left everything to answer my questions and gave full attention to my wife and my inquisitive under 3-year-old boy (I like to include him in my activities as much as I can. Children learn a lot from watching). Rosemary was one of the friendliest and warmest persons I have ever met and, in addition to demonstrating the process of making different brushes, she arranged for me to have a tour of the Academy with Ewan McNaughton, its director.

I left extremely happy. It was the highlight of my week. I returned with a handful of new brushes, nuggets of knowledge on the craft of brush making and a wonderful feeling, that which comes from having met a caring human being and a master craftsman.

Please see below a link to

Rosemary and Co

The Academy of Realist Art

My lovely modern apprentice

As I get ready for a short painting session "en plein air" in beautiful Earlsferry, Fife (after a great beach day with the family) Valentino, my sweet boy joins me. He watches everything carefully, takes everything in, tries to help without obstructing my work, sits with me for a while and then goes off to build sand castles. He's always been so good! He is my little apprentice and as he grows up he may be ready to take on the more serious jobs... such as cleaning my brushes!

A memory to share

Tidying up my studio I found a nice surprise; a little oil sketch I painted after the first time I visited the Kingdom of Fife, during my first trip to Scotland. I think it was the year 2000. My friends Michael and Kevin had taken me to Ravenscraig Castle (Kirkcaldy) one cold and limpid afternoon of January. What a wonderful view from the castle across the Forth estuary towards Edinburgh! We walked down the beach and I paused a few times to take mental notes of the view. I put it on paper later and then from those notes I sketched it in oils, back in Argentina. 

When I see it now, I remember that tranquil afternoon and the love and generosity of my friends. I remember another special friend, Ann, who invited me to come to Scotland and who is no longer with us. An immense feeling of gratitude and fondness fills my soul. How fortunate I have been! The sketch is simple, and quite fitting really, as it transports me back to that happy moment. I painted a memory, my interpretation of Ravenscraing Castle as one would see it walking towards it from Dysart Harbour. Today the painting re-creates an emotion, a piece of history, my history, which lives within me. Thank you Mike, Kevin and thanks to Ann.

Ravenscraig Castle, Fife (Oil on canvas board 2000-2001)

Check the Grip Fast Journal!

A note of thanks to Stuart Morris of Balgonie and the publishers of the Grip Fast Journal, the official newsletter of Clan Leslie Society International, for featuring one of my paintings and mentioning my work so kindly.

Please see a link to the Grip Fast Journal online here.