Having had a surprisingly mild winter, with intense light and color, it is now luxury to have the longer days with brighter moments. I for one, am not complaining about the weather.. unusual for a Scot.

I have been working with Watercolour and enjoying the process, a step away for me from my comfort zone but perhaps we should all step away now and again.  I have recently enjoyed looking at Norman Ackroyd’s monochromatic prints from the Islands. Another switch from the color that now invades us as the world outside slowly awakens from it sleep.. the clashing yellow of Forsythia is particularly good today.

Currently the work is more about edges and  meeting surfaces, colour has come back with a vengeance and the touching of these colours is proving most provocative, nothing wrong with a little provocation. In  the meantime do lie on your back and watch the clouds moving.. it is a wonderful moment that will energize you for the rest of the day. Have fun!

A new book out on interiors which kindly features my work on the front cover, from Harriet and Andrew Corrie’s house on the beach.

I see about me everyday the repetition of marks and even the most mundane are quite beautiful in their own right. There is a sense of calm about the repetition of water lines… there one day and gone the next.. each one an individual tale. Let us each make a line that never ends, it will keep us focused on the present.

Current work in the Small Works Exhibition at the Boltax Gallery, Shelter Island NY

It has been a busy few months recently with much work being created and more fun being had. I have been enjoying the outside and the warmth, often working outside when the days allow which is a real luxury. The intensity of green will always amaze me here..maybe because of the length of winter with such a lack of bright colour.. that there is a sense of starvation at times.  But then winter has its own beauty..

There is time for good walks and enjoying the vividness of the garden, scents of  cut lawns and sheer delight in the fruits of summer. Travel about will ensure new work.. which has already begun. Looking forward to getting back to the sea.

Solo Show Broken Lines Gerald Bland Inc NY

WILLOW

Please check out Little Willow …this is a fun Blog to follow and thank you for your posts!!

http://littlewillow.com/2010/03/29/leora-armstrong/

I have been working hard with Graphite again of late, much taken with images from my trip to Islay in February. It has a wonderful quality to it, both delicate and hard at the same time. I have made new pieces with this quality in mind  a Strand Series and an Abyssinian Series.

The Ghost Series has also kept me busy with new works on paper in the last months, these are also being worked into larger pieces on linen. I am gearing up for some shows in the summer which will be posted. As will two new pages of current works in the next couple of weeks.

I had a wonderful visit to the Glass House built by Philip Johnson, whose unique editing let us all see more.

Again I am immersed in the new Greens of spring and summer which will warrent a Storm King visit to see the works with a back drop of fresh colours.

Having been away again to Scotland this time alone, it was a complete luxury. I am reminded of Agnes Martin’s quote,

“We have been very strenuously conditioned against solitude. To be alone is considered to be a grievous and dangerous condition. So I beg you to recall in detail any times when you were alone and discover your exact response at those times.

I suggest to artists that you take every opportunity of being alone, that you give up having pets and unneccessary companions.

You will find the fear that we have been taught is not just one fear but many different fears. When you discover what they are they will be overcome.

Most people have never been alone enough to feel these fears.  But even without the experience of them they dread them. I suggest that people who like to be alone, who walk alone will perhaps be serious workers in the art field.”

I personally love pets but she is right.. take time to be alone and your mind will unclutter and you  will be free.

Another dip into colours away from home…back to Scotland!!  Burnt oranges with browns, soft green mosses in the rain. It was wet in September but it never takes away from the hue.. rain only adds to the colour. Such a contrast from the brightness of the fall colours, reds, burgundies, yellows and oranges. Look at the underside of the viburnam leaves … dark olives with a pink upper surface.  Staggeringly beautiful.

Think of the colour green and and allow yourself to be immersed in its softness and delicate flavour.