experiments doodles midges & making

experimenting with making random shaped canvases to paint on out of willow cuttings and old curtains/ fabrics- first go.

drawing for a painting Post Russian themes.

post Russian doodle with gloopy Gutta.

( bad picture of) 3rd mosaic for Heritage Centre wall.

Detail of 3rd panel. ( glass shards kindly provided by Shards Stained Glass ). The 3 panels will be mounted on the gable end the the Smithy.

all set for Willow dreamcatcher workshop after some clearing up at the grounds of the Smithy Saturday 4th. Good crack, horrible midges and great food at the B-B-Q in aid of 'The kirkton woodlands & Heritage group'. We made crowns of foliage, which I think may have attracted rather than repelled the midges.

More Russian Blogs to follow.

Spassky Fair part 2

Saturday 21st - Spassky Fair part 2

continued from previous blog;

I broke my usual shopping allergy and crammed my bag with goodies, so many wonderful things and all for just pence, I bought a red army hat which swamps me. Now usually a rare foreigner, alone, at a fair with so many folks, you automatically guard your pockets and watch you aren’t short changed. I was able to ask how much things cost and explain I didn’t understand Russian so asked people to write the prices down. For one lucky charm I thought they were asking for 300rubs ( around £6 ), fair enough a lovely hand made wee thing, the maker singing joyfully on stage at the time.

 I handed the money and they were mortified, handing it back, the item was only 30 rubs ( 60p ), this sort of honesty seemed to be the norm and I felt completely safe wondering about making hand signs and rudimentary communication.

 I managed to catch the amazing artist Anotoli at his table, he is a force of nature, with Viking blond hair, taller than most Tartars, usually sporting a birch bark head band or cap. It was brilliant to communicate with him, both speaking our own language but art making it make perfect sense.

 Somewhat of a show man, I got dragged into sharing his lunch and partaking in a rather large herbal vodka ( in a oner of course ) much to the delight of other stall holders and passers by, this was the strongest stuff yet & nearly took my head off ( I remembered immediately afterwards Alex's warning about dodgy vodka making you blind or killing you- oh dear). We swopped art and I am delighted to have a couple of his gouache landscapes with will invoke this trip for me, as well as some of his more esoteric figurative prints.


Lunch, back to the fair, eventually in a dream from so many sights and sounds, and a teary moment when the beautiful music, laughter, bright colours and pure honest joy I see in these people got a bit much- then met back up with Shinod and Lynn who’d been getting photographed all day. Very weird for us to be the centre of attention, but me & Lynn tend to get curious stares rather than the direct photo requests that Shinod does. I did have a couple come up & want to shake my hand as they’d seen me in the newspaper. Surreal.

After supper a group of us headed up through the old town, in high spirits, to go to the tower to see the sunset after seeing the sunrise there earlier in the trip. The old town is amazing , ricketty wooden buildngs with goats, veg plots, dogs, highly decorative wooden carvings, crack willlow trees, old vehicles all over looked by the high escarpment with the town on top and then wide serene river meandering to the left.

 Behind us the historic part of the city gleaming in the setting sun.

 there were steep steep steps zig zagging up.

 Shinod was being his usual cheeky self so we Scottish girls raced him to the top puffed out looking across the incredible landscape full of laughter.

We met up with the others & went into the baroque style restaurant where surreally enough there was a sort of disco and karaoke, Russian style.

 We danced on the balcony, we danced on the dance floor, Shinod doing a dance off with drunk Russian man, we ate delicious ice cream( marajock ? ) and drank Russian black tea ( ch-ai ). A long moonlit night walk home the now familiar route.

we saw the sun rise and the sun set from this place, a nice round off for the trip before everyone drifted away over the next couple of days.

Spassky fair part 1

Saturday 21st Spassky Fair part1

First free day, the spassky fair. Sadly the weather had by now completely turned from heat wave to Scottish temperatures and rain, everyone was freezing but it was still mild for us Scottish lassies and later the sun came out and dried everything lifting the mood. Friday had been such an overwhelming fairy tale it was almost a good balance to have the driech start to Saturday. It was another frustrating start to the day with much shilly-shallying about and members of our group wandering off, no focus, despite the best efforts of Anna to make the best plan possible, we spent 20 minutes going 10 meters back and forth “ I want the shop, I want the bank, what day is it, where are we going ? “ . group dynamics!

Eventually the bossy ones ( probably me) frog marched everyone to the fair where we were due to watch the opening ceremony. As it was relatively cold, Gulnara had bought blankets to sit on, but it was decreed that we should keep moving to start warm as we’d get cold on the seats.

The opening ceremony is still going on I think, 3 days of music, dance and song, very colourful, tickertape flying, young people in bright bright costumes, overseen by the police in capes and big hats. Ah, the police women? You wouldn’t mess with them, but they wear  non standard high heels! And carry handbags!?

Very surreal. The one photo call Shinod couldn’t get was with the Politzi as they were on duty & take it very seriously. The fair is huge, I took my chance, and after watching over Meena for a while took my leave and zipped around taking in everything as much as I could, keep not to miss anything when there was so much.

Handicrafts are alive and well in Yelabuga, they are not merely the  hobby of the elderly, resigned to history and hospital therapy rooms, derided and considered little value. At the museum there are master classes in weaving , lacemaking, knotting, macramé, wooden crafts etc. So at the fair there was a wonderful variety of of course Russian dolls, icons, enamelled folkart cups and pots, smoke fired pottery, beadwork, crochet, lace work, leather work, paintings, pewter cast jewellery, Tartarstan style hats, birch bark crafts, Russian fur hats, all quality work. Smells of glorious cookery and bakery emerged from tents all around, smoke from fires,  qnd the demonstrating blacksmith, yurts, horses and a camel gave people a ride, the performers sang on .

 On the main stage a mixture of folk music and pop songs sang by ladies in Barbie dresses. On a couple of smaller stages folk music from different regions with people in a vast array of magnificent traditional costumes. Its not so much like travelling back in time, its just that the past never got separated from the present like it has in the UK. It feels like we only have vague memories of the cultural heritage, of folk ways, shadows in the stones. Here it is a continuous thread very much alive and vibrant.

to be continued;

Artwork for Exhibition at Inverness airport

Today visited Galleries to collect and redistribute artwork in preparation for a show at the Inverness airport. the show is organised by Tore Gallery and will run until New year. It features my representational figurative work, including the firefighter paintings. There is also two new large canvases which will be on display in the main part of the airport, these are 56 x 44" one is 'Wedding Dance' and the other 'Paddling on Skye'. The smaller works will be on show in the lounge by the restaurant area-

also today picked up a copy the the autumn/ winter Art News Scotland Magazine with an article about our trip in it.

we have reports to write up, Lynn has already submitted some, so expect more press cuttings and articles yet.

I've also been mailing a Highland-Russia charity as I'm keen to foster any links possible, they are having an exhibition of Scottish paintings in Siberia early next year, so get involved & send one in !

Other news, still working on final Mosaic panel for the Heritage centre, there is an open day, workparty and BBQ this Saturday 4th, I will be doing a willow rag eco-arts workshop, so come and join in anyone in Lochcarron area.

The value of Handicrafts and Culture

 still Friday 20th Yelabuga;

At the hotel here was a massive  press conference/ discussion, with many people attending the Spassky fair which was setting up in the Shishkin gardens.













We were as usual after so many photo calls, running late. Taking our seats, Olga struggling to answer our questions and hear the speeches to translate.

 Around the table speakers were discussing how to preserve handicrafts, and how my working in partnership with the museums and cultural bodies, history could be bought forward to create more tourism for the area. But the museums are central to this process, and the handicrafts are seen as important, they have not been replaced by the equivalent of our nessies made in china to be sold in tartan tat shops. I believe the debate went into localised specific details of distribution, price setting and so on. It appears to me that these large discussion groups are fairly common place and certainly include everyone, makers, artists, up to the minister of culture. Can you Imagine Fiona Hyslop MP climbing down from the upper echelons sitting down in Inverness with artists and crafts workers to talk out the future of crafts?

 The gulf we have between the creatives and the descision makers appears insurmountable, yet here in Russia peoples voices are heard in a calm, intelligent, democratic descussion. Meanwhile the non-Russian speaking ‘children’ were getting fidgety so we made entertainment with pen & paper, sketching each other and swopping drawings with the charismatic artist Anotoli sat near us, he showed us his portfolio and a book about his life and considerable catalogue of diverse work. ( some of his work was exhibited at the Hotel )

( photo by Alex, or Luda )
 He appeared to be somewhat anarchic, making occasional heckling noises to the speakers, he stood up at one point and gave someone important a talking to for boasting about buying artwrk for his wife instead of making real changes to support artists and provide them a decent state funding lively hood, his suggestion being that  the state should purchace a couple fo pieces of artwork a year  off each artist and maker to build solid public collections and give artists the freedom to work. It may seem a ridiculous dream from a UK perspective where everything is catergorised, judged and given a price tag, but here remember ‘Artists are a gift from God’.

Another walk down town, more photos with us in our hats clutching our goodies, another lovely supper more vodka and more toasts. The mood joyful..this day in particular had been a fairy tale.

Symposium Art exhibition opening

( some of Lynn's and my works at the Exhibition)

( my Boudicca painting underneath one of Anna Silvonchik's gorgeous works )

so to continue the Russian adventure;

FRiday 20th afternoon- the Art exhibition opening

Another wonderful lunch, we never realised we were hungry until meal times, and never felt full or bloated, just replenished. So with underware wet from the shower at the forest spring we changed into our posh frocks for the official exhibition opening, the exhibition hall buzzing with important guests, TV cameras, last minute activity and nervous artists. Many more photos of each other with each others work, so many fantasic works, the smell of oil paint hardening. A sudden heavy rain shower “ you are not afraid of the rain?! “ asked Olga “ nyet, ye Shotlander ! “

( greeted in traditional costume, with sweet Chuk chuk- artist Bulat on the right " William Wallace!" - one day I'll explain why Scots are embarrassed by the film )

First there were Speeches,then Shinod performed the dance that goes with his art work- without vodka! Good man!

More speeches from the Minister of Culture for Tartarstan, the exhibitionm the theme ‘Breath of the Epic’ then we were asked to stand up as foreign visitors and say a few words with Olgas assistance. I said something about how ‘back at home in the Scottish mountains the culture and stories from the past seem to be mysterious shadows hidden in the stones, here I had found a culture alive and thriving living in the people everyday, etc etc thanks very much wonderful time, hope to return, the visit had given me new life’, the others said their heartfelt words of Thanks and how much they loved Yelabuga too.

 then we were very touched to be presented with traditional Tartar hats, beautiful framed hand made paper certificates/awards, and the Elabuga soft toy emblem of a woodpecker.

(Lynn and I with our gifts - photos Alex or Luda )

 then Champagne. the traditional tartar Chuk chuk which is traditional representing hospitality and is presented to guests at the door- photos, awards given to artists selected for best quality of art and interpretation of the theme, I was pleased that one went to Dyulustan, of the Yakutsk state and head of the Arctic institute painting department. As I loved his work it was among my favourites along with Anna Silvonchik's stunning colourful pieces.

No sooner was this all done then we were whisked along the road to walk to the big newly built hotel, which is not something locals could ever afford to stay at but if it brings business and tourism to Yelabuga it will benefit all. It looks like Hotels across the world, whereas I am glad the one we stayed at had more of the local character and warmth. Here there was a large conference/ discussion group with again more tv cameras. more on that later.

This exhibition and our artworks now belong to the Elabuga State preservation area, and will hopefully be shown internationally. There will also be a substantial book/catalogue produced.

(talking about my work with Olga translating and the Minister of Culture for Tartarstan in pink - Photo Alex or Luda )

( more photo calls with artists Anatoli and Bulat )

Three highland dancers

Hoots mon. second painting for today, both off to framers now. 1 big canvas, a mosaic, 32 colouring pages & then I can relax & do some inspired epic based art for myself.

drumming girls

Russian blogs aside, heres the first finished painting of today - 'Scottish and figurative' was the brief. I am eating shortbread & wearing a Hi Jimmy hat as I type.