New Work, New Gallery and More News …

The year has only just begun but 2019 has proved to be pretty busy for me already. The recent Architectural Landscape show at Fidra Fine Art saw some of my work heading off to new homes and then I spent the remainder of February visiting lots of different galleries and delivering new paintings and etchings to some of them too. Details below …

Three Studies of The Bass Rock, oil and gold leaf (126x52cm framed)

But first, take a look at what’s currently on my easel. It has taken over a year on and off to get it finished with lots of thinly painted glazes, drying time in between and fine tuning. Then more glazes … etc etc! But all it needs now is my signature. Gold leaf has been used extremely sparingly, but there’s just enough to provide the subtlest suggestion of a beam of light coming from each of the lighthouses when viewed at a certain angle. If you are interested in owning this oil painting then please feel free to get in touch via the contact page or email me at:
cliveramage@gmail.com

Three Studies of the Bass Rock (detail left)
Three Studies of the Bass Rock (detail middle)
Three Studies of the Bass Rock (detail right)

February turned out to be a great month of sales. I was particularly happy to hear from Marchmont Gallery that 3 of my differently coloured moon etchings had been bought by one client to be hung alongside each other. That made my day as they were bought only a couple of days after being dropped off and it was the first time I’ve had all 3 moon variations for sale at the same time. (If you happen to be the new owner and read this then I’d love a photo of them on your wall if possible – and thank you for buying them too, of course!).

Towards Arthur’s Seat (34x25cm)

I also recently begun to sell limited-edition, signed Giclee prints with Aquila Gallery in Jeffrey Street, Edinburgh. They have the above and following 2 pictures for sale at the moment, but more will follow soon. Marchmont Gallery also have these pictures and I’ll be dropping off more moon etchings there as soon as they are all hot off the press and dry (a week or 2 from now).

The Old Town, Edinburgh (65x50cm)
Dean Village, Edinburgh  (65x50cm)

Lastly, Morningside Gallery, also in Edinburgh, have a selection of my latest acrylic paintings for sale, including a recent one of the Bell Rock Lighthouse, along with some East Neuk of Fife and Edinburgh pictures. Click the link to see what’s available there.

That’s all my news for now.

I’m about to start on a new series of works and will keep you updated here as things take shape. I’ll also be contacting a number of galleries who’s collections and artists I’ve admired for a while, and hopefully I’ll have work available in some of them soon too. Watch this space!

Society of Scottish Artists Annual Open Exhibition 2019

I’m very happy to have had the above etching hung at this year’s Society of Scottish Artists Annual Open Exhibition, which is being held at the RSA building on The Mound, Edinburgh. The show will run from 23rd Dec-17 Jan 2019.

I’ve also had my work shown in 2 other prestigious annual exhibitions held at the RSA this year, the RSA and RSW. So it’s been a great year on that front, but I’m hoping 2019 will be my best yet.

The new year will kick off with a show at Fidra Fine Art, Gullane, on the 25th of January, where 6 new paintings will be shown alongside works by 5 other artists who specialise in architectural landscapes, including my friend Ann Oram and some other artists I’ve yet to meet (George Birrell, Ann Cowan, Amy Dennis and Allan J Robertson). I’ve been working flat out on these pictures for the past few weeks and will post some of them here in due coarse.

In the meantime, thank you to all those of you who have supported me and my work this year and every other so far with your purchases and with your encouragement! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Pictures From My Solo Show

I wanted to share some photos from my recent solo show in Edinburgh for those who weren’t able to see it in person. There were 45 pieces hanging in total and it was the biggest collection on my work to be shown in one place to date. 

Three Studies of The Bass Rock
A wall of East Neuk paintings

It was hugely beneficial for me in a creative sense to hang the show myself (well, with a lot of help from my friend Celie) as it gave me the opportunity to put the pieces together into groups that worked as mini collections on each wall.  Every picture being part of a wider context. It took 2 solid days to hang the exhibition and I was glad to see that my combined output over the past 2 years or so also worked as a whole. This is something I have often wondered about (and I’m sure that’s the case for many other artists who work across a variety of media in relative isolation as I do). But the visitor feedback was also very positive in this sense, which helped to make the whole experience an absolute pleasure for me.

Three versions of the full Moon

Of course, selling several pieces and meeting lots of lovely people and hearing their thoughts was also wonderful. As a result, I’m really looking forward to putting together my next solo show in the coming year.

A wall of landscape oil paintings

In the meantime, I have lots more work out there in 6 different galleries this Christmas. A full list and links to those current exhibitions can be found here

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Exhibitions and Other News

Museum on The Mound, 65x25cm, mixed media over line etching

Here’s a quick update on a few things that have happened recently and will be happening over the next few weeks.

Grand Art

Grand Art Exhibition opens tomorrow at Strathearn Gallery, Crieff

I have a few pieces in this show at the lovely Strathearn Gallery including these 2 above and below. It’s on until 21st May, so do drop in tomorrow for the opening or before the show closes in a month.

Tobermory, 65x25cm, mixed media over line etching

Quay Gallery

I also have new work on show at The Quay Gallery, Aberdour, including this large oil of The Bass Rock (a favourite subject!).

The Bass Rock (Sunset) 80x80cm, oil on canvas
The Bass Rock (Sunset) 80x80cm, oil on canvas

Studio Move

The other news is that I have left Fire Station Creative and will no longer be taking part in exhibitions or open studios at there. I will, however, be opening my new studio doors (in Edinburgh) to the public at some point in the future, so keep an eye out for news on that front.

And Finally …

Many thanks to those who visited the recent show at Gallery at Fifty Five in Stonehaven. The feedback was fantastic and I look forward to exhibiting there again in 2018.

Until then, I’ll be working on new pieces including more versions of the 2 hand-painted etchings above and those I’ve done of Edinburgh and the East Neuk, along with more oils based on my recent travels to Yorkshire, Cornwall and Northumberland. There will no doubt be a few more lighthouse paintings and new etchings in the pipeline too.

There’s more to report as far as exhibitions coming up are concerned and an exciting piece of news (for me at east!) about my work featuring in a new glossy magazine … but I’ll leave that for next time.

You can always find more updates and pictures of my latest works in progress etc by following me on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cliveramageartist/?hl=en

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/clive.ramageart.9?ref=bookmarks

 

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Exhibition News

20 Hand-painted etchings of Edinburgh & the East Neuk of Fife
20 Hand-painted etchings of Edinburgh & the East Neuk of Fife

Here’s some news about some upcoming exhibitions.

I’m happy to say I have a number of exhibitions in the pipeline for this year and this lot of newly framed work will be heading off to a gallery near you in the coming week. I’ll have some of this work in the Gallery at Fifty Five Spring show opening in Stonehaven on 4th March.

There’s also arTay during Perth Festival of the Arts which takes place in May, and either side of that I’ll have work in the Pittenweem Arts & Galleries Weekend along with fellow Fire Station resident artists in April, and at the Fire Station Creative gallery which will be happening around Open Studios time in June. I’ll post the specifics for all of these nearer the times.

In the meantime, I’ll be working mainly on new oil paintings and etchings, including lots based on my recent Cornwall, Devon and East Lothian trips in the campervan.

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New work to be exhibited at The Quay Gallery, Aberdour

4 Paintings for Quay Gallery
6 New Paintings for Quay Gallery

Just finished these 6 new paintings and will be taking to the framer in edinburgh later this week. They’re off to the Quay Gallery in Aberdour, Fife, in a week or 2 and each is a hand-coloured etching painted in a variety of ways.

The one on the right, The Old Town, Edinburgh, is 65x50cm and was only just finished this morning. It has a watercolour base for the sky and buildings and the hard work was done with my recently aquired Faber & Castell pastel pencils. These were bought on Ebay by accident as I thought I was getting watercolour pencils (I hit the bid button in a bit of a panic to win them). Anyway, I’m glad I did because they are fantastic!

The Old Town, Edinburgh (2)
The Old Town, Edinburgh (2)

The middle painting, the 4th in my Dean Village series, is maianly watercolour over etching with a little copper acrylic for some of the roofs. It’s roughly the same size as Old Town.

Dean Village, Dusk (copper roofs)
Dean Village, Dusk (copper roofs)

The other four paintings are done over 2 etchings of East Neuk scenes. Again, watercolour base with pastel and gouache for the buildings.

East Neuk Paintings
East Neuk Paintings

If you have the time do go to the Quay Gallery in Aberdour. It’s a beautiful gallery and just happens to be in one of the loveliest seaside towns in Scotland. But wait a week or two!!

 

Dean Village (No. 4) & the Macmillan Art Show 2016

Dean Village Dusk
Dean Village (Copper Roofs) 67x50cm – mixed media

Here’s my latest in the Dean Village hand-finished etching series. This one, the forth in the series, took by far the longest to complete, but I think there is more fine detail and a greater variety of colours in this than any of the other 3 completed so far. I used copper acrylic paint to give some of the rooftops more lustre and if you look very closely you might see some gold dust stars in the night sky.

I’m taking a break from this project now to work on a large-scale oil painting of the Bank of Scotland building, which sits atop The Mound in Edinburgh. This particular building has always been one of my favourites in the city and it helps to make that Old Town skyline one of the best in the world (to my mind anyway).

Here’s how it’s looking after the first wash of colours. A very long way to go as you can see.

Bank of Scotland, The Mound (WIP)
Bank of Scotland, The Mound (WIP)

Macmillan Art Show 2016

I’m delighted to have had an etching accepted for the 2016 Macmillan Art Show. This takes place at Bonhams between 25-28th August and further details can be found in Scottish Art Scene article below (click the link to view the pdf). My etching of Arthurs Seat & Calton Hill is featured in the article, along with a short blurb about how it was made. Some of the other artists who’s works are also going to be on show are also featured.

http://scottish-art-scene.com/2016.Edinburgh.Macmillan.Art.Show.pdf

© All material is copyright of Clive Ramage 2016

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Busy Month Behind and a Busier Month Ahead

Bass Rock Lighthouse
Bass Rock Lighthouse (SOLD at Maggies Cancer Care charity event)

The past few weeks have been extremely busy what with deadlines for various exhibitions, including those organised by the RSA, the SSA, the National Original Print Exhibition and the International Print Biennial. On top of that, my work has been included in 2 exhibitions in support of Maggies Cancer Care and the St Columbas Hospice in Edinburgh. I was delighted to have sold 4 large works in these, raising over £1500 in the process to share between these two deserving causes.

July will hopefully prove to be just as busy. But that’s over a week away and there’s lots of painting to be done now. I’m currently working on a series of small hand-painted etchings that have been sat in my drawers for the past couple of years gathering dust. The most recent of which has since been dusted with gold leaf and can be seen along with some of the others in the Watercolours & Etchings gallery. Some of these will be distributed to galleries in the next week or so. But if you like anything you see on my website do feel free to get in touch with me at cliveramage@gmail.com

I’ll also be working on the latest Dean Village hand-painted etching this week, which will be a blue and gold night time version (similar colours to that East Neuk etching mentioned above). This will be the 4th one of the 10 of these I have planned. I’m excited to see how this one and the 6 others will turn out. Watch this space as I’ll post updates here of how they are progressing.

Charity Exhibitions – A Great Way For Artists To Exhibit!

Dean Village at Dusk (Blue & Green) 67x50cm
Dean Village at Dusk (Blue & Green) 67x50cm – SOLD at St Columbas Hospice charity event

I was delighted to sell this painting of Dean Village at Dusk along with a Super Moon aquatint this weekend and help to raise some funds in the process for St Columbas Hospice in Edinburgh. I recently finished the painting below (Dean Village Sunset) which will be up for sale later this month along some more of my work in support of Maggie’s Cancer Care. The way I see it, working with charities like this is a ‘win win’ way of exhibiting my work.

Selling art through charity exhibitions is a fantastic way to increase both the profile of artists and the charities and I would love to see more of this kind of opportunity for both to work together. It works the same way galleries do, in that the charity takes a percentage commission for any sales made. So the artist still gets paid appropriately for their work, but the charity makes money too. I know many galleries are struggling in today’s tough economic climate, and art can be seen as a luxury, but if those who appreciate art feel like they’re also helping to give something back to society while getting something that they can cherish forever then that is a real double whammy for all concerned! Not to mention the important point that any sale helps to promote art and artists and to encourage them to continue to do what they and hopefully some others love.

I’ll certainly be looking out for more opportunities to sell my work via charity exhibitions in future. Watch this space!

Dean Village Sunset (Pink & Blue) 67x50cm
Dean Village Sunset (Pink & Blue) 67x50cm

Fresh off the Easel (Exhibition Update)

Dean Village (Pink and Blue)

Here is my latest version of Dean Village in Edinburgh. It’s another hand-painted etching and I have focused here on the pinks and blues of the setting sun. I have also added a detail of the bottom right-hand corner of the painting below to show better how the colours are built up in layers using various methods.

I currently have work in 4 separate exhibitions this month and also next, including the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour at The Meffin in Forfar; Fire Station Creative, Dunfermline and arTay (Perth Festival of The Arts).

We will also be opening our doors once again at the Fire Station Open Studios event over the whole of next weekend from the evening of Friday 27th and all day Sat/Sun 28 & 29th (10-4pm). Celie and me have completely covered our studio’s walls along with half the walls in the building with work to see and buy! Do come along if you’re in the area, or make a special trip and I assure you it will be worth it. Lots of very good work and interesting artists to see and meet and also great entertainment in the cafe throughout the weekend.

Finally, I will be exhibiting and hopefully selling my work alongside a selection of other artists in support of the St Columbas Hospice from the 3-5th June. Please come along to any or all of these events and remember to say hello if you do.

Clive

 

Detail of Dean Village
Detail of Dean Village