Northern Lights – Solo Show Graystone Gallery, Edinburgh (10 Feb – 10 March 2024)

Just a quick note to say there’s only 2 more days to see my solo show ‘Northern Lights‘ at Graystone Gallery in Stockbridge, Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Nocturne (Aurora)

There’s around 40 works in total, including several new oil paintings, etchings and Watercolours.

I’ve also included 3 different coloured versions of my Glitter Moon series of prints, each framed in non-reflective, museum-quality glass and currently available to buy only at Graystone Gallery.

Glitter Moons – Yellow, Blue and Pink, etching and screenprint – 69x80cm (framed individually)

The etchings have proved to be very popular, with A Hot Summer’s Day, Elie (seen below) having garnered 4 red dots so far. I have to thank Duncan MacMillan for his positive review in The Scotsman, describing my etchings as “certainly impressive”!

(Read about Duncan Macmillan’s Scotsman review of Northern Lights here.)

A Hot Summer’s Day, Elie

If you’d like a little more detail about the show and see a lot more pictures then I’ve written a blog post which can be found here. Or you can go directly to the gallery’s Northern Lights catalogue here.

Opening times are listed below:

Graystone GAllery OPENING TIMES

Mon-Tues: Viewings and private sales by appointment

Weds-Fri: 11:00-18:00

Sat: 10:00-17:00

Sun: 12:00-16:00

Click here or on the image below for all the details and pictures in Northern Lights!

Northern Lights – A Solo Exhibition at Graystone Gallery, Edinburgh

Last Friday night saw the opening of my latest solo show Northern Lights at Graystone Gallery in Stockbridge, Edinburgh.

A welcoming window display with my latest oil painting of Muckle Flugga (finishedand framed  just hours before the show opened!)

And despite the inclement weather it turned out to be a busy private viewing, with people travelling from as far as Aberdeen, Glasgow and Fife for a first look at my latest work.

Over 40 of My Paintings & Prints on Show

With around 40 original pieces hanging across the gallery, it’s a real showcase of everything I’ve been working towards over the past 15 years.

The show is divided into three areas: oils, mixed media and etchings …

… with the pictures hung according to those groupings and in roughly equal numbers.

All in the name

I chose the title Northern Lights as it aptly reflects the nature and atmosphere of the majority of the work included in the exhibition. There are 12 oil paintings in the show, including the 3 above, which feature either Scottish lighthouses or shimmering twilight views across the Firth of Forth.

Glitter Moons – Yellow, Blue and Pink, etching and screenprint – 69x80cm (framed individually)

I’ve also included 3 original prints from my ‘luminous’ Glitter Moon series (above), as well as numerous colourful watercolours of Edinburgh and the East Neuk of Fife.

It’s not all about light and colour, however. In my etchings I focus more on the details, marks and tones that help to give each of the prints something distinctly different from all of my other work. On one wall you’ll find various craggy Scottish mountains and ruined castles, including Ben Nevis and Dunnottar. These are accompanied by atmospheric cityscapes of Edinburgh’s Old Town, Victoria Street and Dean Village …

The North Face, Ben Nevis, etching 44×18.5cm

… while on the opposite wall are more etchings of seascapes, including the old piers at both Culross and Aberdour (both shown below).

I’ll be back at the gallery on 24 February (2-4pm) for an Artist Talk, where I’ll discuss how I made these paintings and prints and also inspirations. I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have too.

So if you’d like to attend then please get in touch with gallery owner Lesley at: lesley@graystonegallery.com

Northern Lights is on show now at Graystone Gallery in Edinburgh’s gorgeous Stockbridge and continues until 10 March 2024. If you manage to get along to see it then please get in touch and let me know what you think at cliveramage@gmail.com 

Some words from Graystone Gallery about the show …

“Look closely at the oil paintings in Northern Lights and you can sense a love of Whistler’s London nocturnes. Clive imbues his oils of lighthouses and the darker seascapes with that same feeling of delicate stillness and calm, building it with layer upon layer of transparent glazes …

Edinburgh Nocturne (Aurora), oil on canvas 98x98cm framed (detail)

The ramshackle buildings and highly detailed compositions and colour schemes of Schiele and Klimt’s landscapes have also had a big influence, which can be seen in the watercolours of coastal villages and Edinburgh in particular …

Ramsay Garden (ii), mixed media – 79x38cm framed

His intricate, detailed etchings, such as Dunnottar Castle, tell their own romantic stories, the individual marks carving out a brooding landscape …

Dunnottar Castle, etching – 77x59cm framed

In each of Clive’s works, there is a tangible sense of yearning, of a desire to create something that is beautiful, yet distant or unattainable. It’s there in those city lights twinkling and beckoning the viewer from far across the Firth of Forth …

The Bass Rock, oil on canvas 80x80cm framed

But there is also a drama at play in these atmospheric pieces that comes from a deeply felt need to create a perfectly constructed arrangement, or a harmonious symphony, out of the interplay between the land, the sea and the elements. Or, perhaps, the essence of Clive’s work is simply his attempt to try to capture and hold on to some long-sought feeling of calm and serenity.”

Graystone Gallery
52 Hamilton Place
Edinburgh
EH3 5AX
GENERAL OPENING TIMES

Weds-Fri: 11:00-18:00
Sat: 10:00-17:00
Sun: 12:00-16:00

Mon-Tues: Viewings and private sales by appointment

Solo Show at Inverness Creative Academy (10 June – 15 July)

Saturday 10th June marks the opening of my first ever solo show in Inverness.

With this body of work I hope to showcase both my varied interests and inspirations as a landscape artist, as well as the many techniques I use and often combine in their creation.

The Bell Rock (Twilight)

In conjunction with Wasps Artist Studios, I will present around 30 pieces in total. These will include dramatic new oil paintings of Neist Point and Isle Ornsay in Skye, alongside several mixed-media cityscapes of Edinburgh and surroundings.

Neist Point, Skye

Isle Ornsay (detail from wip)

Towards Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh

Fidra Lighthouse

Also on show will be a selection of atmospheric etchings featuring, among other things, several Scottish lighthouses, castles and mountains.

Dunnottar Castle

Victoria Street, Edinburgh

North Face, Ben Nevis

There will also be 3 different coloured versions of my recent series of Glitter Moon limited-edition handmade prints, framed with non-reflective glass and available to buy for only the second time.

Glitter Moons – Yellow, Blue & Red, etching and screenprint, 47x57cm (individual image size)

So, all in all, there will be plenty to see across the two floors my show will occupy.

I will be at Inverness Creative Academy between 12-4pm for the opening on Saturday 10 June, so please come along if you are in the area. It would be great to see you there!

New Work with Ballater Gallery at Aberdeen Art Fair 2022

I am delighted to be showing two recently finished large oil paintings for the first time with Ballater Gallery at this weekend’s Aberdeen Art Fair (details below)

Dunnottar Castle

Dunnottar Castle – oil on canvas – 80x80cm (unframed size)

Dunnottar Castle is quite possibly THE perfect landscape painter’s subject. Sitting atop a magestic outcrop of rusty red sandstone, surrounded by constantly changing seas and skies, it’s sheer immensity and magnificence are breathtaking – the scene simply demands to be painted!

My favourite place to paint!

The above painting is the view from the little bridge that spans the deep gully and leads to the cliffs on the western side of the castle. Those cliffs have also been a favourite haunt of mine over the past few months and are a great spot to paint en plein air (below).

Me painting en plein air at Dunnottar Castle

After spending several months working on this particular painting – and trying do the scene the justice it deserves – it will be great to see it hanging at the Aberdeen Art Fair (AAF) from this Friday.

Preview 6–9pm at Aberdeen Music Hall

Muckle Flugga – the UK’s northernmost lighthouse

Muckle Flugga – oil on canvas – 80x80cm (unframed size)

Also on show at Aberdeen Art Fair with Ballater Gallery will be this newly finished oil painting of the mighty Muckle Flugga!

Muckle Flugga (Old Norse Mikla Flugey, meaning “large steep-sided island”) is the northernmost point of the British Isles and, in my own humble opinion, has to be one of the most dramatic lighthouse locations on Earth.

I hope to have captured something of the rugged nature of the rock itself, but also of the precariousness of that lonely lighthouse perched upon it. The perpetual crashing of great ocean waves has done little to change this scene since the lighthouse was built in 1854. But nothing lasts for ever – apart from oil paintings hopefully!

Maybe see you at the preview!

Details for Aberdeen Art Fair

Preview Evening: Friday 2nd September 6pm – 9pm
Opening times: 10 – 5pm Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th September

Find Ballater Gallery on Stand 12.

Free entry for all for both the preview evening and Saturday/Sunday

arTay 2022 – Part of Perth Festival Of The Arts

Where There Is Light, oil on wood panel – 78cm x 78cm (framed)

After 2 year’s absence from the art show calendar, I really can’t wait for arTay 2022, which opens at 10am in Perth this coming Thursday 19th May and runs until 7.30pm on Sunday 22nd.

Every May, and as if by magic, a large marquee appears next to Perth’s Concert Hall and is filled to the brim with a great assortment of fantastic artworks.

Dubh Artach, oil on wood panel – 75x75cm (framed)

But all the real magic is what’s on show inside the marquee!

With more than 70 artists taking part and a few hundred pictures to hang and label, it’s a challenge to get it all done and looking great in just a few hours. It’s not all hard work though and there’s always a great atmosphere, with Hugh and his team making it all the more fun by providing lots of coffee and cakes to keep us all going until the show is hung. Remarkably – considering the often competative nature of a typical ‘hang’, and with so many artistic egos to be found in one relatively small compass – I have yet to witness a punch up!

Rattray Head, oil on canvas – 57cm x 57cm (framed)

As well as helping to hang the show on Wednesday, I’m also very much looking forward to catching up with lots of artist friends and maybe matching some new faces to familiar pictures and names too.

So these are the four paintings I’ll have in the show. Three fairly large atmospheric lighthouse oils and my latest dreamscape (or ‘longing’) painting of Edinburgh, as seen at night from across the Firth of Forth.

[Contact Hugh at Frames Gallery, Perth for more details, or if you would like to reserve one of these paintings. Tel: 01738 631085]

Edinburgh Nocturne, oil on canvas – 95x95cm (framed)=

If you happen to be in or near Perth then do come along and see a huge variety of great work by some of the country’s best artists. Along with many of the other artists, I’ll be at the ‘arTay Party’ preview on Friday 20th from 6pm.
Hope to see some of you there too!

Frames Gallery

10 Victoria Street, Perth, Scotland, PH2 8LW
01738 631085
info@framesgallery.co.uk