I enjoyed the challenge of rendering these humble vegetables in paint.
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The Barrel Brig, Queen Mary’s Road, Fife
A few months ago I entered the NYAS open postcard competition, to paint a local landmark on a postcard. I didn’t win, but it was an interesting challenge. I primed the card with shellac, so that the oil paint wouldn’t seep through.
On the back of the postcard, I wrote the following info about this ancient pack horse bridge:
“The Barrel Brig, Queen Mary’s Road, Fife”
Oil on shellac and acrylic primed card.
The Barrel Brig, south of the old mining village of Coaltown of Balgonie, Fife, is a narrow 18th century barrel-vaulted pack-horse bridge, built to replace a medieval bridge. Spanning the river Ore with two arches, cutwater buttresses and no parapets, this route was in use when Mary Queen of Scots rode from Wemyss Castle to Falkland Palace in the mid 1500s. An ancient right of way, it has recently been the subject of a local protest against Network Rail’s proposed closure of pedestrian access to the Barrel Brig due to the re-opening of a rail link to the coastal town of Leven. (Latitude: 56.1726 / 56°10’21″N Longitude: -3.1166 / 3°6’59″W)
You can now buy an A4 print off the NYAS website for £18! (I’ll get a small percentage if you do!)
Here’s the link: https://www.nyartschool.org/product-page/the-barrel-brig-queen-mary-s-road-by-jo-johnson-a4-print
“Toms ‘n Lydia”
I’m calling this one “Toms ‘n Lydia”! (knock knock … Get it?)
I really enjoyed working out these subtle variations of colour. That luscious Cad Red Light – I could almost eat it. (I said ‘almost’!)
Buy on eBay – HERE
Country Cottage Painting Commission
Here’s a stage by stage painting sequence of a recent painting commission which became more enjoyable the more I worked on it. It’s a painting of an out-building beside a holiday cottage in the North of England where we stayed with some of our extended family for a week last year, so it brings back good memories of the happy time we spent together. One wonders if our political ‘leaders’ will ever have the humility to step back from the unnecessary carnage they’ve inflicted on us over this past year and give us their ‘permission’ to enjoy such innocent and normal pleasures again. So, all the more treasured a memory this is.
Gryffe Neuk and Black Corries Lodge, Glencoe
Latest paintings:
This is a painting of Gryffe Neuk, a cottage and smallholding just off the Greenock to Kilmacolm Road in Renfrewshire. My father’s cousin Jenny lived here with her husband Willy for many years where they grew delicious tomatoes in their glasshouses. I have great memories of visiting “Cousin Jenny” as a small boy, and the excitement of paddling down the Gryffe river (which flows past the property) with my father in a home-made wooden boat!
[“Neuk” – an old Scots word meaning corner, river bend or nook. As in the East Neuk of Fife.]
Whoops! It’s sold already! You gotta be quick!
This one is of the famous Black Corries Lodge, on the edge of the remote Rannoch Moor near Glencoe, looking towards that iconic mountain, the Buachaille Etive Mor. I’ve tried to capture the remote bleakness of this beautiful yet unforgiving landscape. I believe you can now stay in the Lodge which has been upgraded by the Black Corries Estate. That’s if you’re into hunting and fishing of course!
Paintings are for sale here (if you’re fast!).