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Smallscapes

A New Year and a New Gallery

Hello!

Here we are at the beginning of another year, with most of our plans on hold. The roll-out of the vaccines gives us some cheer, but the months ahead will still be full of challenges, as we all try to “hang on in there”. For artists such as myself, opportunities to earn a living by selling through terrestrial galleries, or through teaching, are still on hold. So, what to do?

I have decided to expand the range of work I sell online. Last spring, in response to the first lockdown, I launched the online selling gallery “Tallscapes”, with the vast majority of the work selling quickly and regularly. Then I added “Largescapes and Landscapes”, a gallery for those of you looking to buy something bigger.

But I know that many of you don’t have the space to hang large work, or cannot afford to buy big. My solution is to sell smaller work through a new gallery called “Smallscapes”. All the work is original and sold complete with mount. It fits a standard 30cm x 30 cm (12” x 12”) picture frame, which is widely available to buy online from the usual suspects (eBay, Wilko, The Range, Dunelm, Amazon …). Each piece of work costs £90, including postage and packaging.

I intend to update the stock every week, so do keep an eye on that page regularly, if you are interested. In recent weeks I ran out of steam a bit with the other two selling galleries, but I feel my creative energy coming back, so they too will see the occasional new addition.

I hope a look at these wee works will cheer you on this dull winter day and that you will be tempted to buy. Full steam ahead!

Jan

January 2021

Open Studio 2021

Jan's Studio in Elphin is open to visitors from 30th June until 31st October on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays 10am - 5.pm, whenever government Covid guidelines permit.

If travelling a distance to visit, it might be a good idea to check in advance that the studio is open.

Private viewings are available at other times all through the year. Please email Jan or telephone 01854 666279 to arrange a time.

See the Open Studio page for more details.

New Landscapes for Sale

I started the online shop called Tallscapes and Smallscapes back in April, when I realised that much of our lives would be moving online for the following few months. This has been a great success and has given me both a focus for making new work and a modest income in the face of being unable to run my normal calendar of courses.

And now it looks like we are moving into a winter full of restrictions to our normal lives which means that we will be spending even more time than ever online.  So I have decided to expand the range of work that I offer for sale through my website.  After a fair few months working to the formula of small or tall, I find that I am creeping back towards a landscape format, at least for some of the work.  So, I have created a new shop page which will feature larger works.  These are just as light and easy to send through the post, but the parcel you receive will be a little larger!

Like the Tallscapes and Smallscapes shop, the Largescapes shop will be updated regularly, usually every week, with any new work I have made.  So, keep an eye out for something that speaks to your soul.

Earthworks

In the course of this year's lockdown, there have been many opportunities for little moments of observation of the landscape and the flora and fauna to be found within and outwith my garden.  Indeed, the quiet roads and the slow rhythm to each day allowed me to go deeper into my connection with the natural world.  And as the weeks turned into months, a slow-simmering plan for a new body of work emerged.  Everything comes from the earth and returns to the earth. It is the larder that provides for all living beings. And, in one form or another, eventually holds all our secrets and memories.

This is a theme that I have touched upon many a time, but now that I have spent several years developing the use of plants, minerals and found materials to make marks on cloth, I feel that I have the tools, the medium and the imagery to create some work worthy of this theme. But it will be a slow process, in thought and deed.  I imagine that I might have a collection of work - visual and written - in around two year's time, just around my sixtieth birthday.  I plan to call this collection, and the accompanying book, Earthworks.

My use of new media is limited to Instagram and the updating of this website.  So, I have created a website page for this new project and will occasionally post an image or piece of writing, should you be interested to look.  But most of the work will be under wraps until I feel that it is ready to share with an audience.

I am very excited to be taking on such a big theme over such a long period of time and hope that I can do the theme justice.  But, there is only one way to find out!

Jan    

21 August 2020

New Card Designs

One by-product of making the work for my new on-line textile gallery, Tallscapes and Smallscapes, is that I am able to convert close-up photographs of some of the designs into greetings cards.  These little birds make for friendly designs that should cheer up anyone who receives one!

They are available to buy through my on-line card shop, at my studio during Open Studio days and at Ceard in Ullapool.  Why not nurture a love of nature by sending someone you love one of these distinctive cards?  Visit the Card Shop to see them for yourself.

Hearth

Mairearad Green, renowned musician, composer, artist and long-time collaborator of mine, is about to release a series of limited edition vinyl records under the collective title of Hearth. They record and celebrate Mairearad’s forebears, the women of Coigach who have walked the same land she walks today.

Most of the lyrics were written by me in collaboration with Mairearad, or by me alone, so I am particularly excited to see this project come to fruition. Of course, the music is all Mairearad’s own, as are the sumptuously expressive paintings she has created for the vinyl sleeves.

Each record is individually numbered and is accompanied by a free booklet of lyrics and images. They are available to buy individually, or as a collection. Visually, the covers are rich and highly evocative of the Coigach landscape and the sound of each recording is ethereal and many-layered. What a privilege it has been for me to be involved, in a small way, in the making of such an immersive piece of art. To find out more, or to buy, please visit the shop page of Mairearad’s website.

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