Houses of Light – Spring Exhibition

Our major Spring Exhibition ‘Houses of Light’ was due to open in a couple of weeks but of course thanks to the current situation we are closed until further notice.

So, welcome to our first virtual exhibition.  If you would like to purchase or reserve one of the paintings, there are two ways to do it:

  • a twenty per cent deposit secures your piece until lockdown is lifted.  You can then pay the balance and the work will be delivered or you can collect it from the Gallery
  •  you can make use of our OwnMYOwn instalment scheme: choose your piece (or pieces!)
    – decide on your payment term (three months, six months or somewhere inbetween)
    – pay your first instalment
    – pay each month until you have paid in full
    – take your art home! (Or have it delivered)You can choose to pay by standing order or Paypal invoice – whatever is most convenient for you.

    All payments are non-refundable.

    Please be aware that if you miss a monthly payment or stop your payments before the end of the payment term, the work will be returned to the sales floor and offered to other customers.

    Email linsay@artcraftcollective.co.uk or call Linsay on 07801 581674 to work out the details.

We look forward to welcoming you to the actual exhibition opening when we are able to fling our doors wide again.  We are planning a big celebration with the opportunity to meet the artist, Ian Pearsall and hear all about his approach and way of working.  Also there at the opening will be several contributors to the book published to accompany the show, featuring writing on the theme of Houses of Light.

About the Artist:

Spring Exhibition
Ian Pearsall, creator of #HousesofLight

Read Ian’s story: https://www.artcraftcollective.co.uk/artists/stoke-artist-ian-pearsall/

Here, Ian describes his inspiration for the show:

“Lighthouses have all the associations of a romantic relationship with the sea …

‘Houses of Light’ is a body of work that came about in my pursuit of a few simple facts in an important personal memory – I’ve recalled it in my writing for the rather fine book produced to accompany the series of drawings that is the exhibition.  It’s a vivid memory from a holiday experience that’s lasted right up to this day – a lifetime away, but always like yesterday.  A reassuring presence in a hot and restless night time far away in a Portuguese town in an African country. My story is titled ‘Macuti.’

I’ve now visited quite a few since living in the UK, and such is my habit of painting only that which I have experienced first hand, have now pulled the works together in a worthwhile number for the first time to constitute an exhibition – here at the Art & Craft Collective in Edinburgh.

As I’ve spoken to more people about it, whether in person or through significant social media friendships, it’s come to pass that these buildings, and emotional connections to these buildings are of universal significance …so much so that it’s now of equal significance to share this exhibition with everyone who wanted to say something … the words have evoked as much imagery as the works themselves … so get hold of a book and immerse…

Lighthouses don’t just hold a romantic relationship with the sea at all,  in lighthouses we can dream …”

 

Spring Exhibition
Original drawing  Lighthouse (Tide Out) £695.00

 

Corsewall Lighthouse is located at Corsewall Point, Kirkcolm near Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway, south west Scotland.  First lit in 1817, it overlooks the North Channel of the Irish Sea.  Corsewall means the place or well of the Cross.

In November 1970 Concorde reportedly flew over the lighthouse on a trial flight and shattered panes of glass.

Corsewall was automated in 1994 and is now monitored from the Northern Lighthouse Board’s Edinburgh offices.  Since automation it has been converted into the Corsewall Lighthouse Hotel.  It serves, according to our artist “the best afternoon cream tea you will taste”.

Spring Exhibition
Original drawing Storm at Corsewall £645.00

 

 

Spring Exhibition
Original drawing Corsewall Lighthouse 1 £695.00

 

 

 

 

Spring Exhibition
Original Drawing South Stack Angelsey £645.00  South Stack is an island situated just off Holy Island on the northwestern coast of Angelsey.  It is famous as the location of one of Wales’ most spectacular lighthouses, standing some 135 feet high.  Until 1828 when an iron suspension bridge was built, the only means of crossing the deep water channel to the island was in a basket suspended on a hemp cable.  The suspension bridge was replaced in 1964 but closed to the public for safety reasons in 1983.  A new aluminium bridge was built and the lighthouse reopened to the public in 1997.  Thousands visit each year, descending and ascending over 390 stone steps to the footbridge and seeing some of the 8,000 nesting birds that line the cliffs during the breeding season.

 

 

Spring Exhibition
Original drawing Flamborough Head  £645.00  Flamborough Head is an eight mile long promontory on the Yorkshire coast.  It is a chalk headland with sheer white cliffs.  The lighthouse was built in 1806.  The cliffs provide nesting sites for many thousands of seabirds and are of international geological significance.

 

Spring Exhibition
Original drawing Storm (Portpatrick)  £645.00
Spring Exhibition
Original drawing Rain (Portpatrick)  £645.00  Killantringan Lighthouse, located near Portpatrick in Dumfries and Galloway came into operation in 1900 and served as a waypoint in the North Channel of the Irish Sea.  The lighthouse is protected as a Category B listed building.  The light was automated in 1988 and after a comprehensive review of services in 2005, Killantringan was deemed surplus to requirements and decommissioned.  It is now in private ownership, along with the Lighthousekeeper’s House.

 

 

Spring Exhibition
Original drawing Beacon £595.00

Touched With Fire – new work with a story from The Wandering Artist

On Saturday it was delightful to welcome David Dalzell – The Wandering Artist back to Edinburgh and showcase his lovely new pieces – here they are and here he is chatting through the inspiration and techniques he used with one of our customers.

Touched With Fire
Original pen and ink artwork

The first image (above) is entitled ‘She Brings Fire With Her’ and the second (below) is ‘Touched With Fire’.

Touched With Fire
Original pen and ink drawing

They depict the female and male of the red-tailed black cockatoo respectively and there is a story attached to the works, which David explains below:

Touched With Fire
David talking about his inspiration and techniques to an interested customer

“First Australians tell of the red-tailed black cockatoos in their mythology. They herald the coming of the dry season, and they believed that the red/orange of the female colouration, and the red of the male was the origin of the fire that swept through the eucalyptus trees in the dry season of the bush lands. Essential for their regrowth (though now happening worryingly too often). This caught my imagination, and I wanted to depict this.

I photographed these birds in Queensland, just south of Townsville, on the east coast of Australia, by the sea, at a lovely campsite, after eating fish and chips!!

I’ve used the contrast of the detail of the feathers and leaves, with the spontaneity of the coloured ink to give movement and connection.”

These are of course original works but David is considering limited edition prints and perhaps cards if the response to these is positive, so please tell us what you think!

Touched By Fire
She Brings Fire With Her and Touched By Fire framed and on display in our window

Thank you to David for sharing them with us – we hope to entice him back to Edinburgh next Spring after his Winter wandering to Australia and New Zealand!