NEOS was another great annual event for me and my dad, George Strachan, this year. It’s so good to have something to work towards! We had around 200 visitors over the week from all over the UK and the world! It was amazing to me how many tourists were in the area and had picked up a book and were visiting NEOS venues over their holiday.
I’m excited to be participating in the Aberdeen Art Fair again this year, which is being held at the iconic & newly refurbished Music Hall on Fri 31st Aug-Sun 2nd Sept. Entry is free and the opening evening is 6-9pm on the Friday, then it’s 10-5.30pm on Sat & 10-5pm on the Sunday.
I have produced a new body of work for this event which is inspired by the cliffy parts of the NE coastline, from the Bullers of Buchan to Dunnotar Castle.
Please come along if you can, it will be a great event!
*Update* It was a great event! Lots of visitors and such a great venue.
I stumbled across some photos of myself on Flickr taken by @danoaberdeen on 8th Feb 2018. I hadn’t known he was taking them but I remember the day which was freezing hence all the puffy layers! I was sketching the lifeboat shed on Newburgh Beach. His caption called me a ‘young artist’ – delighted! I was sketching these small pastels at the time.
I’m really excited to be taking part in this amazing fundraising project for the Fishermen’s Mission charity. 100 people including artists and celebrities have been asked to decorate a porcelain fish to be auctioned in May from their website https://fishmishauction.org.uk/auction
Here is mine called ‘Metallic Mack’. He is inspired by my time working in ‘the fish’ in Peterhead as a student…
“I was born and brought up in Peterhead, a place where fishing is a fundamental part of life. My grandpa was a fisherman and although my dad got too seasick to go out fishing, he has painted the sea and boats all his life. I picked up his interest in painting and left home to study at Edinburgh College of Art then Winchester School of Art, before returning to the North East to live and work as an artist painting the local coastline. When I was asked to paint the fish for The Fisherman’s Mission, I thought of the summers I spent working ‘in the fish’ back in Peterhead while I was a student. One summer I worked 12-hour nightshifts processing mackerel at a machine – when I shut my eyes all I could see were those silvery blue mackerel! My fish, ‘Metallic Mack’, is inspired by them.”
Can’t wait to have my annual Christmas pop-up shop on Saturday 1st December 10-5pm! Mulled wine & mince pies will be served while you look around our collection of original paintings, prints, cards and more. Clare Terris of Blue Wasp Creative will be there selling her illustrations and design work, as will Peterhead painter George Strachan.
20% Discount on all original paintings/pastels by Jane Bradford until 24th Dec if you use the code MERRYCHRISTMAS
I am really excited and honoured to be exhibiting in the Aberdeen Art Fair for the first time this year, and also the North East Open Studios (NEOS) event for the 4th time!
The Art Fair is an annual event designed to give the public a chance to view and buy original artwork, and is on at the Beach Ballroom during the weekend of 8th-9th September, with a preview evening on Friday 7th 6-9pm.
I will be exhibiting a new series of work entitled ‘Big Beaches’ on Stand number 1 at the Beach Ballroom so please come along and see me there! Here is some info about the work I’m showing:
“It’s amazing how different the sea can look depending on the light, weather and time of day. It’s the same North Sea but it can be turquoise, navy, mauve, bottle green, ultramarine blue, steely grey or coral pink – sometimes all in the same day!
In this series of work, I’ve concentrated on a few of the ‘big beaches’ of the Northeast coastline. Newburgh, Forvie, Sandend, Balmedie, Hackley Bay, Cruden Bay and Aberdeen beaches have been the places. The inspiration has been capturing the sense of freedom and space I feel in these beautiful and often remote coastal locations where the sea meets the land. I hope viewers can relate to this feeling when looking at my work.”
NEOS is a yearly event, this year from Sat 8th – Sun 16th September, where artists show their work and offer it for sale to the public over a week long open studio. I am exhibiting with my dad, artist George Strachan. It’s a great opportunity to view and buy local quality artwork, so come and see us if you can!
For more information about the events, please see the Aberdeen Art Fair and NEOS websites contact me to ask anything.
Time to start finishing the many paintings I have been working on over the last few months!
This one is one of my very favourite beaches, Sandend.
Coming up in September I am exhibiting in North East Open Studios again and also the Aberdeen Art Fair for the first time! Very excited for both.
Delighted to have a joint exhibition with my dad (also local artist – George Strachan) in Ellon Kirk Centre Coffee Shop for the months of June, July & August.
Mix of mostly coastal landscapes and boats. If you fancy a reminder of the coast in your own home pop down for a look!
Did some drawing for my ‘Big Beaches’ series at beautiful Balmedie beach yesterday. Fascinating to watch the huge new wind turbines going up – most powerful in the world apparently!
I’m starting a new series of paintings inspired by the beautiful, sweeping, sandy beaches of Northeast Scotland. Here’s the first one of a moody Cruden Bay beach to start off.
I went to the beach, did some pastel sketches and took some photos, then did this painting back in the studio. It is 60 x 80cm in oil paint.
