Boats On An Old Stone Pier

At Aberdour, just a few miles from where I live, there's a small harbour mostly used by yachtsmen these days. As winter approaches some of the boats are lifted out for storage on the stone pier. My painting shows them lined up along the pier on a peaceful, cloudless evening, with a golden light in the sky. The water was quite still and reflected the colours in the sky.

Demo at Cupar Art Club

Recently I gave a watercolour painting demo (demonstration) at Cupar Art Club in the North of Fife. I really enjoyed doing it - they're a great bunch of folk up there in Cupar. The theme was 'painting from photos' and I combined elements of 3 different images of sea and shoreline to produce this demo piece. It's basically a sunset view from Aberlady Bay in East Lothian, looking towards Inchkeith island and the Fife coast. I was trying to create a quiet mood but with a bit of colour to lift it. Not necessarily a painting I'd frame but I'm still fairly pleased with the result.

Pole Dance

For some time I've kept a blog called Ken Young Paintworks, where I post small paintings which I offer for sale on the Daily Paintworks website. I also paint larger paintings, mostly watercolours, and I've decided to start a second blog, Ken Young Art, for those. So here I go with "Pole Dance", a brand-new painting featuring pink climbing roses entwined around a metal pole. The size is 25 x 35 cms or 10 x 14 inches if you like your measurements Imperial. I spotted these roses while visiting the beautiful Alnwick Gardens in Northumbria, in Northern England, last month. It was a warm day and I'd taken refuge from the sun on a shaded bench. I looked up to see the roses swaying gently in a breeze against the summer sky, much as I've painted them here.

"Pole Dance" is the first of 20-plus paintings that I need to get ready for an exhibition at the Dundas Street Gallery in Edinburgh next February. My friends Roy McGowan and Colin Joyce will also take part. I'll post more information about the exhibition as time goes on.