Orwell and Goode, noodle bowls and a mountain Teacosy!

Lovely stuff on the shelves of the gallery walls for that last minute christmas present!

The very first workshop at the gallery!

Well today was the very first workshop to be held at The Black Rock Gallery and look what they made! Things we covered today included, piercing, filing, sanding, drilling, hammering, soldering, polishing and gold leafing plus more!  No experience is required and all you need to have is a willingness to have a go and I'll be there to make sure it all goes to plan!

Think my workbench needs tidied!

 

Antlers pieces

Fancy making something yourself out of antler? or always wanted a set and didn't know where to get one? well, today I received a whole variety of pieces for sale in the gallery...

Thomas Banks (wooden Tom)

 

The photo doesn't do it justice, this lovely chair made by Tom Banks from Carrbridge using traditional tools from Birch and Elm is only £150! 



Interesting bits and pieces to buy at the gallery

Here at The Black Rock Gallery, I take great care to find a range of gifts and art to buy at a variety of prices, take a look at some new pictures taken today...



I asked Penny Weir from Loch-an-Eilein pottery to create some new work using a white glaze which has turned out beautifully and reminds me of snowdrifts. 

Bryce Reynard from Inverness has made these stunning birchbark roses using birch that he collects from trees near his home. This is a rose that will last forever!

New work finished for the gallery

 

Finished just last week, from an old photo of a house near Westerdale in Caithness, titled 'The house that no long exists' because I drove past it earlier this year and found that there was a new house in it's place...

The Black Rock Gallery is open!

 

It's been a crazy few months, with refurbishment complications but despite it all the shop is open and I must say it looks really lovely.  The open day was well attended despite not having advertised but next week the local paper will have my advert and my next job is to tell everyone about it!

 

Thank you to hubby Neil and Lewis and Sam for their encouragement and enthusiasm, and that also goes to my mum and dad and big sis who came down from the far north to be the first customers! Also my extended family and friends for their support especially Sarah and Gunilla for much encouragement and a lovely lunch they paid for even though I had invited them and the flowers too!  Thanks to Brian the landlord for all his help with bits and bobs, Evan for all his help, Michael the painter, Finlay for the beautiful counter, Jules Akel for the fabulous logo, Ian Grover for once again working super fast to make the brilliant flyers and gift tokens, and Liz Hall for being a star and helping out with picture hanging, I'd still be their today in a heap if she hadn't offered to come over and sort it out! All the artists who have trust in me to sell their work, including Hannah who is working extra hard to make jewellery even though she's about to have a baby any day now! Lastly, Grace who will be working on a saturday to allow me to be taxi mum and take the boys on a saturday to various important sporting events.... phew now the hard work starts!

Loch an Eilan

A beautiful day where the loch was covered in mist. I went to visit Penny to discuss ceramics then took the dog for a walk, just lovely!

Hannah Louise Lamb at the Black Rock Gallery

A nice wee parcel arrived today from Hannah, this is a beautiful image of a brooch.

Shinty Jewellery

Would be silly of me to not put up pictures of my shinty jewellery that will be on sale in the gallery.  Get in early for kiltpins, tiepins and cufflinks before they go!

All items made of sterling silver and hallmarked when required.  Some special Caman brooches with set stones.

New ceramic Designs from Penny Weir

Penny Weir has kindly created new coloured mugs, tumblers, bowls and noodle bowls for The Black Rock Gallery in a lovely white glaze.

Gillian Kyle at The Black Rock Gallery

Just placed an order with Gillian Kyle  - her work is lovely and I know will be popular as I recently bought an apron as a present and the quality is excellent and also made in scotland!

Lots of different items in a range of designs!

Local artists

Local artists who will be exhibiting at the gallery include Liz Hall, featuring her lovely ink drawings from her recent exhibition about Archie's House; Joanne O'Donnell will be showing some of her handstrung jewellery and Christine MacIntyre will be showing her intricate embroidery pictures, these lovely ladies all live in the village and hold workshops in their own area of expertise.  Another nearly local man who is at the moment creating work for the gallery is Thomas Banks who lives in Carrbridge. Tom makes ecologically sound furniture and other items from local wood.

Orwell and Goode

Exciting times! Excellent Scottish printmaker  Orwell and Goode are to be stocked in the gallery. Even the linen their images are printed on is made in Scotland.
 

Claire Macdonald felt work

Claire MacDonald from Kincraig has agreed to show some of her popular work in the gallery - I know this will be a great hit with the visiting Munro Baggers!

Very excited to announced that Hannah Louise Lamb will be exhibiting some of her beautiful work in the gallery.  Hannah graduated from the Royal College of Art and has gone on to exhibit extensively around the world.  She has a workshop at Coburg House in Leith, Edinburgh.

Scottish Cufflinks

Shop front before transformation

This is my new shop ready to be fitted and filled with lovely stuff! It will be opened on 17th November in time for the Christmas Arts and Crafts Market that will be open the same day, so come along and have a nosey....

Now back to that list I have of things I have to do ....

A new start

'Internal energy showing itself extremely in a variety of forms' 2000 a quote from my comments book at my ECA Degree Show.  Twelve years on and I've finally rested on the notion that it's okay to want to make a variety of things, as this makes life interesting! So I'm going to open a gallery and inspire all those people who love art, crafts to look at and to make themselves.

The gallery is called The Black Rock Gallery and is to be located on the high street in Newtonmore. The gallery is named after the prominent hill that is the backdrop to our village and is called 'Creag Dhubh' meaning black rock.  I didn't want to spend every day spelling it out as I do that most days with my own house name 'Fasgadh' which means 'safe haven'. Lovely to have it but extra work as you can imagine, hopefully I can include the gaelic wording somewhere inamongst the marketing.

I'm waiting patiently and excitedly to see what Jules Akel graphic designer from Dalwinnie comes up with for my new logo.... but have so many things to do... shop fitting, produce searching (my favourite job), boring stuff like insurance and merchant banking... making and advertising... I think I'll have a cup of tea...