Dreams of the Land

Across the moor,
Suilven’s haunched shoulders
Taunt me with their intractable presence.

We climb the zigzag trail
On loose scree and mica schist
Breathless in wonderment.

The cry of the raven
Echoing down the cliff face
Shatters the thin air.

Looking down
A necklace of lochans
Glisters the boggy moor.

To the west
The Hebrides are swathed
In Atlantic blue.

Scrambling on all fours
We reach the bald round summit
And are startled

By its precarious beauty.

Painting and Poem by
Brian Crawford Young © 2017

watercolour and acrylic; 33 x 46 cms framed

Dreams of the Sea

Sitting proud
On a flat estuary
My ship is taking water.

Passing bland islands
Floating debris scars
Our meandering wake.

Sailing to windward
The luff rattles,
Our prow scintillates
The flat Firth.

Nearing Chanonry Point
The narrows beckon,
Laughing dolphins cavort.

Standing to larboard,
Shoulder to the future,
Plimsoles on the camber
Of the wet deck,

I peer, guileless,
Into the approaching
Maelstrom.

(the seagulls are voracious)

Painting and Poem by
Brian Crawford Young © 2017

The big day has arrived! I’m looking forward to painting and talking about my art and art generally to passers by on the High Street. There will be a pop-up exhibition in the lane. Paintings for sale at straight-from-the-artist prices.  11am – 4pm.

“Tangalory Isles 2”; Oil on canvas; 20 x 20 cms

‘Tangalory Isles No.3’. Oil on canvas; 20 x 20 cms

“Tangalory Isles No.4”; Oil on canvas; 20 x 20 cms

I’ll be out on the High Street on Saturday painting and talking about abstract art to the knowing and unknowing. I’ll have my own pop up gallery too in the lane beside Alzheimer’s charity shop. Come and say hello!

“Event Horizon”; Oil on canvas; 60 x 60 cms

I’m exhibiting these three paintings at the group show of “An Talla Solais” the Highland artists’ group in Ullapool, Wester Ross. The exhibition runs AUGUST 20 – 23 OCTOBER 2016 @antallasolaisullapool

“Nu Rouge”; Oil on canvas; 76 x 91.5 cms

“String Theory”; Oil on canvas; 91 x 91 cms;

“Frisson”; Acrylic on canvas; 67 x 67 cms

For me, these two are also Tangalory, although they have different titles. Purple Haze started out as a beach scene with sky, and then became a bit abstract.

“Purple Haze”; Acrylic on canvas; 75 x 75 cms

and the one below is ‘Magic Faraway Place’, self explanatory.

“Magic Faraway Place”; Oil on canvas; 76 x 51 cms

More Tangalory Isles paintings. For me, the sky is the most important element around the coastline of Scotland. I love trying to ‘capture’ it, although of course the real thing is always bigger and better. Tangalory Isles No1 is the most explicit, in that you can make out some landscape features. If I had to connect it with any one island it would probably be Westray in the Orkney Isles. But it is influenced by, and not a depiction of, the place.

‘Tangalory Isles 1’; Acrylic on canvas; 75 x 75 cms •

‘Tangalory Isles No.3’. Oil on canvas; 20 x 20 cms

“Tangalory Isles No.4”; Oil on canvas; 20 x 20 cms