Kirkudbright

First went a couple of years ago to seek out some work by the Glascow Girls - though I had no idea they were called that at the time (isn't reading a wonderful thing)
I loved the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and then I realised that his wife - Margaret - was every bit, if not more interesting... and then discovered the work of her sister - Frances... and then their contemporary - Jesse King - all pioneers of what became known as the Glascow Style - a Scottish version if you like of Art Nouveau. To my mind - the best of Art Nouveau - trimmed of all the extranneous twirly swirly bits but retaining that strong, elongated, linear - almost graphic quality.
They worked and lived for a while in the town of Kirkudbright in Scotland, in the beautiful, yet still largely bypassed area of Scotland - Dumfries and Galloway.
In myyounger days, trips north of the border were cold, damp, dismal, midgie-infested fishing excursions up to Loch Fyne - way up on the west coast. Glascow was traversed in the wee small hours - only ever seen by the light of the moon and the Solway coast was a mere smudge on the western horizon.
Days are lighter now!
I love how the Scots aren't afraid to celebrate their identities - pipes and fiddles and dancing - young and old (see extras)
And new to me this year - in Kirkudbright's town hall exhibition - the Airdrie Boys - artists Dan Ferguson and John Cunningham - they have that sense of colour and light and looseness that seems unique to the Scots - I love how their work verges on the abstract yet still keeps a hold on drawing and structure.
I've used up a couple of extras here for Culzean Landscape - [pronounced Cullane] and Road to Southend... definitely worth further investigation.
Well done to a young man named Fraser at the Town Hall for his enthusiastic invigilation techniques!
I've added more from our Kirkudbright adventure on my flickr site if you've not had enough yet :-)