House on the Hill

This afternoon I was invited to open a fund raising art auction which was being held in Tighnabruaich Primary School. The target, I had been told, was £4000 and I thought that was pretty steep for a single event.

However I had reckoned without the enterprise of the Parent Council and the help they could enlist from a range of supporters including Andrew & Penny Graham-Weal, who own the Tighnabruaich Gallery and Sadie Dixon-Spain , who runs the Walking Theatre Company and who was acting - with aplomb - as auctioneer.

The school met its target with a combination of keenly contested art sales, a wide ranging and well supported silent auction and some helpful donations.

All the pictures were postcard sized and I successfully bid for an acrylic by Elizabeth Bruce called "From the New Road - Towards the Head of Loch Riddon" which imaginatively recreates the scenery in which I live.

The highest price of the show was earned by this small but beautiful painting by Heather Neavy, who was there for the start of the auction and who has a house in Tighnabruaich. Called "The House on the Hill" it eventually went for £700.

It was a great afternoon and a very original way to raise funds. It also confirms the huge talent in the visual arts - both professional and amateur - to be found all around us in Scotland.