Blow gently...

Artists like to live in remote areas, because the property is cheap and they need lots of space if they make big work and need room for workshops and furnaces.

Well, I had been warned that Swedish glass artist Elin Isaksson had relocated her studio to a cottage high up on the Touch estate some miles outside Stirling and the direction gave some hint of its remoteness “ after passing over the fourth cattle grid take a right turn and follow road until the end”.

Well it was worth the trip if only to see the spectacular views of Stirling castle, the Wallace monument and The Ochils.

But I was not there to admire the view. Elin was running a glass making course for beginners (OK I got the date wrong- her Christmas sale with mulled wine which I was interested in starts tomorrow) but I did get to watch glass-blowing in action.


Now I understand why her work is so expensive.

Does not the remoteness of her home and studio bother her?
“Not at all, “says Elin who comes from the north of Sweden.
“But you must get snowed in?”
“ We walk out. It is only 32 minutes walk to the nearest village.”

She sells her work online or direct to galleries.
“So it does not matter where I live.”
She added:
‘Making glass is a way of accessing a world increasingly excluded from our everyday life.’

( Her work was featured in yesterday's blip)