ROB MILLER Northern moods Paintings of the Hebrides
“As we hunted for the shoals of herring� Traditional Folk song
Fishing crofts above the Minch Original size 60cm x60cm Print size
50cm x50cm
Edition size
200
Artist proof
1-10
“I dream the dream I learned, lad, By the light o' the peat-fire flame, Light for love, for lilt o' grail-deeds, By the light o' the peat-fire flame, The light the hill-folk yearn for� K Macleod The Peat Fire Flame
Croft in storm light Original size 60cm x60cm Print Size 50cm x50cm Edition Size 200 Artist proofs 1-10
“
Row bonnie boat like a bird on the wing” Trad folk song
Two Crofts Sky Original size 60cm x60cm Print size
50cm x50cm
Edition size
200
Artist proof
1-10
“Nae Day Sae Dark Nae day sae dark; nae wüd sae bare; Nae grund sae stour wi' stane; But licht comes through; a sang is there; A glint o' grass is green.
Wha hasna thol'd his thorter'd hours And kent, whan they were by, The tenderness o' life that fleurs Rock-fast in misery?” Richard Stour British Navy
Croft and Monarch Islands Original size 60cmx60cm Print size
50cm x50cm
Edition size 200 Artist proof 1-10
Rob Miller Born in 1954 I Whalley Lancashire.Rob Miller was introduced to painting and drawing at an early age, painting his first oil on board seascape at the age of seven. He has been involved in the visual and performing arts ever since. He is currently the resident artist and Gallery Director at Artisan Fine Art Gallery Bolton and has recently become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Why do you paint I am fascinated by creation, by the land and the passage of day light, through the seasons. I feel that drawing with colour gets me closer to a moment that maybe meditative, whether its a quivering of AndalucĂa grasses, the shine of leaves glimpsed in the English green wood or the vast skies of the Western Isles; it ignites the need in me to create. When did you first see the Hebrides My first experience of the Hebrides was through a war film on the television as a kid growing up in Blackburn with a family who were keen on sailing and walking. From this I developed a great love of the outdoors especially walking or sailing in wilder areas. Later I was lucky enough to sail from Largs and from Oban with a small gang of mates around the inner Hebrides. I also spent some time in solitary wander on the various Islands painting and drawing . Each experience informed the other but although I have a strong interest in the geology , botany and history of a place it’s the poetic mood or stimulation that inspires me to paint. With the Hebrides there is less of a struggle on the interface of the canvas. What's your favourite Hebrides place Scarp and Braigh Mor on Harris and the view of Sky from Loch Hourn
ing high above the Caledonian ferry’s wake. The Hebrides are a place, were you feel, that you know, that the gods exART OF ENGLAND DECEMBER ist. So bleak is the land, so open are 2011 Northern Moods you to what is elemental that you feel a notion of joy when you come across a simple white croft and a sign of human survival. Lone places like small white ships moored between a shiftI” gather most of the materials for my ing blue grey sea and sky. I couldn’t paintings from my walks. Assembling stop painting and drawing them. Rovthe mechanics of a place, by creating ing about the Hebrides fascinated by a painterly collage distilled as drawthe hardness of the land, it is the ings and notes into my sketch books vastness of this space that began to (parts of which I have used here). form the narrative for my Hebrides This direct observational drawing and paintings, Fishing Crofts, Croft in writing is a crucial to my work, imStorm light, The croft with the rusted mersing the ‘I’ with the geometry of roof and others still in the making and place. From reading and listening I the contrasting intimacy of the Lake also try to catalogue the romance that Districts Dales and Fells that still we humans have with a location, in holds a part of my attention there.” this way I hope each piece or series rob miller page 63 issue 88 art of has its own emotional narrative or England Dec 2011 sense of place. By the end of my Lakes exploration I had become a kind of a ‘North Briton man’, not only did I like the squidgy, scratchy, cold, damp, hard feel of these remote parts but I was now beguiled by the romance inherent in Briton mans poetry. Whilst I mused on this in solitude, I decided a more sublime northerly experience was in order; A week later, much further north, Tarbet was dead ahead of me and the Minch off to starboard. The skies were now shifting bastions of silvered light, shin-
The weaving of the tarten by Alice Macdonell of Keppoch 1894 Isle of Lewis
I saw an old dame weaving a web of tarten fine Sing high she said sing low she said Wild torrent to the sea That saw my exiled bairnies torn in sorrow far frae me
Original size
60cmx60cm
Print size
50cm x50cm
Edition size
200
Artist proof
1-10
Croft and Beach isle of Lewis
Artisan Fine Art Gallery Bolton Artisan Fine Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery selling original paintings by contemporary artists in Bolton, Greater Manchester in the North West . There is always a wide selection of work on sale. Gallery exhibitions are changed on a regular basis, Because of this we only carry a small selection of each artists' work. If you are interested in any particular artist please call to let us know so that we can have some of their work available for you when you visit. Our Gallery philosophy is taken from a conversation between Cezanne and his art critic Gasquet over a century ago, "You either see a painting straight away or you never see it." Cezanne said, "What is the point of a commentary we may as well drink wine and chat as friends?"
Prices Works Individual original ÂŁ1490 Hand signed glicee print on quality paper ÂŁ180
Artisan Fine Art Gallery Bolton 330 Chorley Old Road Bolton BL1 4JU 01204 844820 info@artisanartgallery.co.uk www.artisanartgallery.co.uk
Rob Miller www. rob-miller.org www.mountainmoods.com 07841140562