For Paula My no-nonsense gal pal

My dear pal.

open.substack.com/pub/airtsand...

We are now on Bluesky! Keep an eye on our socials in the coming months for exciting projects, including our participation in the #RSA200 celebrations with @royalscottishacad.bsky.social and our key partners.

📸 Dorothy Johnstone, Marguerites, 1912. RSA © The Artist’s Estate.

Surreal painting featuring intertwined swans with elongated necks amidst abstract organic shapes and muted earthy tones.

Happy Autumn Equinox 🍂✨

'Autumn Equinox' by Joyce W. Cairns (b.1947) © the artist. 📷 Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums

Thanks to Airts & Pairts, I can indulge my niche interest in long-dead mid-20th century women artists. This Substack post, however, has had a lot of views since I posted it, so it feels like I'm not alone. Miss Dick was, I feel, an EXCELLENT WOMAN.
airtsandpairts.substack.com/p/jessie-ale...

This is what social media is for…

20th Century spotlight: Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums: Pastels by Angus Neil | Art UK Discover artworks, explore venues and meet artists. Art UK is the online home for every public collection in the UK, featuring over 600,000 artworks by over 60,000 artists.

Angus Neil was a lifelong friend of Joan Eardley. His work includes a significant group of pastels from Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums @abdnartmuseums.bsky.social - the first collection to share its entire works on paper holdings with @artukdotorg.bsky.social artuk.org/discover/cur...

Me too 🧡

My latest Airts & Pairts is about being 'in the room' at Fidra Fine Art in Gullane, East Lothian with artist @bourbonandwolfe.bsky.social - at the same time as Waterland, her brilliant and wide ranging new collection of work.
open.substack.com/pub/airtsand...

Margot Sandeman: imbuing the Scottish landscape with a strange mysticism | Art UK Discover artworks, explore venues and meet artists. Art UK is the online home for every public collection in the UK, featuring over 600,000 artworks by over 60,000 artists.

Artist in focus 👩‍🎨

'Margot Sandeman: imbuing the Scottish landscape with a strange mysticism' by @janpatience.bsky.social 👉 buff.ly/1j7XiO7

'Bramble Picking II' by Margot Sandeman (1922–2009) © the artist's estate. 📷 East Dunbartonshire Council

At Edinburgh’s Blackwelll Bookshop last night to usher Martin MacIntyre’s A Summer Like No Other, into the world on stage two of its journey. The novel was first published in Gaelic as Samhradh ’78. During a Q&A with Marion Sinclair @publishingscotland.bsky.social 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
luath.co.uk/products/a-s...

LS Lowry painting sold to Guardian literary editor for £10 could fetch £1m Rare early work Going to the Mill is to be auctioned after remaining in the Wallace family since 1926 When LS Lowry sold one of his earliest paintings to the literary editor of the Manchester Guardian in 1926, he had an immediate change of heart. Arthur Wallace had edited a supplement for the Guardian to accompany a civic week organised by Manchester city council in October 1926, and featured three paintings by the then struggling artist. Continue reading...

LS Lowry painting sold to Guardian literary editor for £10 could fetch £1m

Great story by
@libbybrooks.bsky.social
#LyonAndTurnbull

What is Substack and why is it the future? Join Sam Baker, Fiona Gibson and Lucy Sweet to find out how they use Substack and why it's such a great platform for building a brand.

On 25.03.25, Women in Journalism Scotland is hosting: “What is Substack and why is it the future?” WiJS co-chair Anna Burnside, will be joined by Sam Baker, Fiona Gibson & Lucy Sweet to find out how they use Substack… Tickets £5 (members) & £7.50 (non-members)
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-is-su...

The media reaction to the death of the Scottish artist Jack Vettriano last week - in which I played a small part - got me thinking.
Link to read my latest Airts & Pairts Substack post below:
⬇️
airtsandpairts.substack.com/p/everyones-...
(That’s me in my French Lieutenant’s Woman art critic guise)

@danigaravelli.bsky.social

“The red represents the women’s blood, the grey the ashes left when they were burned & the pink the tape used to tie up legal documents.”
Read Dani Garavelli @heraldscotland on the new Witches of Scotland tartan, designed by Prickly Thistle’s Clare Campbell.
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2493734...

I’m not a great one for Valentine-ing, but I remembered taking this photo of street art in Brussels in the wee small hours during a press trip to Belgium. The date on my phone says February 2016. Funny how - of all the art I’ve seen in the last ten years - this image stood out in the crowd.

BBC Radio 4 - Whose Truth Is It Anyway? Writer and broadcaster Damian Barr explores reality, truth and fiction in literature.

Now seems like a good time to share this series I made about how writers construct 'truth'. I look at memoir, novels and autofiction and talk to a host of incredible people including Olivia Laing, @sathnam.bsky.social and @jennashworth.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

We're living George Orwell's 1984: IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

I finished series three of Somebody Somewhere (Sky Comedy) and, although the last episode is a totey bit winsome, in contrast to all the others, it was pitch perfect.
And no-one got kaboomed (my new pet hate in a drama!)
Apparently, they are not making another series, which is a darned shame.

Because today is beyond dreich in my corner of Scotland, I offer you a Liz Knox painting, Sunflowers & Windows.
ICYMI (what do you MEAN you missed it?) my latest Substack is all about Liz, poetry, painting and the complex business of writing a life.
🔗 ⬇️
airtsandpairts.substack.com/p/sic-transi...

Faints

You have?

Here’s the page. Still wondering about Joan and the Roberts. They must have had friends in common. The only other Scottish artist Lilian Browse talks about is Robin Philipsson.

Imagine it being restaged!? Calling Scottish Ballet…

Tracked down this beauty online as keen to read Joan Eardley section.
@damianbarr.bsky.social - Lilian mentions the Roberts but only in relation to Scottish ballet, Donald of the Burthens, which they designed. She was a dance critic as well as an art dealer.

Writing a life…
I’ve picked up the metaphorical pen and written a new piece for my Airts & Pairts Substack. It’s inspired by writing an obituary @heraldscotland.bsky.social about the Scottish artist Liz Knox, who died just before Christmas.
🔗 👇
airtsandpairts.substack.com/p/sic-transi...

Yes, I’ve watched it and totally agree. He was magnificent in The Apprentice.

No, but I really want to see it now! Have you seen A Real Pain? Lyn and I were talking about going to see.

Await your critical feedback with interest!