This Trip Starts with a Good Story
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This artists retreat in June of 2022 was the brainchild of my cousin Gena Brodie Robbins, an artist based in Atlanta. Why Scotland for her first international retreat? Here's the good part: Our fathers are brothers, and a curious cousin of theirs wrote a book of genealogy that traced our line of Brodies to brothers who sailed from Aberdeen to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1784. A trip to the motherland was a natural choice when Gena decided to plan the retreat, and here's the best part: we stayed at Brodie Castle! One wing of the castle, located in Forres, was still a home to a Brodie up until 2003, and after dear Ninian died the National Trust for Scotland began to allow lodging for visitors in his former living quarters. Yea for us!
Are our Aberdeen ancestors related to these Brodies? Gena and I think so, of course. What we do know is that our fathers met up at Brodie back in 2001--coincidentally! (That's another story.) They stood here just like we did 20 years later. Gena has confirmed dates for her second retreat to Brodie. See all the details on her web site. |
Gena and I having a small family reunion in front of Brodie Castle twenty years after our fathers did. Can you tell which daughter belongs to which dad?
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Artwork
Almost all of my paintings of from the area were made back in my Chicago studio. The landscape I saw was almost overwhelming in its beauty, vastness, diversity, and history, it was hard to stop looking and start painting. I did a lot of staring, sketching, and photographing in preparation for my return home where I could process all of the stimulation.
I'm using many different media and techniques to play with my reference photos--collage and stencils, typefaces and doilies, hand-drawn bits, acrylic paint, oil pastels, oil paints, watercolor, and on and on. None have been framed or finished yet. They're still hanging out together while I keep painting.
I'm using many different media and techniques to play with my reference photos--collage and stencils, typefaces and doilies, hand-drawn bits, acrylic paint, oil pastels, oil paints, watercolor, and on and on. None have been framed or finished yet. They're still hanging out together while I keep painting.
Oil on board, 7 x 20-ish ". Trying to capture the panoramic view from atop Califer Hill. Wish I could add a soundtrack of bleeting sheep behind us.