Both Genie and I love the large-scale wood sculptures made by Nigel Ross. Many of them are functional such as benches designed for indoor (as well as outdoor) use, although you’d need a large living room for some of his stuff.

When I decided to make a series of short documentaries about Perthshire artists I admired, Nigel was naturally on my shortlist. The only planning was to arrange a convenient date and time when we could visit him at his studio. Genie helped out with one of the cameras.

We are hoping to make a further movie with Nigel when he starts a new piece from scratch, carving a massive tree trunk with a chainsaw, but that will be a longer term project. This one was filmed during one short visit – a couple of hours including time for tea. Enjoy!

It’s that time of the year again and more artists’ studios are open to the public this year than in any previous year. Check them out! Brochures can be collected from the Birnam Institute.

Recently I made this movie at Luisa Ramazzotti’s Lethendy House studio, which is one of the many studios open to the public during the Perthshire Open Studios event (3rd–11th September).

Yesterday evening I attended the preview of this year’s Heartwood event and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Regular Heartwood artists and guests have surpassed themselves, and the selection of photographs below represents only a small fraction of what can be seen wandering through Monkquell woods (near Blairgowrie).

Open from 3rd–11th September, 10am–5pm. For more information see: www.heartwoodartists.com.

Perthshire Open Studios is now in its third year, and as neither of us are actively taking part this year, Genie and I took the opportunity of visiting some of the exhibiting artists.

On Saturday we followed the “orange route” as marked out in the brochure, stopping first at Delvine Studios near Spittalfield where a dozen local sculptors are exhibiting their work. Then we drove down to Clunie Schoolhouse to see sculptures and paintings by Nigel Ross and Claudia Wegner. After two cups of tea and a good blether we were directed to Clunie Village Hall, which can be seen from the Schoolhouse. Here Stanislav F. Muller (Stanly) talked us through some of his experimental paintings and sculptures, and I thoroughly enjoyed the paintings by Bohumira Smolejova.

The sun was out and we were having a great time. One more stop before we called it a day: Easter Logie Studio, where twelve painters meet each week and are currently exhibiting some of their paintings and drawings. Great to have an excuse to visit this beautiful old house (Easter Logie)!

Our first stop on Sunday was to see Richard and Evelyn White, who have converted a double garage in Stanley into an airy workshop/exhibition space. This is their first POS event and their enthusiasm is infectious. Both Richard and Evelyn were happy to explain their work and the processes involved in creating it.

The colourful exhibition in the coffeeshop at Upper Stringland (Capability Scotland, Isla Road, Perth) is well worth a view, and given the recent cuts in funding deserves all the support it can get. Buy some inexpensive art and sign their visitors’ book!

Sarah Honeyman’s stained glass exhibition in Scone was our next stop. For the past 18 years Sarah has been making everything from brooches to church windows. Genie is keen to join Sarah on one of her occasional workshops and I can’t think of anyone more suited to teaching the art of stained glass than Sarah Honeyman.

Our last stop on Sunday was at the Potting Shed Studio near Coupar Angus where Roz Arno-Button is exhibiting her mixed media paintings and Judith McCrorie is showing examples of her work in stained, fused and slumped glass.

I can recommend all of the exhibitions we found time to visit, and hope to see more before the current POS event finishes next Sunday evening. Apart from anything else it’s a great excuse to see more of our beautiful Perthshire countryside. Brochures can be picked up at the Birnam Institute and more information can be found on the Perthshire Open Studios website.

Photography by Genie Dee.