Phew! It seems nearly a year that I have been involved with all the artwork I have created at the well known, Ness of Brodgar, neolithic archaeology site in Orkney, Scotland. The Northlight Gallery in Stromness was the chosen place and that was plotted out nearly a year ago. Then there has been the framing of the pieces, the write ups, the pricing, and then the figuring out how to get it available online.
I have been a volunteer every dig season at the Ness since 2011, but creating artwork on site has been a wonderful challenge and inspiration. This was my major
painting in 2018 and is 15 feet by 6 ft in size. Needless to say, it was last on display in 2019 at my exhibition in the Orkney Museum. Many of the structural features are that of Structure 12 that is now considered to be a large space that was used for cooking! Figures that I would focus on one of my favourite things... food production!
The following year I was able to produce many watercolours and even a whiteline print or two.
In the subsequent years, I have mainly worked on small size canvas or canvas panels with oil paints. The small size and oils are best for working plein air, or "how long can I hold onto this canvas without it blowing away?"
And I am grateful to be able to be working so long in Orkney. I am grateful for the folks at the Ness of Brodgar who have tolerated me and my paint around their very intent work around stones and trowels and dirt. And I am grateful for all the folks here who have made me feel a part of a wonderful group of islands. So the proceeds from all sales of the work you see here as the Ness of Brodgar OVER THE EDGE EXHIBITION, are being divided up between the ongoing needs at the Ness and the PEEDIE RETREAT. The PEEDIE RETREAT is about helping Orcadian residents who have become housebound from MS or cancer to have 4 days totally free, in a house designed to meet all their needs that will be situated just across from a most wonderful sandy beach. When we face health obstacles, we can forget about the beauty that surrounds us and yet that is exactly the medicine we need to be strong with.
In this oil painting that is still available for purchase, many folks are volunteering to cover the site with black plastic and tyres. In the background you see the Ring of Brodgar and the house known as Brodgar Farm. Neolithic era stones flanking a contemporary stone house that the dig's director, now lives in! And in the foreground, are volunteers from the Highland Park distillery in their yellow slickers who joined in with the other variously coloured jackets on folks who came from all over the world to dig during the 2022 season. Somehow, this painting created oh so swiftly in the midst of wind and rain, sums up what has been happening at the Ness of Brodgar for twenty years!
I believe all and any artwork created during the twenty years of active digging at the Ness will have a continuing and growing value. The Ness has brought poets, musicians, potters, photographers, and painters to visit. This is your chance to purchase any of my artwork created from 2018-2022. I have a body of work from the 2023 season, but am holding that back from public view. So....remember as of 20 October, this online sale of originals OVER THE EDGE will cease!
https://jeannebouzarose.com/collections/original
