here are some dates for your diary.

Keep an eye out for updates over the coming weeks, when I'll be sharing further details and sneak peeks on what goodies I'll have at these fab artisan markets.

#ayrshireart #datesforyourdiary #handmade #artisanmarkets #artmarket #robertburnsbirthplacemuseum #artforsale #ayrshireartist

#supportlocal #lovewhatyoudo #dowhatmakesyouhappy #handmadeayr #ayrshiressmallbusiness #smallbusiness #supportsmallbusiness #craftmarket #ayrshiremarket #ayrshireartisans #scottishartistsandmakers #scottishart #ayrshirecoast

Handmade in Ayr Market

Caroline Dyet Art www.carolinedyetart.com

Vanessa Lawrence has gone from predominantly painting for many years to creating sculptures based on wildlife and the human figure.  

These sculptures have been commissioned both privately as well as for large scale public art commissions.  Although sculptures are the starting point these sculptures go on to influence drawings and paintings on to a variety of surfaces.  One work can evolve into a whole series of works, which keeps the whole practice exciting and open ended.

In 1993 Vanessa attended a 9-month programme at Lorenzo De Medici, School of Art, Florence, Italy studying figurative drawing and painting, then continued to live, work and paint in Switzerland until January 1998 when she obtained an 18-month sponsorship to attend The New York Studio School of Drawing Painting and Sculpture.  Vanessa then won scholarships from the school to complete the three-year program, including a 4-month exchange in autumn 2000 to the Ecole de Beaux Arte, Marseille, France.

After graduating from the Studio School in spring 2001, she was accepted to take part in the Studioscape Residency Program run by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council on the 91st Floor of the North Tower of the Twin Towers.  The residency was tragically ended on September 11th, which then forced Vanessa to return to Scotland where she works as a full time artist.

Read more about Vanessa here

This evening there will be live model for you to sketch, paint or draw. A great opportunity to practice life drawing skills.

Bring along your materials of choice!

Bring along a piece of your own work (Members with surnames A to L). 

Nicola will give you her professional appraisal with hints and tips.

Bring along a current piece of work and enjoy a sociable evening sharing chat and ideas over a nice cup of tea!

Donations for tea/coffee/biscuits will be going to this year’s chosen charity.

Four Art Club members will set up around the hall with examples of their work. This is always a very sociable evening and is a great opportunity to explore different techniques and expand our own practice.

Tonight’s artists:-

• Jenny Brown

• Sandra Innes

• Audrey Kaufman

• Cally Laidlaw

Nicola Carberry BA PGCE Fine Art graduate of Glasgow School of Art, post-graduate certificate in Post-School Education from Strathclyde University, lecturer in Art & Design at Glasgow Kelvin College, member of Milngavie Art Club, former committee member of RGI and PAI.

Life drawing has been part of Nicola’s creative practice since the age of 15 at Dollar Summer School with the renowned Scottish artist Lys Hansen. Her drawings evolve through numerous sessions and layers. During lockdown, she also found a way of working with the figure via sessions online and began to recognise the flat screen for what it was, a frame around an image, like a still from a film or play. Being able to view the model as a character within a scene, opened lots of new possibilities.

Bring along a current piece of work and enjoy a sociable evening sharing chat and ideas over a nice cup of tea!

Donations for tea/coffee/biscuits will be going to this year’s chosen charity.

Lewis MacKenzie is a contemporary impressionist painter based near Glasgow in Scotland. His work features in numerous private collections and has appeared in exhibitions by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, The Royal Glasgow Institute and the Paisley Art Institute, as well as in several private art galleries in London, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

A mostly self-taught painter, Lewis trained as a biologist and worked for several years in a cancer laboratory before rekindling his life-long love of drawing and painting in the early 2010s. He draws influences from the masters of past eras, such as Velasquez, Vermeer, Raeburn, Sargent, and the Boston School Impressionists. His interests range from portraiture to still life and landscape, and he is committed to the impressionist way of working – to approach form through the study and interpretation of light, in an effort to draw out the musical and poetic resonances of the visual impression.

Read more about Lewis here

Yvonne is a graduate of Glasgow School of Art, winning the American Friends of the GSA award. In the same year she was one of 66 artists worldwide awarded Sotheby’s International Artist of the Year status with exhibitions in Tel Aviv and Chicago.

She is an artist member of Paisley Art Institute, Glasgow Art Institute and the Glasgow Society of Women Artists. Yvonne has a wonderful mastery of the palette knife. Her skill in creating textures, gestural marks and detail is exceptional.

Siobhan McLaughlin is an artist and curator based in Glasgow. She graduated with First Class MA (Hons) in Fine Art at Edinburgh University in 2019 and has since been awarded the SSA Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Award at the Royal Scottish Academy and a film commission from the Tate’s British Art Network. In 2022/23, Siobhan was awarded an RSA Residencies for Scotland at Cromarty Arts Trust, the Black Isle, a Visual Art Scotland Cornwall Exchange Residency and a Stephen Palmer Travel Award.

As well as exhibiting regularly, she has curated a major private collections exhibition at Dovecot Studios for the centenary of Scottish artist Alan Davie.

Her practice combines personal experiences of walking and nature with material experimentation to create non-traditional landscape paintings. Alongside painting she uses drawing, basic weaving, printmaking and installation to explore themes of place, struggle, memory and sustainability.

She is interested in honesty in painting, allowing raw materials, thick brushmarks and exposed frayed edges to lay bare the construction of the painting. This links into her interest in the history of British landscape painting, the romanticisation and valuing of rural landscapes primarily for their aethetic value, which for centuries has led us to risk minimising the land's ecological worth. In the current, continued state of climate crisis, it is more important than ever to re-evaluate our understanding of landscapes, to represent them in paint not only as areas of beauty but as valuable and complex resources to be protected. 

Read more about Siobhan here

Our first night of the 2025/26 Session. Troon Primary School, Sports Hall - Barassie Street, Troon 7pm to 9pm

Come along to enrol.

This is also an informal work night so bring along a piece of work in progress and enjoy sharing ideas, chatting and having a nice cup of tea!

Join Troon Art Club in Dunure on Saturday 30 August 2025 from 11am - 3pm. 

Let us know if you can make it using this link below: 

https://forms.gle/qAkm9htvMyuso2687

There are several areas of interest, including the view across the Clyde to Arran, Kintyre  and Ailsa Craig; the Castle, The Dovecot, The Labyrinth, Seaview cottages from Kennedy Park or the beach, Yachts and Boats in the Harbour, Harbourview houses, the North Shore, Port Shuchan Beach (accessed by following the path South from Kennedy Park).

Important - Please do not start painting before this time if you wish to be included in the competition.

There is a Toilet block at Kennedy Park, and a single site Toilet on the Harbour.

Food and Drinks are available at The Harbourside Café and The Anchorage Hotel; Aruna Gift Shop is on the same street.

For parking information, see Directions below.

We will have a judge and a number of prizes for the best artworks. There will be 1st, 2nd and 3rd places and a 4th prize for members from other clubs who want to join us.  All prizes will be announced on the day.  Not everyone needs to enter the competition, we are happy to have you along and enjoy the beautiful environment.

If the weather is too poor for us to paint, the event will be postponed to a later date.  We will keep you up to date with any further details in the lead up to the Event.

Directions

BY ROAD

From the North via Ayr, take the A719 road from Doonfoot at the Co-Op roundabout and head South past Craig Tara and The Farm Park.

When you enter the 30mph/20mph zone, there is a ramp at Fisherton Primary School bus stop; turn RIGHT on Station Road down the hill to Dunure.

Carry on past the Harbour and turn RIGHT to park at Kennedy Park.

 From the South via Maybole or Culzean, take the A719 road past Humeston Byre, Croy and The Electric Brae, and turn LEFT at Dunure Mains Farm.

When you enter the 30mph/20mph zone, turn LEFT to park at Kennedy Park.

Currently there are no parking charges at Kennedy Park; the £5/day charge may be reinstated by the Plein Air date.

Parking at the Harbour area is limited to 2 hours with a view to prioritising the small number of spaces for Harbourside Café customers.

Parking at the Anchorage Hotel car park, accessed by a ramp just South of the Harbour road is for Hotel customers only.

There are several areas of interest, including the view across the Clyde to Arran, Kintyre  and Ailsa Craig; the Castle, The Dovecot, The Labyrinth, Seaview cottages from Kennedy Park or the beach, Yachts and Boats in the Harbour, Harbourview houses, the North Shore, Port Shuchan Beach (accessed by following the path South from Kennedy Park).

There is a Toilet block at Kennedy Park, and a single site Toilet on the Harbour.

Food and Drinks are available at The Harbourside Café and The Anchorage Hotel; Aruna Gift Shop is on the same street.

For parking information, see Directions below.

We will have a judge and a number of prizes for the best artworks. There will be 1st, 2nd and 3rd places and a 4th prize for members from other clubs who want to join us.  All prizes will be announced on the day.  Not everyone needs to enter the competition, we are happy to have you along and enjoy the beautiful environment.

If the weather is too poor for us to paint, the event will be postponed to a later date.  We will keep you up to date with any further details in the lead up to the Event.

Directions

BY ROAD

From the North via Ayr, take the A719 road from Doonfoot at the Co-Op roundabout and head South past Craig Tara and The Farm Park.

When you enter the 30mph/20mph zone, there is a ramp at Fisherton Primary School bus stop; turn RIGHT on Station Road down the hill to Dunure.

Carry on past the Harbour and turn RIGHT to park at Kennedy Park.

 From the South via Maybole or Culzean, take the A719 road past Humeston Byre, Croy and The Electric Brae, and turn LEFT at Dunure Mains Farm.

When you enter the 30mph/20mph zone, turn LEFT to park at Kennedy Park.

Currently there are no parking charges at Kennedy Park; the £5/day charge may be reinstated by the Plein Air date.

Parking at the Harbour area is limited to 2 hours with a view to prioritising the small number of spaces for Harbourside Café customers.

Parking at the Anchorage Hotel car park, accessed by a ramp just South of the Harbour road is for Hotel customers only.

Join Troon Art Club in Dunure on Saturday 14 June 2025 from 11am - 3pm. 

Please do not start painting before this time if you wish to be included in the competition.

Let us know if you can make it using this link: https://forms.gle/qAkm9htvMyuso2687

There are several areas of interest, including the view across the Clyde to Arran, Kintyre  and Ailsa Craig; the Castle, The Dovecot, The Labyrinth, Seaview cottages from Kennedy Park or the beach, Yachts and Boats in the Harbour, Harbourview houses, the North Shore, Port Shuchan Beach (accessed by following the path South from Kennedy Park).

There is a Toilet block at Kennedy Park, and a single site Toilet on the Harbour.

Food and Drinks are available at The Harbourside Café and The Anchorage Hotel; Aruna Gift Shop is on the same street.

For parking information, see Directions below.

We will have a judge and a number of prizes for the best artworks. There will be 1st, 2nd and 3rd places and a 4th prize for members from other clubs who want to join us.  All prizes will be announced on the day.  Not everyone needs to enter the competition, we are happy to have you along and enjoy the beautiful environment.

If the weather is too poor for us to paint, the event will be postponed to a later date.  We will keep you up to date with any further details in the lead up to the Event.

Directions

BY ROAD

From the North via Ayr, take the A719 road from Doonfoot at the Co-Op roundabout and head South past Craig Tara and The Farm Park.

When you enter the 30mph/20mph zone, there is a ramp at Fisherton Primary School bus stop; turn RIGHT on Station Road down the hill to Dunure.

Carry on past the Harbour and turn RIGHT to park at Kennedy Park.

 From the South via Maybole or Culzean, take the A719 road past Humeston Byre, Croy and The Electric Brae, and turn LEFT at Dunure Mains Farm.

When you enter the 30mph/20mph zone, turn LEFT to park at Kennedy Park.

Currently there are no parking charges at Kennedy Park; the £5/day charge may be reinstated by the Plein Air date.

Parking at the Harbour area is limited to 2 hours with a view to prioritising the small number of spaces for Harbourside Café customers.

Parking at the Anchorage Hotel car park, accessed by a ramp just South of the Harbour road is for Hotel customers only.

On Saturday 24th May the all-weather venue for our Summer Outing this year is Alloway, birthplace of Robert Burns, and now home to one of the most exciting new art installations in Scotland.

Bring a sketchbook and capture scenes from the mural, or some of the nearby locations such as the auld Brig O’ Doon, Alloway Auld Kirk or the Burns Monument Garden. Scenic Alloway village and Burns’ Cottage is a 15-minute walk away.

Refreshments, lunch and toilets are within a 5-minute walk at the National Trust for Scotland’s Robert Burns Birthplace Museum Café.

Please car-share if you can and plan to arrive around 10:45. There is free street parking on Murdoch’s Lone, and off-street at the Burns Museum. Make your way down the access ramp to the path off Murdoch’s Lone, for a start at 11:00 (we will have a steward on duty to direct you).

Please gather back at the tunnel by 2:30pm to take part in the judging of the sketches (place a penny token on your favourite) and congratulate the winners.

Create a double/split portrait in the style of Jody Kelly. In this one off unique workshop, Jody will demonstrate his portrait techniques using acrylic paints and source images from magazines

You will create your own unique portrait on an A4 Canvas

Date - Friday 25th April

Time - 10am-2pm

Cost - £50

Harbour Arts Centre, Irvine

Suitable for all abilities

Canvas and paints provided - Participants can bring their own brushes and materials if desired

Follow the link to book this exciting workshop!!!

https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/...

Please make a point of attending the AGM if at all possible. We need a quorum to pass any resolutions.

Julie will be on hand to offer help and advice while you produce your own work based on her demo of last week.

Julie is best known for her semi-abstract interpretations of the Scottish landscape. Born in Irvine, she worked as a stained-glass artist and framer for many years until attending painting classes at Glasgow School of Art. Julie became an occasional practical art tutor at the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Adult & Continuing Education but now concentrates solely on painting.

Working in oil over a watercolour base, she pays particular attention to the preparation of her painting surface. Board is textured with Orkney wool as well as sand or sea washed coal- shards from the Ayrshire coast. Metal leaf is then carefully placed, sealed and masked before several layers of acrylic gesso are applied around it.

Her subject is always the land which surrounds her and she explains... ’When observing and sketching a landscape sometimes I see, not only the shapes and colours of the land, but a glint of the first folk who walked on it. The silver, gold and copper leaf I use in my work represents a glimmering of these ancient, first farmers. The folk who shaped not only the land but also ourselves.’

Read more about Julie here

Four Art Club members will be set up around the hall with examples of their work. This is always a very sociable evening and is a great opportunity to explore different techniques and expand our own practice.

Tonight’s artists:-

• Tom Bate

• Tom McCrorie

• Karen McGhee

• Claire Thorogood