Polaroid Paintings by Rhiannon Connelly

"Canal in Leiden"

One of this years upcoming exhibitions features a good friend of mine Rhiannon Connelly who is a photographer whose work is delightfully different and original. At the moment Rhiannon can be found in Istanbul shooting part of her " 12 city project ". A unique project which has seen her travel to 8 european cities so far including Venice where we met up and travelled together . We will hopefully be seeing more on this project once its completed but for now a little about Rhiannons work .

Rhiannon uses a vintage Polaroid SX70 camera to create what she calls ‘Polaroid paintings,’ an unusual technique which in recent years has become a recognised branch of photography in its own right. There are no computers involved other than in preparing the final giclée printing process.

The particular film used allows the manipulation of the emulsion for a short period to create a dreamlike image halfway between a photograph and a painting. It is unique and unrepeatable, projecting the individual vision of the artist in the same way as an original painting does. The photograph is then scanned and printed to create a much larger final image, which is presented as a limited or open edition giclée print.

"Rome in the rain"

This is quote from Rhiannon taken from a recent interview by Andy Hays regarding the above image...

My favourite picture is very often the one I have just completed, but this one is a particular favourite. Its not one where I was “at the right place at the right time” - in fact it didn’t seem like the right time at all - it was raining heavily and I decided not to queue for ages in torrential rain to visit St Peter’s. Once I had decided on my shot I waited a good half hour or so until the people with the bright umbrellas were in the right place - then I retired to a nearby cafe for a cappucino and a dry place to do the manipulation.

Rhiannons exhibition at The Gallery Cafe is scheduled for September but in the meantime you can see more work on Rhainnons website
and updates on her blog

Ullapool book festival

The weekend of 8th - 10th May will see an exciting line up of fiction, non- fiction, poetry, writing workshops and lectures in English and Gaelic.

The friday sessions will be held on the isle of Martin in recognition of Homecoming Scotland
Homecoming Scotland is a celebration of Scottish contributions to the world . With over 200 events all over Scotland from the celebration of the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns' birth to events such as the world porridge making championship !
The Isle of Martin lies 3 miles north of Ullapool with the nearest mainland being Ardmair roughly one mile away. The history of the Island is that it was gifted by the R.S.P.B to the trust formed by communities of Lochbroom and Coigeach in1999.
The remaining workshops during the book festival will take place at Ullapool Village hall and The Ceilidh Place

Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables

One of the most popular paninis on our menu since we first introduced it a year ago is freshly roasted meditteranean vegetables and mozzarella.






Chop peppers, red onions, dark purple aubergines, and courgettes , toss in some olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar, season and roast. Beautiful easy and healthy ..try it at home simply served with pasta or cous cous.

I was recently looking through the website of David Robinson and came across an interesting and amusing article he had written about hillwalking and landscape photography. Many thanks to David for allowing me to reprint his writing and if you would like to see Davids Photography visit his website here

Photography is my way of complicating life. It used to be so simple. For example, if I wanted to go hillwalking, the process went something like this:

1. Decide to go hillwalking
2. Decide on a hill
3. Pack rucksack
4. Drive to hill
5. Walk up it
6. Walk down it
7. Drive home

I dream of those long gone days. Hillwalking now goes something like this:

1. Decide to go hillwalking
2. Decide on a hill
3. Check weather forcast for photogenic suitability
4. Check sunrise and sunset times
5. Check sunrise and sunset angles
6. Decide chosen hill won't be photogenic with those angles
7. Scour maps for better hill
8. Realise that there's no way I can get there in time for sunrise
9. Decide to leave hill decision brewing and pack rucksack
10. Pack photo gear
11. Lift rucksack and topple over
12. Jettison first aid kit and survival bag
13. Jettison food
14. Bite bullet and decide on only two must have lenses
15. Worry that the as yet unknown hill will provide images that can only be captured by the lenses I'm not taking
16. Choose lenses again
17. Charge batteries
18. Unpack lenses and clean them
19. Repack the lenses
20. Decide on hill
21. Reconsider lens decision
22. Reconsider hill decision
23. Wonder if I'd be best just going for a drive and taking photos from the car rather than walk up anything
24. Go to bed in preparation for ultra early start
25. Stay awake all night in case I sleep through my alarm
26. Get up and wonder why I'm doing this
27. Wonder how the weather forecast managed to change so drastically in the last 4 hours
28. Decide to go anyway - just in case
29. Drive to hill
30. Stagger up it in dark
31. Realise that it's getting very light and I'm no where near where I wanted to be
32. Scramble round looking for a good scene
33. Find the perfect scene, but not for the lenses I brought
34. Curse silently because battery is still in charger which is still attached to my house
35. @#!&~@@%