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I have confirmed the safe arrival of my heritage work entitled “Tides of Change” at Clydeport Ocean Terminal. I am looking forward to seeing my work printed at this large size although somewhat nervous about the number of people who will be viewing it!
To-day I confirmed that when it comes to analogue art I have a long way to go ... I attended a workshop at the Museum that had been organised for Inverclyde “Big Draw” week given by a caricaturist called Pedro. He made it all look very easy but I had difficulty just drawing a circle! Each to their own – sigh.
The big day – the arrival of the QE2 for her final visit to the river of her birth. I was up early to ensure I did not miss her sailing past my house even although I knew she was not due to dock at Ocean Terminal in Greenock until 12noon. I tracked her departure from Belfast on the AIS (Automatic Identification System) plotter website on the internet.
The weather was perfect – sun and clear blue skies – just too good to be true. Escorted by a Royal Navel Frigate HMS Manchester, the Calmac ferry MV Saturn, MV Balmoral which is operated by Waverley Excursions Limited, and a large flotilla of pleasure craft, she sailed majestically past my house right on time.
I rushed across the road for the photographic opportunity before she sailed on to Greenock. Later in the day I captured more images while she was berthed at Princess Pier as this year the public were allowed some access to the quayside.
After a most magnificent firework display at 10pm she pulled away from the quayside and with much sounding of her horn made an emotional passage past the tens of thousands of people lined along the Greenock Esplanade.
The end of an era not only for one of the world’s most famous liners but also for the proud heritage of shipbuilding in Inverclyde and along the River Clyde as a whole. This of course was the inspiration for my work in the Ocean Terminal entitled "Tides of Change” which includes, amongst other images, a shot of the QE2 taken on her 40th anniversary visit last year.
The frustrating part is that I was unable to see the work in situ as that area of Ocean Terminal was restricted to passengers on the QE2. My chance to see it will have to wait for another day when I have arranged access for myself and the Museum curator.
Time does march on quickly – it was a meeting of Inverclyde TAIT (The Arts Implementation Team) again today. I had a special interest in the meeting as three of the TAIT are also members of Inverclyde’s Tourist Group. This is a group of volunteers who welcome the passengers on visiting cruise ships to Greenock and as such have access inside Ocean Terminal. They were on duty for the big occasion yesterday and all three reported that "Tides of Change” was hanging in a prominent position and looking good. So I can relax a bit until I have seen it for myself.
To-day was the long awaited day when the Curator and I visited Ocean Terminal to view "Tides of Change”. We were both delighted – the artwork had been well hung in an ideal location for all the passengers to see and looked good in the space. On the technical side I was very impressed with the quality of the printers work and the colour accuracy and rendition was excellent. I took several photographs of the work in situ and the Operations Manager at the Terminal kindly offered to take some shots of me “posing” with the artwork - showing excellent skills as a director that far surpassed mine as a model!
We also had a very useful discussion about how to proceed with this project. I now have more research to carry out over the next couple of months and ideally the final work will be in place for the start of the “cruise season” in 2009.
Yesterday evening I visited Gryffe Camera Club in Houston, Renfrewshire (not to be confused with Houston, USA although I am open to offers of trips abroad!) to talk about various aspects of my work.
I am pleased to say my presentation was well received by a large turnout of extremely enthusiastic members. They were equally keen on my monochrome work, which sadly has been rather neglected recently while I have been pursuing my digital art and audio-visuals.
Gryffe Camera Club is proud to boast amongst its members four professional photographers and also Val and Bill Crookston who are leading lights in the world of audio-visual in Scotland being members of the Diaporama AV group. So this was quite a critical audience and I was delighted to have had such an enthusiastic welcome.