JOHN CLARK - ARTIST AND POET
6 BROOKE STREET, DUMFRIES.
Original Art Work
Shown below are original paintings and commissions completed recently. The artist has painted the River Nith many times and as a child used to spend his summers at Conheath Cottages near Glencaple. His father the late John Macdonald Clark a well known local poet was born at Conheath and wrote fondly of the Nith and its many moods. The poems 'Sang O The Nith', 'Burns Walk' and 'Evening Epilogue' describe it perfectly. His poetic perception sadly not recognised for its true worth till his later life has passed through the generations.
'Run sparklin Nith aye liltin rin
atween the braes o Enterkin
dance whaur the wee winds heid-lang race
tae glimpse thy bonnie smilin face;
Gar the young mists o mornin spin
thy maiden goun as fine an thin as ony lace'
The striking image of the Path near Dalscone again is situated on Burns Walk. Mid October the colours of leaves can be quite striking and the light that plays between the giant beech and oak creates warm shadows that dance over the rough path
Shown below are original paintings and commissions completed recently. The artist has painted the River Nith many times and as a child used to spend his summers at Conheath Cottages near Glencaple. His father the late John Macdonald Clark a well known local poet was born at Conheath and wrote fondly of the Nith and its many moods. The poems 'Sang O The Nith', 'Burns Walk' and 'Evening Epilogue' describe it perfectly. His poetic perception sadly not recognised for its true worth till his later life has passed through the generations.
'Run sparklin Nith aye liltin rin
atween the braes o Enterkin
dance whaur the wee winds heid-lang race
tae glimpse thy bonnie smilin face;
Gar the young mists o mornin spin
thy maiden goun as fine an thin as ony lace'
The striking image of the Path near Dalscone again is situated on Burns Walk. Mid October the colours of leaves can be quite striking and the light that plays between the giant beech and oak creates warm shadows that dance over the rough path
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The Inner Eye
For anyone who has a fondness for Scotland and the area that is Dumfries and Galloway the poems of father and son add depth and meaning spiritually and emotionally to the landscape. With the inner eye the poems capture that which is sometimes hard to define - the movement of the tide, the shadows that descend at dusk, the beauty that is all around us and how it shapes our lives.
'Where Nith at ebb-tide seeks tae win
in hameward flicht the parent Firth
I watched yestreen the shadows rin
lang efter day had shed its mirth
an aye, as doon the hills they strayed
the caller air aroun me played.'
The bridge shown, spans the River Nith a mile or so South-West of Thornhill on the road to Penpont. It is a rather tranquill spot and many local people, in days gone bye, would have used it to learn how to swim. The recent gouache of a brightly painted rowing boat at Kippford captures well the different moods of the landscape and highlights the artist's fascination with old boats.
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Contemporary Landscape
John Clark doesn't restrict himself to local landscape work but takes great delight in unusual and challenging subjects. Shown above are some recent works drawn from travelling in America and Italy.
Other Contemporary Work
The artist also paints original and unusual contemporary landscapes, two of which are shown below. 'The Battle of Stirling Bridge' and 'Blown Away'(the destruction of Chapelcross Cooling Towers).
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© Copyright. All images, poetry
& text on this site belong to John Clark
2008
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