Diageo Commission
Laura Newbury - Glen Ord Distillery

Sometimes an email comes in offering artspace in an exhibition, or on a web page, or someone inquires about paintings with a view to buying. Often these are of quite a general nature, and I have learned to be wary of them, because of two occasions in the past.

The first of these was signing up for artspace in London, which seemed like a good deal at first, but later, having realised the hidden costs involved, particularly of insurance, (which had to be the sole responsibility of the artist), I became very scared where it might all end and pulled out, losing some money, but thankful it hadn't amounted to much more.

The second instance was of a man claiming to want to pay large amounts for paintings. It was through someone writing in to Ali's website that it was revealed that this same person was a con man.

In both these cases, I think I was caught up by the flattery, in the first case of the woman on the phone waxing lyrical about my work, and me! which should have rung alarm bells given she didn't know me. In the second, of someone being so enamoured of my work without basing their enthusiasm on any particular aspect of it.

Contrasted to this are occasions where people I have known in the past have got in touch. They have a connection with me from the past, or some connection with the paintings which is on a deeper level; enough to make them want to own one.

I mention all this because it has been a lesson to me in discrimination.

The email which came in from EHS Brann seemed genuine for some reason. There was no flowery language or hazy promises. It stated what was involved in the commission, and what the payment would be. There was a name to contact. There was guidance about how to find out about the whiskies and locations. It was made clear that the artist was free to interpret the subject in their own style.

A whisky company would obviously be looking for an appealing landscape image, I thought. Given that the whiskies are like works of art themselves being made from the water of the place where the distillery is situated, I reckoned that within the 13 locations of the distilleries, there would be great scope for the type of image I like to make. I like to capture the spirit of a place and the whisky topic seemed to fit! I also thought that it would not be in the interests of a major whisky company to treat artists in a shabby way.

Ali got on the phone then. He also had a good feeling about this project. I thought, If Ali feels this is okay, then it is! and proceeded. Emails I sent to Barbra Drummond Hay were always directly responded to, and she was very helpful This put me at ease. I think, having a good feeling about a project and knowing you have support and respect gives confidence. I needed confidence, having come out of a period of finding it difficult to make time to do my own painting. It was therefore in a personal way, a great opportunity for me.

After a false start, when I drove up to Dalwhinnie one day I had free, thinking to do some research and sketches, and thinking we had to choose our distillery ourselves, I returned home to find I had been allocated Glen Ord. I was delighted, and didn't feel the Dalwhinnie day had been wasted. As it happened, I had finished my schooling in Inverness, and had done a little work experience in a graphics studio in Muir of Ord, before starting Art College. I had also been on an art course at Raddery House on the Black Isle, when in 5th year at school, and then later, as a newly qualified art teacher in Inverness, had also taught on one of these courses for talented children, at Tarradale House on the Black Isle. I had in addition memories of cycling there and painting in the long hot summers of the late 1970s, before the Kessock Bridge had been built, and the crossing was by ferry.

All this gave me such a feel good factor that the visit to Glen Ord did not feel like work at all. In addition, the people at the Distillery could not have been more welcoming and helpful.

Having had a good look round, and made some sketches, I set my heart on doing a painting of the copper stills lit up at night, as seen through the large plate glass windows from the road. I thought the image would be suitably cosy looking for a Christmas card. I knew this was also the image which the men who worked there would favour. It was nice feeling like a mad artist again, knowing I would be paid for the work, sitting in the dark under the trees and making drawings of the shining copper through the glass windows opposite.

The following day I made more sketches and despite rain, managed to do a complete painting from the back of the distillery, which I thought would be useful as reference.

Once home I set about taking 3 images and putting them together. The images of the copper stills lit up at night would form the central part of the composition, with a view of the old pagoda towers above, whilst the bottom foreground section below the stills, depicted a whisky barrel with Glen Ord written across it.

I began to wonder what the other artists had chosen, and put myself under pressure a bit trying to show off my ability to depict the reflective copper surfaces of the stills. But this pressure felt quite good and I was enjoying the challenge. I am used to encouraging the students I teach to push themselves to tackle more difficult challenges. Now I was doing this for myself.

It wasn't until the time came to send in our pictures of the work in progress, that I received a phonecall from the Art Director of the project. He was extremely encouraging, and said the staff at the company really liked all the images. However, they were uncertain about the composition of the projected final image.

I think he understood what I was trying to do, but was aware he had to sell the image on to a client, and that the person may not be an artist and it needed to be clear how this final image would work. Perhaps if I had finished my idea and presented it complete, it would not have been a problem.

I was very impressed that he had taken time out to speak to me and discuss the images, and selling them on. He could have simply rejected my plan.

On discussion, it became clear that everyone had liked, possibly preferred the small painting I had made very spontaneously from the back of the distillery. I realised I needed to compromise a bit, and put my own ideas aside in order to meet the clients'. We therefore agreed that I would submit the painting that had been done on the spot.

Ideas of showing off my copper painting ability quickly faded, and I was a little deflated. However, I also felt relieved that they liked the small painting. Perhaps something of the place really had been captured in this image.

Memories came back to me of art college when I had been striving for weeks to produce large figure compositions on huge canvases, but the external examiner had particularly credited the tiny sketches for these compositions. The sketches had always been quickly done with little or no effort.

Retaining the spontaneity of my original response to a subject has always been a problem for me. I have often resorted to tearing pages from sketchbooks to give or sell to people rather than the compositions worked up in the studio. This is why I prefer to finish paintings outdoors.

I was relearning the same old lesson.

It felt almost too easy to be sending off a final piece which had been done so quickly, and to earn good money for it, as well having been given the opportunity to revisit some of the haunts of my youth in the process.

I was and am still brimming with ideas for more paintings relating to the same place, the same kind of subject matter. I couldn't believe how many more ideas were coming into my head and how inspired I was. If only there were more commissions to fit these paintings around! It would be like a dream come true to be doing this full time!

From all this I am learning that sometimes the best things, as well as the rewards just fall into our hands when the time is right, and it is simply a matter of accepting them and enjoying the experience. Hopefully our enjoyment will spill over into what we are doing in our lives, as well as into any paintings, and bring joy to others, thus the cycle continues.

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