Two of the artists exhibiting currently at The Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh are Brita Gramstrom and Mick Manning. Mick was born in Yorkshire in 1969 and obtained  an MA at Glasgow School of Art followed by a PhD at the RSA in London. He gave up teaching in 1998 to concentrate on his work as an artist and illustrator.
One of Mick’s preferred techniques for producing his highly original paintings is ‘pochair’ (French for stencil). Â This dates back to the Stone Age and the start of ‘cave art’, culminating in the 20th century Inuit painters use of the technique at the Baker Lake Community. Each image is unique and created by hand. I particularly love ‘The Yellow Peregrine’ depicted flying across the map of Edinburgh.
Brita Gramstrom is Swedish and studied at the Stockholm Fack National College.  She is, in fact, married to Mike. They have four boys, and live and work in the Borders. Brita refers to her paintings as ‘Sea Salt and Sourdough’ which are full of domestic scenes, including the beautiful vase of white tulips featured here.
She paints personal and charmng pictures working both inside and outside too in all weathers. As she told me, ‘Sweden and the British Isles feature strongly in my paintings and encompass and celebrate hope, humanity, life and mortality’.
Brita has lived in the UK since 1992 and enjoyed success in recent solo exhxibitions at the Unversity Gallery in Newcastle Upon Tyne and The King’s Place Gallery in London where ‘Life in Landscape’ was a sell-out.
Another exhibitor, Sarah Carrington, whose collective title for her pictures is ‘Islands’ also features with mixed media with leafe ‘Towards Staff and Storm Island from Iona’ and ‘Spring Light, Towards Staffa and the Treshnish Isles’, again in the same media. Sarah, as well as being a talented artist is also a mother and like many of our best artists combines family and her work.
The Exhibition is open until Wednesday 13 May:Monday to Friday 10 am to 6 pm and Saturday 10 am to 4 pm.
Open Eye Gallery, 34 Abercromby Place, Edinburgh EH3, 6QE telephone (0)131 557 6QE
Email mail@openeye gallery.co.uk
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Christine has over 25 years' experience in public life in Scotland in the fields of politics, education, public relations and charity work. For 12 years she served on the City of Edinburgh District Council and was her Group's leader for 4 years. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1992 she was made an OBE. Christine is a member of the Board of The Friends of the Royal Scottish Academy. She has just completed six years on the Board of The Edinburgh International Festival.
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For 5 years Christine was a magistrate in the District Court. She was also a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on the appointment of Justices of the Peace. She has been an adviser to Government in various areas of policy, including health, local government and education.
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Brita Gramstrom is Swedish and studied at the Stockholm Fack National College.  She is, in fact, married to Mike. They have four boys, and live and work in the Borders. Brita refers to her paintings as ‘Sea Salt and Sourdough’ which are full of domestic scenes, including the beautiful vase of white tulips featured here.
Another exhibitor, Sarah Carrington, whose collective title for her pictures is ‘Islands’ also features with mixed media with leafe ‘Towards Staff and Storm Island from Iona’ and ‘Spring Light, Towards Staffa and the Treshnish Isles’, again in the same media. Sarah, as well as being a talented artist is also a mother and like many of our best artists combines family and her work.