The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
THE EYE OF THE STORM
A poignant new documentary about the late Angus landscape painter James Morrison explores the final years of his life as he battled to paint. Jennifer Mclaren talks to Montrosebased director Anthony Baxter.
Y ou may have heard of a Turner sky. Well, in Montrose, there is such a thing as a James Morrison sky.
Since 1965, renowned landscape painter James called the Angus town home. He could regularly be seen working outside in all weathers, attempting to capture the beautiful, ever-changing countryside, skies and coastline with his paintbrushes.
Born in Glasgow in 1932, he moved to Montrose from the Aberdeenshire village of Catterline because his wife Dorothy was taking up the post of head of history at Montrose Academy.
His works feature in the collections of the British royal family and author JK Rowling, but he shied away from the limelight, much preferring to paint. He once said of his vocation: “It’s for me. It’s my argument with myself ”.
Montrose-based filmmaker Anthony Baxter, 51, has lived in the town for 16 years. It was where his late mother grew up. She passed away when he was in his early 20s.
He filmed James for two years as he battled ill-health and failing eyesight to continue doing what he loved. Sadly, James died in August 2020, aged 88, meaning Anthony never had the chance to share the finished version of Eye Of The Storm with him.
Anthony still lives in the same house he remortgaged more than a decade ago to fund his 2011 documentary You’ve Been Trumped. This was a searing account of tycoon – and later US president – Donald Trump’s controversial golf development at the Menie Estate in Balmedie, and the residents who fought against it.
Anthony runs Montrose Pictures, an award-winning film and television production company. He has directed a number of documentaries including Flint (2020) a harrowing examination of the drinkingwater public health crisis in the city of Flint, Michigan.
Anthony explains: “I think after 10 years of attempting to try to get to the truth in controversial subjects and holding people to account, it was refreshing to spend that time with James – and a real privilege, too.
“It came about by chance,” he goes on.
“James wrote to me after seeing You’ve Been Trumped and he was really quite moved by the destruction of the landscape in Aberdeenshire by Trump’s bulldozers.
“As a painter who spent his life devoted to capturing the landscape, that seemed like a real vandalism.
“My uncle, Denis Rice – who you see in the film – was a friend of his and suggested we go out for a coffee.
“At that stage, Jim had stopped painting for a while because of his deteriorating eyesight. I think he was finding it incredibly frustrating that feeling of not being able to achieve what he wanted to technically.
“Denis had been encouraging him to get back to the painting, saying that it may be different in approach, but nonetheless poignant and important.”
Anthony asked James if he could film him, should he ever return to his easel. And so it transpired that James invited him into his studio – the door of which carries officiallooking lettering on the glass that states: “WET PAINT”.
“He was very relaxed having me there,” Anthony reflects. “It was a good opportunity for me to put on record some of these moments.”
Anthony sought an outlet for the documentary and BBC Scotland commissioned an hour-long feature. Additional funding then made it possible for the film to stretch to just under 90 minutes, incorporating information about James’s painting trips to the Arctic.
Scottish animator Catriona Black came on board to bring a new dimension to James’s paintings and his memories – including a tense encounter with a polar bear while on a trip to Greenland.
Eye Of The Storm is a touching portrait of an artist’s final years, bringing together Anthony’s interviews with archival footage and beautiful animation against a backdrop of nature’s atmospheric sounds and songs by Scots musician Karine Polwart.
It premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival on February 28 and has been selected for other major international film festivals. It was theatrically released in the UK earlier this month and can be streamed via selected cinemas and arts organisations.
The original hour-long version will be broadcast on BBC Scotland in the spring, with the longer theatrical version being shown at a later date.
It joins James, then aged 85, as he prepares to create work for his 25th exhibition with the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh. He had a special relationship with the gallery, showing and selling pieces there for over 60 years.
But he has been told by his GP that he cannot paint outside and his eyesight is failing to the point that he is registered as partially-sighted. James is “terrified” at the thought of no longer being able to create acceptable artworks.
The film is also interspersed with quotes, many from famous artists. Some, like James, struggled to continue creating in later life. French artist Henri Matisse famously painted with a long cane while bedridden, and Impressionist Claude Monet continued to make stunning works while suffering from terrible cataracts.
One quote from Monet reads: “I will paint almost blind, as Beethoven composed completely deaf.”
Softly spoken and seemingly introspective, James admits to Anthony that he is very self-critical. Anthony agrees he was something of a perfectionist.
“He was a lovely man. There are some artists who quite like the limelight or like to have the spotlight on them and talk about their work – he definitely wasn’t one of those,” he says.
“He was the kind of person who, on the opening of one of his exhibitions, he really didn’t enjoy that aspect of it. He was much more at home with his brushes painting outside.”
At points during the film, James can be seen watching old footage of himself, reflecting on it after all these years.
“He wasn’t a stranger to the camera himself,” says Anthony. “He had presented these old programmes for BBC Scotland called Scope.”
In Montrose, James found a subject matter that would inspire him for the rest of his artistic career. He took up a teaching post at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee, doing this for 22 “happy years”.
“I think that by moving to Montrose he was able to make his mark on a different landscape, which he did in an incredible way,” Anthony says.
James studied at Glasgow School of Art between 1950 and 1954 and quickly realised his style was set to differ from that of his contemporaries. His first “landscapes” were the city’s old tenements, many of which would go on to be demolished.
As well as his Scottish landscapes, James took extended painting trips to destinations such as Africa, France and Canada, including three trips to the Arctic in the 1990s.
He is also seen reflecting on a painting hanging at home called A Lady Remembered (2006). Created after the death of his beloved Dorothy, he tells Anthony: “It’s not a landscape; it’s just a portrait of grief.”
Anthony was able to film James attending his final exhibition at the Scottish Gallery in January 2020 – From Angus to the Arctic – just before the pandemic struck. In a wheelchair, his family by his side, he chatted, shook hands and learned that one of his 2019 studio paintings had sold.
“It’s sad I was never able to share the film with James,” Anthony says. “I shared it with John, his son, and Judith, his daughter, at the end of last year and they’ve been very supportive of it.”
After filming finished, James went to live in a care home and Anthony was able to visit him before Covid hit. He was still able to do some painting there.
An audio-described version of the film has also been created. Anthony explains: “James was somebody who painted outside and he was very aware of all the sounds and atmosphere of being out in the open in the countryside. He was absorbing all of that in his work.
“We have tried with the sounds and the music and this audio descriptive version to give people who are struggling with vision the opportunity to really enjoy his work.
“It is possible to have his work described in a way that brings it to life in an audio form. I think he would have appreciated that.”
BY MOVING TO LIVE IN MONTROSE HE WAS ABLE TO MAKE HIS MARK ON A DIFFERENT LANDSCAPE, WHICH HE DID IN AN INCREDIBLE WAY
To watch Eye of the Storm via Dundee Contemporary Arts, visit: athome.dca.org.uk
S axophonist Matt Carmichael, like musicians everywhere, has barely played in public over the past 12 months. The set the 21-year-old from Lenzie played in early November, however, reached as many people in 20 minutes as many jazz musicians will play to in a year or more.
Carmichael didn’t win the BBC Young Jazz Musician 2020 title that afternoon but just reaching the final of the competition and appearing on BBC4 in front of a nationwide audience fulfilled an ambition he’d had since his mid-teens.
“I remember watching the final on TV a few years ago and thinking, ‘I’d love to do that’,” he says.
“I didn’t really think I’d ever get there, so it was kind of unreal to be standing playing in front of the cameras.
“It was also strange playing with musicians I’d only just met a few days before, and I’m not sure I played as well as I could have done, but it was a great experience.”
Playing in front of a live audience numbering only a handful – the competition judges – was also quite unnerving.
But Matt left the experience with the praise of chief judge and trumpeter Guy Barker ringing in his ears.
He’s since had a lot more praise from prominent observers ahead of the release of his first album, Where Will The River Flow. Early reviews, and comments from presenters on radio stations such as Jazz FM, have enthused about Carmichael’s musicianship and the attractiveness of his original compositions.
Saxophone wasn’t Carmichael’s first choice of instrument. He took piano lessons for six months at the age of seven before deciding the piano wasn’t for him.
He has since revised that opinion and composes exclusively on the piano. Even the first single he released from his album, The Spey, a fast-as-fury reel that conveys the rushing quality of Scotland’s fastest river in full spate and sounds like a saxophone test piece, was created at the keyboard.
He was about 11 when the chance to try a saxophone came up at school.
After his brief interest in the piano, his
parents might have been justified in being sceptical about his keenness for this new instrument. Depending on who’s telling the story – his teacher sensed a real aptitude in his young student; Matt’s version is that he was able to produce some sort of sound on it – the coming together was either a natural development or a fluke.
“I don’t think I’d even seen anyone playing the sax before,” says Matt.
“I’m not even sure that I’d heard one played before either and I think my first reaction was, ‘this is something different, it’ll be cool to learn to play’.”
Group lessons at school didn’t bode well. Then, when private lessons were arranged with Allon Beauvoisin, the baritone saxophonist and brilliantly dependable backbone in Scottish horn quartet Brass Jaw, and sometime saxophone section “anchor” for the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, Matt didn’t really appreciate the jazz his teacher let him hear.
“Allon was really nice,” he says.
“He made me a compilation disc of Charlie Parker, Michael Brecker, Chris Potter and other saxophonists, who were obviously brilliant but didn’t really appeal to me musically for some reason.
“But then I heard Brass Jaw and there was this really soulful solo that Konrad Wiszniewski played on one track and I thought, ‘that’s what I want to do’.”
Improvising, he says, seemed to come naturally, although that didn’t make his first experience of standing up and taking a solo with the East
Dunbartonshire Schools’ Jazz Orchestra any easier.
“I think I was 13 or 14 when I joined the orchestra,” he says.
“I’d obviously never done anything like that before, so it was great to get a chance to play in a band on stage.
“But that first solo was absolutely terrifying. I was shaking. Of course, everyone in the band knows how it feels because your first solo – and everyone has to play their first solo at some point – is a rite of passage.
“But I didn’t realise that everyone else was shaking as they waited their turn too.
“Anyway, I got through my chorus, or whatever it was, and the feeling of achievement was amazing.
“I can still get nervous if I have to stand up and solo in an orchestra even now but I think that feeling of overcoming the fear makes you play better. The adrenaline maybe makes you concentrate more.”
It was while with the East Dunbartonshire Schools’ Jazz Orchestra that Carmichael heard a pianist on the radio who made him think, “I want to play with him some day”.
This was Fergus Mccreadie, the pianist in Carmichael’s quartet as it now happens, a serial award-winner who is earning rave reviews for his own second album, Cairn.
Mccreadie was 15 at the time and was competing in the Under-17 section of the Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year competition, which he went on to win twice.
“I thought his playing was so advanced,” says Carmichael, “and I couldn’t believe he was so young from listening to him.”
It wasn’t long before his wish to play with Mccreadie was granted. Having joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland, Carmichael found himself in the same band as Mccreadie and playing music that has become one of his main sources of inspiration, as the English saxophonist Iain Ballamy took the orchestra through some of his compositions in readiness for NYJOS’ summer tour.
“Apart from Brass Jaw, I’d only heard American jazz at that point,” says Carmichael.
“Iain’s music was beautiful and very European. It made me want to check out other stuff that I listen to now, the whole ECM Records thing for example.
“At the end of that NYJOS tour, Fergus came up to me and said we should play together more. That was fantastic to hear and he obviously meant it because we’re still playing together.”
Playing with NYJOS gave Carmichael easy access to the jamming sessions that were taking place in and around the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, and eventually he auditioned and was accepted on to the jazz course there.
His course leader, the internationally recognised saxophonist Tommy Smith, promptly invited Carmichael to join his youth jazz orchestra and has since gone on record as saying that Carmichael “is better than I was at his age”.
Once enrolled at the RCS, Carmichael took Fergus Mccreadie up on his suggestion that they play together more. He invited the pianist to join his quartet, along with bassist Ali Watson and drummer Tom Potter, and the group is now an established unit.
“I wanted to have a band that kept a stable line-up because that’s the best way to develop the music,” he says, adding that as a saxophonist the onus is on him to form a band and look for work, whereas drummers and bass players get asked to play.
He’s certainly gone about the bandleader’s job diligently. Before the pandemic brought live music to a halt, his quartet had already toured the UK and played London venues including the hallowed Ronnie Scott’s club in Soho.
Carmichael’s own music, like that of Mccreadie, has a very Scottish quality. Both musicians listen to traditional music, although Carmichael cites Irish musicians such as Caoimhin O Raghallaigh, the hardanger fiddle player who plays alongside the revered County Clare fiddler Martin Hayes in folk supergroup the Gloaming, as favourites as much as Scottish players.
“I think Fergus sees his music as folk music played with jazz attitude and technique,” he says.
“He certainly captures the landscape in his compositions and that’s what I try to do too. When I wrote The Spey, Firth and Cononbridge, which are all tunes on Where Will The River Flow, I was thinking of these places where I spent the early part of my life.”
Before the pandemic forced him to return to Glasgow, Carmichael was studying in Oslo on an Erasmus exchange from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the Nordic influence can be heard in another track on his album, Sognsvann. He graduates from the RCS this summer and is already planning his second album.
“It was a real pity that the Erasmus exchange had to end,” he says.
“I really enjoyed Oslo – Sognsvann is named after a lake just outside the city with a lovely, peaceful atmosphere. When we’re allowed to go out and play concerts again, it would be great to take that tune to Norway.”
I THINK THAT FEELING OF OVERCOMING THE FEAR MAKES YOU PLAY BETTER
O n average, 32,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed in Scotland per year, and almost everyone knows someone who has been affected by the disease. Dundee Macmillan Improving the Cancer Journey (ICJ) supports people affected by cancer living in the city.
Corrine Ewing, a Macmillan support facilitator with Dundee Macmillan ICJ, explains: “In my role, I support people affected by cancer with any concerns they have – about their diagnosis, effects of treatment or practical issues like not being able to work or move around because of their diagnosis and treatment.
“I listen as people share emotional feelings such as how to talk to family and friends about their illness; many people can find this difficult. Whatever matters most to a person, we do whatever it takes to get them the support they need.
“I got involved because I have been affected by cancer in the past, therefore I had insight into how it affects lives – those living with cancer, their friends and family – and wanted to work in a job where I could make a difference.”
Corrine’s daily routine will see her having one-to-one meetings – over the phone since coronavirus – with people affected by cancer.
“Using a tool called a Holistic Needs Assessment, we talk about what matters to them,” she says.
“For example, we might uncover that the person needs help with money. One of our Macmillan benefits advisers would then look to see what financial support may be available.
“Or I may learn that the person is not managing emotionally and I can refer them to a psychologist. I work together with the person affected by cancer to see where they need some support and what that could look like.
“I’m always amazed by how keen people are to help themselves once they learn about what there is available in their community.”
Dundee Macmillan ICJ has released a new animation in partnership with Dundee City Council, to help make the cancer journey a little easier.
“It tells the story of a woman known as ‘Jane’ – not her real name – who is living with stomach cancer,” Corrine explains.
“Jane is not only living with cancer, but also celiac disease, and this makes her experience with cancer more difficult. She’s also suffering from depression and loneliness.
“Managing cancer treatment along with dietary requirements can be difficult, especially if you are on your own. Due to not eating enough of the right foods, her energy levels fall and things begin to get on top of her.
“The story was inspired by a real person’s lived experience and how we helped Jane access the support that enabled her to feel better.”
Corrine reveals some of the less obvious different ways cancer can affect people.
“When people think about the impact of cancer, they often think of having hospital treatment, feeling unwell and managing pain and anxiety,” she says.
“What people often don’t think about is how it can affect so many other areas of our lives, such as our relationships, our hobbies, our finances or even our faith.
“Living with cancer can put strain on relationships with family and it can also make people ask themselves ‘why me?’ and struggle to make sense of the diagnosis.
“It can feel like your life is being turned upside down, which is why reaching out to get support is so important.
“Talking to someone outside of your circle of support, like myself or someone else from Macmillan or other people living with cancer through support groups, can be really helpful.
“It’s so important to reach out and get support in times of difficulty,” Corrine continues.
“Now more than ever, the lockdown having stopped many of the ways we connect with each other. My number one top tip for coping is to speak to someone else about it.
“Also, find ways to relax and keep anxiety at bay as much as possible, such as practising mindfulness or exercise that helps your mind.”
Corrine hopes that the animation will let people know that it’s OK not to be OK.
“Whether you are living with cancer yourself or have a loved one who’s been diagnosed, reaching out to get support, whether it’s practical, emotional or simply just to talk to someone about what’s going on, it’s so important to make contact and ask for help,” she stresses.
“The people we support know they can pick up the phone to us. The key thing is to not suffer in silence and know that support is out there. With the pandemic adding even more anxiety and strain to people’s lives, it’s really important that anyone affected by cancer knows that support is available.
“The Dundee Macmillan ICJ service is encouraging anyone affected by cancer to get in touch, including anyone who is worried about a friend or relative.”
MY NUMBER ONE TOP TIP FOR COPING IS TO SPEAK TO SOMEONE ELSE ABOUT IT, WHETHER THAT BE SOMEONE YOU KNOW OR A PROFESSIONAL FROM MACMILLAN
The animation can be found at https:// fb.watch/48tlxqs63i/
Dundee Macmillan ICJ service: 01382 433340 or email improving.cancerjourney@dundeecity. gov.uk
The Macmillan Support Line 8am to 8pm: 0808 8080000.
W awakening,ill I be indulging in a long lie tomorrow? Luxuriating in a slow possibly due to sounds of whisperings and clanking accompanying a surprise “breakfast in bed” being prepared. I’ll plant a faux look of surprise on my face and await their “tray in hand” arrival.
They’ll pile on to the bed to chat gleefully about any plans for the day and reminisce over how wonderful their upbringing has been with me at the helm. I shall be enveloped in gratitude and love.
What a beautiful but impossible scenario. Mothering Sunday, for me, involves my team and I being hard at work making delicious sandwiches and enough fresh scones for more than 200 afternoon teas. We will merrily play our part in ensuring the Mammies throughout our small part of Scotland are celebrated and acknowledged in a style they deserve.
Mother’s Day is always fully booked way in advance. By comparison, Valentine’s is a tad more last minute and fraught because the lads are left to make arrangements.
This celebration of all things matriarchal is better organised as the daughters, regardless of age, are involved and plan ahead.
I’ve spent the last fortnight drowning in guilt as I turned request after request away. Fortunately the team reason with me and remind me there is only so much even we can do in a day.
Do I mind working? Not at all. It is part and parcel of being in hospitality and we always receive such lovely feedback. My team and I are together in this unconventional wee family unit and we believe this year, maybe more so than previous ones, celebrating these wonderful ladies is paramount.
As a mother I cherish every moment with my girls. I only have them “on loan” for a short time.
The mister and I are truly blessed with three brilliant, charming, funny kids. All different, all unique and all worthy of as much love and attention as we can heap on them. We surround ourselves with friends and family who also adore the girls, and we’re so fortunate to have these wonderful people around us because you never fully understand the loss until it happens: the void left behind, sorrow so sharp it makes you catch your breath every single time you remember.
My mother left us too soon but did so secure in the knowledge that we had each other. My dad cared for her beautifully, and helped keep her memory alive for myself and my brother. We now make sure all five of her grandchildren know her too.
The loss of your mother is destroying at any age. Your ultimate protector and champion. Your “go to regardless” person. My mum passed when I was 32, and even at an adult age I felt lost, cheated and angry. I still feel the same, every time I think I must tell her something, forget she’s gone and lift the phone to call her.
Tomorrow I’ll allow myself a moment to remember everything about her, from her cold hands and soothing voice, down to the smell of the perfume she wore. I shall also spend time celebrating the glorious women in my life who shaped me and help me cope with everything thrown at me.
Whether you are an aunt, a mother-in-law, a cousin or wonderful friend whose capacity for love is seemingly limitless, it doesn’t matter.
People holding these titles provide me with support to help me take on the hardest role of all. I am grateful.
To my friends who are mothers: well done. I mean that sincerely. I am in awe of you all and all you do. To those who have lost their mothers, who have suffered loss as mothers, and to those who long to be mothers but sadly can’t, you are special and loved every single day even if life passes so quickly you don’t always get a chance to stop and notice.
I was proud to have Mary as my mum and if, as my middle daughter suspects, she does have Facebook in heaven, I hope she is painfree, happy and proud too. She is, after all, the reason tomorrow is special.