Very good Castle art show

This year’s exhibition by Arran’s artists in Brodick Castle was exceptionally interesting. A new policy of mingling work by both amateurs and professionals did away with a demarcation line between the two and led to a fresh view of both, and many of the most regular exhibitors showed work that broke new ground. A beautifully produced catalogue had the slight disadvantage that late entrants were not included, but the time schedule is tight and artists will have to be careful about getting their entry forms in early enough.

Josephine Broekhuizen, who does so much of the work on Arran that supports art activities, showed paintings of exceptional thoughtfulness this year. Her large-scale, detailed studies of natural form called Sticks were dark and impressive, beautifully painted and acutely aware of the wonder that lies in commonly overlooked things. As so often, a new look at the scale of things not usually thought worthy of deep investigation produces extraordinary results.