About

I’ve always painted, but I only came to really focus on my own painting in about 2010, after studying art history (in the 1970s) and spending many years writing books about other people’s art.

I enjoy experimenting with different ways of painting the same motif: the view from my garden, across the Firth to Tarbat Ness lighthouse and to the far North of Scotland; the vast expanses of sand and sea at Findhorn, Nairn and Lossiemouth. I love the amazing coastal landscape on my doorstep, and in my paintings I try to convey the experience of living here – the sensation of seaspray on a windswept beach, the magic of moonlight over still water, the muted mystery of the snow-covered landscape, the brooding atmosphere of slate-grey skies over a golden field. Other wild coasts – from the West of Scotland to Cornwall – have also been an inspiration.

I work mainly in acrylic, and tend to work intuitively – building up layers, adding glazes of acrylic paint and ink, pushing the paint around with palette knife, brushes, brayers and silicon wedges-  and sometimes using my fingers. I often scrape back through layers of paint to create expressive marks, and enjoy flinging and flicking paint – especially when painting seascapes, where spatters of fluid white paint or ink recreate the energy of breaking waves.  The way a painting evolves often depends on “happy accidents” which lead me in a direction I may not have consciously thought about.

I have become fascinated by the expressive capabilities of watercolour, and this has impacted on my acrylic painting, which I often use thinly, allowing it to dribble and find its own path. I also love adding areas of gold leaf and metallic powder to add a little shimmer.

This acrylic on paper, with a shimmer of metallic powder,  uses dribbles of fluid acrylic paint and ink to evoke the movement of waves.

If you would like to purchase a painting, do get in touch (see contact page). I welcome visitors to my studio by appointment and during NEOS (North East Open Studios). Please see below for this year’s dates.

My work is in private collections throughout the UK and abroad, and has been shown at the following Scottish galleries and festivals:

Frames Gallery, Perth
Eden Court, Inverness
Findhorn Bay Arts Festival
Moray Art Centre, Findhorn (solo and mixed shows)
Elgin Gallery (solo and mixed shows)
Elgin Library Gallery
An Talla Solais, Ullapool
Gallery 48, Cromarty
Golspie Gallery
Logie Steading Gallery
Logie Steading Long Room
Nairn Book and Arts Festival
QC Gallery, Nairn
The Gallery in Aberlour
The Found Gallery, Dunbar
The Velvet Easel, Portobello, Edinburgh

Awards

George Spence Trophy 2016

Events in 2023

13 May – 26 May 2023  I’m taking part in an exciting group exhibition in Elgin Library Gallery with nine other artists and makers who have all exhibited during North East Open Studios (NEOS). We call ourselves MORAY ARTiSTS. It will be our first joint show, and will feature painting, basket-weaving, wood carving, ceramics, silversmithing and jewellery. Making art can be quite an isolating way of life, and I’m really enjoying collaborating with the group. Lovely people, lovely work.

15 July – 25 July  I’ll be exhibiting with MORAY ARTiSTS again. This time, there will be 12 of us, and we will be at the Long Room, at Logie Steading, near Forres (logie.co.uk). We will take it in turns to be there to welcome folk, so do pop along and meet the artists.

August 2023 I’m delighted to have been invited by the Zenwalls Gallery (zenwalls.co.uk.) in the Scottish Borders town of Peebles to be a featured artist for the month of August.

9 September – 17 September I’m looking forward to taking part in North East Open Studios (NEOS). Details are available on the NEOS website and in the free book which is distributed across NE Scotland and beyond. Do come along. It’s such a fun way for artists and art lovers to get together. I’ll be showing works of various sizes, at a wide range of prices – including plenty of bargains in the pop-up greenhouse, where everything will be priced below £100!