About my work
“…a celebration of ordinary things: dark lines of trees against the heat of a July afternoon, field patterns in early August, the washed out dried grasses of a late September field edge. And always the light itself, constantly changing under unpredictable skies…”Tolquhon Gallery Catalogue
I am a landscape artist based in the Mearns in the North East of Scotland.
Working almost exclusively in watercolour, I am inspired by Mearns landscapes and seascapes. Working from a combination of sketches, images and visual memory, I try to get as close as I can to the original experience of being in the landscape in order to create a sense of place.
I tend to work on a series of paintings linked either by theme or location. Each season I try to re-visit favourite areas but I also try to explore a new area or one where I haven’t worked for a while.
Late Autumn Field Edge (Denlethen)
Once I feel comfortable with a particular location, I spend time there. A series of works can be the result of a winter’s afternoon in local woodland or an early morning walk on St Cyrus beach. With he help of digital images which help establish the composition, I can then explore what I want to say. I have never sought to make radical changes to my painting style; I try to let the work develop gradually. People tell me it has.
My Approach to Watercolour
Once I have established the basic composition, I work on a detailed pencil drawing. After that I can forget about ‘getting it right’ and I can focus on capturing the mood of the landscape, that ‘fleeting moment’ – a phrase the American artist Andrew Wyeth used to define what he wanted the image to capture.
I used to work mostly on location; however, more recent work is studio based using a combination of sketches, visual memory & digital images to re-create the original experience.
A Winter Sunset
More info
For a complete list of exhibitions and awards, please view my Curriculum Vitae: