I am an artist based in Elphin in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. I paint land and seascapes using a variety of media. I work in acrylic, ink, oil and also use paper. I enjoy experimenting with mixed media, creating surface and texture in the paintings using collage, and varying the thickness of the paint from impasto to glazes. It’s a balance between the inspiration and reference point of the landscape and allowing the painting to gain its own identity
I spent my early childhood on Tiree and, after a spell in Kansas, the family moved to Kingussie in the Highlands. I studied at ECA, graduating with a degree in sculpture in 1995. Since then, I have continued to draw and paint, travelling around the West Highlands and Islands of Scotland to collect source material and sketches which are then worked up into larger pieces in my studio. In recent years I have been lucky enough to spend time on St Kilda and I have also had the opportunity to explore the south coast of Iceland. I’m currently working on pieces based on the northwest coast of Scotland around my home in Elphin.
My work has sometimes been described as having an otherworldly quality to it and, in a sense, this is partly my objective. I refer often to memories of my early childhood at Hynish on Tiree, playing and exploring the shoreline there. I’m interested in perceptions of time and that in looking at a landscape, certain things seem transient. With tides, splashes, breaking waves, and angry waters I’m trying to catch a moment, to imagine that moment is all the time I have, a life in a millisecond, and to find, save and preserve forms and structures in that movement.
In pieces based on the seemingly unchanging, immovable rocks and mountains, I look for evidence of movement and change. A sense that they have a life on a larger scale and over unimaginable time frames. I try to combine the seemingly ageless with the more ephemeral to reflect my experience of the character of the landscape.
I show in galleries throughout Scotland.
