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Mark Making and the Landscape

I’m pleased to announce my first solo exhibition of large scale paintings, to be exhibited at Whitespace Gallery, Edinburgh. This collection of work was inspired by my recent 6 month trip to Australia, as well as Scottish landscape surrounding Edinburgh.

Having spent an extended period of time in Australia in 2022/23, I immersed myself in the landscape as well as the painting scene in Brisbane and Sydney. I visiting the outback for the first time (see image below) where the vivid colours have had a lasting impact even after I returned to Scotland. I have always been drawn to vast, flat landscape, which is in abundance in Australia.

I’m painting with watercolours on a dry river bed in 36 degrees… I knew when to stop when my crayons melted.

I was also working on wooden panels and loose canvas that I stored in the back of a car along with my easel, art materials, pilates mat and fold up table. I stopped the car when I found an inspirational landscape, and literally painted out the back of a hatchback, it was absolute bliss.

I knew at that point that I wanted to make large paintings so I sought a large studio space on my return to Edinburgh in order to do so. This collection of work is the result of 2 years of focus on my painting practice to create work that has been sitting ‘under the surface’ for years.

I continued to paint landscapes on my return from Australia , finding inspiration in the flat landscapes of East Lothian, see below.

The exhibition runs for a week, from the 10th November 2023.