This autumn I returned in earnest to my studio for the first time since 2017. I’d still been making art here and there, but always in the margins. I am delighted to now be in a place where I can give more time and attention to my art-making again.
All this newfound creative freedom: where to start? It turns out I’ve begun by going back to my roots, focussing on portraits and cityscapes, which were what I exhibited in my first ever show back in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2008. The city in the scapes has changed, and the materials have shifted more towards mixed media and away from oil paint, but it still appears that my brain likes to start simply by looking around at the people and places nearby.
In this exhibition you’re seeing some of these new cityscapes, in particular those inspired by the area around my home in Stockbridge, Edinburgh. I spent a lot of time walking up and down the Water of Leith this summer, foraging for plants that I might turn into inks as part of my 100 Days Scotland project. This part of the planet is not new to me - in fact St Bernard’s Well featured in the paintings of my first Edinburgh exhibition in 2014 - but my ink-making project has led me to view this landscape through a new lens.
The work on exhibition here feels like just a start to me, the frantic scribblings of someone who can’t quite believe she’s free to play with the art supplies again. Each piece, within its layers, contains some of the botanical ink I made this year, along with charcoal (also handmade) and more conventional art supplies including pastels, gouache, acrylic, ink, and pencil.
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2-30 December 2023 (closed Sundays, Christmas and Boxing Day)
Stockbridge Library, 11 Hamilton Place, Edinburgh EH3 5BA
Opening hours
Monday: 1pm to 8pm
Tuesday: 10am to 5pm
Wednesday: 1pm to 8pm
Thursday: 10am to 5pm
Friday: 10am to 5pm
Saturday: 10am to 5pm
To purchase a piece in this exhibition, select it above and follow the instructions for check out, or contact me if you’d prefer to be invoiced. UK and international shipping is available, as is local pick up. All purchases will be delivered after the end of the exhibition, unless other arrangements are made (for example, if you are giving the piece as a Christmas present and would like to pick it up sooner, contact me and we can figure something out.) Please note that all work is being sold unframed.
This original mixed-media piece was inspired by the Water of Leith Walkway between Stockbridge and Dean Village. Mixed media on paper, 59 x 20.5 cm. Unframed.