by Cristina Casarin
I am a contemporary abstract artist working primarily with mixed media on wooden panels. My practice is shaped by the cultural and visual influences of Venice, where I was born, and of London and Paris, where I lived and developed my artistic research. I have been based in Aberdeen, Scotland for several years, where the landscape and atmosphere have further influenced my creative process. Inspired by Arte Materica, I build textured, layered surfaces through multiple applications of colour, allowing the material to speak through its rawness and imperfections. I explore the expressive potential of matter and form, inviting the viewer into a tactile and emotional experience.
Alongside my studio practice, I integrate art into the field of sustainable marketing, using visual language as a powerful tool to communicate values, inspire reflection, and foster meaningful engagement. I believe that art has the unique ability to make abstract concepts tangible, creating emotional connections that can support cultural and ecological transformation.
c.cristinacasarin@gmail.com
+447877684179
+393802030392
by Sue Savege
I am an artist inspired by wild places and big adventures
Originally a Sculpture graduate, but smitten early on by the climbing bug I subsequently spent my career as a climber, mountaineer, guide and environmentalist. During this time, I was privileged to work in some of the most beautiful, remote and inspiring mountain ranges in the world.
Now I am returned to the art world, I find ways to express that deep awe and wonder found in our wild and beautiful places, through paint, print and artists’ books. The landscapes of mountains, rock and ice provide an endless source of inspiration for my work.
My work
Journeying is a big part of my practice. In the past, I’ve had the privilege of spending many months at a time living on the ice, crossing ice caps, or camping at high altitude traversing remote mountain ranges. Many of my pieces describe not just a single moment but the experience of travelling through land, time and space.
I like to immerse myself in a place before I start a piece of work, I walk it, touch it, smell it, sit in it, get to know its tiniest details, and experience its grandeur. I am fascinated by the way that a mountainside can seem, both intimate and cosy, and yet at the same time vast, infinite and awesome. In my work I like to play with ideas of time, space, and scale, sometimes working on small handheld objects, designed to be touched and felt, and sometimes creating large luminous paintings.
Living in the Northeast of Scotland with the Cairngorm mountains on my doorstep, rock, ice, wind and weather, are part of my daily experiences. All my work starts with time spent out running, climbing or skiing in the mountains. I carry with me a small sketchbook and a selection of drawing materials and can often be found tucked behind a boulder attempting to capture the moment. Back in the studio, I work in a variety of media, trying best to find the most appropriate response to the landscapes and habitats experienced.
Many of the landscapes and environments I have experienced on my travels are changing rapidly and, in my work, I hope to enable others to witness and understand the impacts of our lives and lifestyles on this, our one and only planet.
https://www.suesavege.co.uk
https://www.instagram.com/suesavege/
by Volha Druhakova
While working as an architect following my Master of Architecture degree, I have completed a printmaking course at Gray’s School of Art and set up a creative studio Outpost Prints.
My work is inspired by remote places and the concept of escape, whether real or imaginary. This could involve journeying into the wilderness, contemplating a flower, or delving into the realm of abstraction. The initial idea always revolves around transcending the reality of the subject – not too much, but just enough to envision the possibility of something otherworldly. I strive to convey an expression that captures the interplay of light and shadow, evoking a sense of movement and following the form.
A lot of my work is focused on mountains, particularly the Highlands of Scotland. These sculptural and flowing landscapes of immense age, a frozen movement of the Earth itself, solid but also very fluid and changing with the seasons, weather, and particularly light, give me endless inspiration. My process involves walking far into that landscape, often on multiday trips, collecting images and sketches on location, and finalizing the work in the studio.
In printmaking, I gravitate towards bold lines, high contrast, and a stylized form of expression. I work mostly using relief techniques (linocut and woodcut), but I particularly enjoy the process of making monotype/mixed media pieces, seeking spontaneity and unexpected results. Regardless of the chosen medium and mode of expression, I aim to allow the image to evolve organically, often leading to outcomes that differ from my initial intentions.
http://outpostprints.co.uk
by Ellie McAllan
Currently in 4th year studying fine art at Gray’s School of Art. Through my practice, I examine our collective nostalgia for domestic spaces, specifically homes in Aberdeen, and the careful rituals we perform to preserve what matters. I’m drawn to the objects we choose to keep close, the ones we dust weekly and position just so—each item a small monument to memory and belonging.
My work considers how we age alongside our cherished possessions, how we become curators of our own histories through the things we choose to repair, protect, and pass down. These familiar patterns and preserved objects speak to a universal longing for warmth and connection, even as they tell deeply personal stories about care, time, and the spaces we call home.
https://www.instagram.com/elliemcallan/
by John Gerrie
Website http://JohnGerrie.co.uk
Tel: 07931 436 753
I am John Gerrie a Scottish watercolour artist from Aberdeen.
My love for art began during my school years, where I first explored creativity through drawing and painting. Although life led me down a different path as a chartered surveyor with architectural experience, sketching and detailed drawings remained a part of my professional life, quietly nurturing my artistic foundation.
In 2017, upon retiring, Alison encouraged me to join a local art class. Within just a few months, I completed my first watercolour—a painting of the iconic Neuschwanstein Castle. This marked the beginning of a new chapter where my architectural background seamlessly blended with my artistic pursuits.
Today, I specialize in watercolours, a medium both challenging and rewarding. My work reflects a love for detail and includes a range of subjects: historic buildings, landscapes, seascapes, village scenes, and intricate pen-and-ink combinations.
I also take great joy in creating commissioned pieces, collaborating with clients to craft unique artworks that hold personal meaning and bring lasting joy.
Explore my collection, and discover the stories told through every brushstroke.
by Karen Welding
www.karenweldingart.com
07715550727
I graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee with a Bdes (hons) in constructed textiles in 1995. I have always enjoyed sketching and working with wool and threads, but in the past couple of years, I have begun to explore painting.
I love texture and bright colours and seem to be drawn more to landscape scenes that are loosely based on Scottish cities and coastal harbours. I like to include adventurous Lowry inspired stick figures exploring their environment and having fun.
I spent my early years living abroad in Oman and Borneo and spent a few years travelling around Australia in my 20s. I’ve always been interested in travel and different cultures and colourful scenery from around the world. I’m now lucky enough to be working as a full-time artist and feel incredibly grateful to be able to do this. I like to create eye-catching work that is fun, bright, colourful, and that will stand out and will make others hopefully feel happy too.
by Dr. Donnie Ross
Dr. Donnie Ross has been an active member of Aberdeen Artists Society for 40 years, serving as President in 1990-92 and 2021-23. He was a founder-member of Grampian Hospitals Arts Trust, which he chaired for 10 years. He has been a flamenco guitarist (El Escocés) in a South London Chinese Restaurant and in a Stockholm nightclub, a medical officer at Brand’s Hatch Racetrack, a co-pilot in the Isle of Man air-race, a hospital consultant for 35 years, a medical director for 8 years and an Aberdeenshire crofter / tree planter for 40 years, now mixing Scottish native species with Sequoia and other giant redwoods.
In general, science and medicine abhor ambiguity, but art and creativity revel in generating alternative interpretations, constantly raising expectations only to subvert them. The twist in the tale or in the tune; the double take of visual phenomena, the pattern-matching hardwired into our every sensory modality, all of which by their very nature are vulnerable to playful subversion. So I believe if it ain’t subversive, it probably isn’t art!
A constant preoccupation for me has been how can we in our current era relate authentically to nature, to integrate our milieu intérieur with the external world. And maybe the crux of the problem lies in our emotional and neurophysiological evolution in mesolithic times, which could account for the dysphoria, the restless sense of unease that often afflicts us in cities, where we may feel shrunk, peripheralised and negated by the endless stony vistas, the crowd of unfriendly strangers, the haughty imposing buildings, and by all the desolate manmade spaces created in this appalling anthropocene age both in peacetime and war. Becoming aware of our essentially mesolithic nature, can we perhaps more specifically address our central need for meaningful environments which support rather than erode our sense of wellbeing? Is this what art might be about?
One can learn quite a lot in a lifetime of eighty years of constant observation of the world, self and others, and through the unceasing acquisition of skills; but at every turn the frontiers of one’s ignorance are starkly evident in every direction
Ach weel… For further information please see my experimental e-novel !Leonardo Mind for Modern Times, available as a free download from Apple Books:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/!leonardo-mind-for-modern/id541725141?mt=11
http://www.donnierossart.com
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/the-scottish-shed/id707709467?mt=11
by Geraldine McClure
Originally from Northern Ireland, I came to Scotland to study Medical Physics at Aberdeen University. I then pursued a career in Clinical Science at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. Latterly, I studied B&W film photography through Gray’s School of Art short course programme. I went on to study a HND in photography at NESCOL in Aberdeen and then an honours degree in Photography at City of Glasgow College. The medium of photography provides an outlet for creativity, whether through documenting the world around me or through the use of alternative processes and printing techniques. I use both digital and film photography in my work.
The work ‘Graffiti’ presents a stage in an ongoing project inspired by the history, landscape, and community of the Braes of Glenlivet and The Scalan site in particular. This unique place offers much from a creative perspective and there is the fascinating challenge of distilling selected elements into photographic pieces that are reflective of its story. I am interested in aspects of photographic practice that arise from being involved with a community and the associated opportunity for collaborative working practices. The selection of print media is a creative decision determined by the work; for example photographic paper or fabric. This final piece is digitally printed on fabric and was made for the official opening of the North and South Mills by His Majesty King Charles III in September 2023.
The subsequent gallery represents a selection of images made in Arbroath in the summer of 2021 when pandemic restrictions had eased. Over a few day trips to the harbour area I made photographs; enjoying my freedom, documenting different aspects of the harbour and the manual process of using film and my medium format and 35mm cameras.
Website: https://www.rgmphotography.co.uk/
by Paul Raine
I’ve been a professional artist since leaving Gray’s in 1985 (age 37). Before that I worked as an illustrator for the oil industry, educational publishing and (many years ago) for Yorkshire Television. I have been a mental health care worker, and a lecturer at Aberdeen College and at Gray’s School of Art (ad hoc). Recently I retired from Roevig Folkehoejskole in Denmark, where I was the senior art teacher for over a decade.
Over the years I have shown my paintings in the Roger Billcliffe Gallery, the Rendezvous, Gallery Heinzel, the Whitehouse Gallery, Eion Stewart Fine Art, the Torrance Gallery and Gallery Q. These days many of my available paintings can be found at the Finzean Farm Shop and at the McEwan Gallery.
www.rainesflowerpaintings.uk
Instagram: john_paul_raine
by charles m smith
I’m a silversmith, I make beakers, teapots, coffee pots, boxes, plates, kilt belt buckles, plaid brooches. I do some enamelling, mostly on copper, and I make clocks using a battery movement, enamelled copper, wood and rivets.
by Helen Scaife
Helen Scaife is an experienced artist and art teacher focusing mainly on Painting and Drawing. She recently received a Micro-commission from the Friends of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums and is currently showing there her mixed media piece on global warming and rising sea levels called “Rising Pillars of Aberdeen”.
Over the years she has developed a deep interest or obsession with nature and movement, especially the movement of water. She uses charcoal, watercolour, acrylic and oil sometimes portraying people in the waves.
She has shown since graduating from Art College in Cardiff in Wales, London, Germany, Devon and most recently here in Scotland through NEOS and the Hyv Pop-Up Shop.
Helen runs classes locally after having 22 years experience teaching focusing on a range of media. If you are interested in joining her art classes here in Stonehaven please contact her directly.
www.helenscaife.com
by Stephen Redpath
I live in Tarland and my work explores the relationship between landscape and emotion. I draw much of my inspiration from the wild multi-layered landscapes of northern Scotland, building on direct observation, memories and emotional responses. My watercolour paintings invite the viewer to reflect and explore their own experiences and emotional connection to these precious places.
Website: stephenmredpath.com
IG: smrpaintings
by Sedem Demir
I am Sedem, a mixed media artist and illustrator based in Aberdeen. Though a blank page can be daunting, sketchbooks are a safe space to experiment and put marks on a page. No one but you has to see it, so why fear what marks you do.
Throughout the pandemic and even after, I considered sketch booking a helpful tool for maintaining mental health and wellbeing because it is one of the best ways to practise mindfulness which is proven to reduce anxiety.
Drawing on location is a big part of my practise as I find it as stepping out of my comfort zone whilst carrying out the action of something within my own comfort zone while being in nature and drawing from observation as it can offer more than drawing from photos in a studio room.
I share my process, materials I use and how I use them on my Patreon, sell prints and zines on my website.
You can follow my creative journey on my Instagram page.
by Anne Marquiss
Recent pieces in silver, etched, filed and oxidised.
by Fiona Michie
My passion is drawing, creating storytelling pictures in charcoal and pen and ink.
Inspiration comes from my love of Gothic Romanticism, ghost stories and the supernatural found in film and literature. I see my drawings as the visual equivalent to my own Victorian Gothic novel.
by Carla Angus
Carla has a research-based practice driven by stories of object, place and people, recontextualising heritage through a contemporary visual art lens. Sitting at the intersection of deep mapping, object biography and materiality, her work is thoughtful and conversational, highlighting connections between things that may be otherwise hidden. These links and stories dictate the medium and materials she uses, and new pieces of work often necessitate learning new skills or collaboration with other creatives or relevant experts. Recent work has been inspired by an inherited sealkin waistcoat, a victorian mansion and a cathedral.
Initially a theatre designer, Carla was co-director of an arts retreat for 15 years with her husband Bryan Angus and also has an extensive background in arts development and creative project management.
@carlaeveangus
carla.angus@tiscali.co.uk
by Margaret Brown
by Michael Autumn
+44 7770590511
https://michaelautumn.wordpress.com
https://www.youtube.com/@Michael.Autumn
https://www.fineart.co.uk%2Fdirectory%2Fmichael-autumn_101904.aspx
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MichaelAutumnArt
I’m a self-taught artist. I learn best by doing things (as opposed to just reading about them), trying things out, research, patience. I loved school and really enjoyed most of the subjects, but I especially liked art (did a lot in my own time at home) and technical drawing. However, my art teacher advised me not to go to art school! She said I could teach myself all the art I wanted, and that I should study an academic subject – which I did (philosophy, psychology, and economics). With hindsight, I think she was wise enough to realise that art is a very precarious way to make a living, and, realising I had academic potential, suggested I get an academic university education with better career prospects – and pursue art at my own pace.
Life can lead you in odd directions – like floating in a barrel down a river or stream – and you don’t necessarily end up where you want to go. Sometimes you just have to get out of the drifting barrel, use your compass, and head off in the direction you really want to go. At, and after, university, I accidentally fell into computing, liked it, and found I had an aptitude for it – and so I drifted down that river for many very successful years – in many industries and several countries. But while it was very much appreciated by others – who paid me very well indeed for my work as a programmer, designer, technical architect/consultant – it was meaningless to me…
Despite being a bit of a polymath, I still got/get most pleasure out of creating things and, hopefully, giving others pleasure. I’ve always created things (painting, crafts, photography, videos, poetry) – it’s my nature – but sometimes you have to devote yourself entirely to something in order to really excel in it and achieve ambitious things. So in 2019 I decided to give up a very well paid career in IT to devote myself entirely to art.
Once I went to a Royal College of Art open day, with a view to applying for a full-time post graduate course in art, but I got quite a rude awakening/realisation. It was very apparent that it was not for me: it was clear they wanted mouldable minds (which I am not!), were mostly interested in “newness” or “originality” – almost to the exclusion of quality and aesthetics. Well, I am all about quality and aesthetics – as was the vast majority of art up until around about the 20th century – and I make absolutely no apology for that.
My love for Nature informs most of my art. I am also very interested in philosophy and psychology – and this comes through in my art also. I don’t want to be one of those art college graduates whose art is only shown in galleries (because normal people don’t want it in their homes), and is passed by in seconds with people whispering under their breath “WTF is that?!”… I want to make art that at the very least is visually appealing, uplifting, and thought-provoking…
There’s always more than meets the eye in my artwork. I can’t, and don’t want to, recreate what someone has already done – or in a style or medium that has already been done. So you won’t find me doing “normal”: normal landscapes, normal portraits, normal still lifes – or normal whatever. I have to justify to myself why I am doing a piece of art – and why it is new or worthy…
by KathleenCowie
Artist’s Biography
Kathleen Cowie is a visual artist from the northeast of Scotland, UK and is currently based in Aberdeen.
Kathleen studied at Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon’s Institute of Technology [now Robert Gordon’s University] in Aberdeen from 1983-1987, graduating with a BA[Hons] in Fine Art, Drawing and painting. She also has an interest in printmaking and won the student printmaking prize in her third year at Gray’s. Kathleen then completed the Post Graduate Certificate in Education and became a teacher of Art and Design in Scottish schools for twenty-eight years, eighteen of those years as a Head of Art, and SQA marker for Art and Design.
Kathleen now focuses on developing her art, and tutors her own adult art group and specialist workshops for groups, communities, and clubs.
Kathleen has shown work with the Aberdeen Artists society, The Hospitals Trust, Peacock Printmakers Aberdeen, and the Meffan annual show in Forfar. Her figurative art has been featured in the international Artist and Illustrators Magazine and she has work in private collections.
Artist’s Statement
Kathleen Cowie works across several art specialisms. She draws and paints from direct observation, sometimes developing the imagery into further paintings, mixed media pieces and original prints. Kathleen also designs and makes kiln-fired enamel jewellery and small products which are abstract in colour, shapes and texture and are often functional. She is also a regular ‘urban sketcher’.
Kathleen’s inspiration is wide reaching but includes an enduring interest in figurative art and portraiture, aiming to capture likeness, posture tension and character, an authentic human presence.
The observation of both random and symbolic still life objects and artifacts is also a theme. As are coastal and urban features of the north-east of Scotland. As a wild swimmer and scuba diver the marine environment fascinates and Kathleen’s paintings and prints in this area quietly highlight the beauty and importance of sea life and the need for its’ protection.
Drawing underpins all of Kathleen’s art and she aims to produce work that has simplicity and directness, but also refinement.
by Jennifer Summers
jenniferannsummers.com
Instagram: @jenniferannsummers
Facebook: jennifersummersart
Jennifer is a self-taught artist currently based in Scotland. She has been actively practicing and exhibiting her art for the last ten years. The majority of her artwork is inspired from both her childhood home of New Zealand and from the United Kingdom landscape. Landscape and map scenes form the majority of her artwork.
Her drawings may appear to have two subject matters depending on the perspective of the observer. Casting your eye over a whole drawing, an image will emerge, slightly disjointed, and reminiscent of a never-ending maze in which no-one gets to the impenetrable finish line. Observing the drawings up close, the second subject matter rises revealing the suburban housing that constitutes each of the segments. These maps reflect suburbia with its endless streets and repetitive structure.
by Anne Keith
I am a digital artist working from my own studio in Aberdeenshire.
Since as long as I can remember I have always drawn and painted mainly in water colour but also creating monotype screenprints using procion dyes.
In 2004 I started up my own company Illustrate. And for the last 20 years I have worked alongside a geologist creating geological diagrams using the vector drawing software Adobe Illustrator. Parallel to this I decided to redraw some of my original artwork using Illustrator. I found I could achieve a distinct contemporary edge.
I always thought that art would be my chosen career path. However, my career took an IT route and I became Computer Support Manager at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service for Aberdeen, Orkney and Shetland.
Little did I know then that it would be technology and my computing knowledge and skills that would eventually bring me back to art and drawing that I loved.
Landscape and skies mesmerise me
Colour is of the utmost importance in my work. I spend a considerable time mixing colour. To me colour conveys the mood and emotion of a painting – to me it is the soul of a painting.
Observing the Scottish landscape – it is often colour that compels me to reproduce the image and capture the atmosphere of that moment in time.
It has been said that digital art and digital painting is the medium of the future.
In many online forums digital art and painting runs parallel to using canvas, brush and paint. In the words of another digital artist “Nothing will replace the flow of water and pigment across a canvas or the texture of oil paint after it dries. It takes time to learn the tricks in order to be a successful artist. Just as much as it takes time to be proficient in digital painting”.
One of Britain’s most influential artists, David Hockney believes the latest generation of software is so “fantastic” that he can not only reproduce the look of traditional painting but can also get more subtle effects than with old techniques.
by Tad Deregowski
Brief Bio
I grew up in Aberdeen and studied Fine Art at Edinburgh University and College of Art in the 80s. I have returned this year to live in Aberdeen.
I`ve been painting these small, plein air paintings over the last fifteen years or so (they can be referred to as pochades) showing them fairly regularly, most recently at the University of Santa Catarina in Brazil.
I like to travel and paint- the pictures engage with a diversity of locations, among them, North Africa, New York, Latin America and Scotland. The next big trip will, most likely, be to India.
Cel- O750 816 5898
Tadeusz598@yahoo.co.uk
Website-
https://tadeuszderegowski.blogspot.com/?m=0
Instagram-
https://www.instagram.com/tadeusz_deregowski?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
by Jenny Ross
Jenny Ross is a Scottish-Canadian artist living and working in Aberdeen, Scotland. She originally qualified in veterinary medicine and changed her career to a visual artist, working in this field for several years before studying painting at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen. She uses a wide variety of media in her drawings, paintings and three-dimensional works and is especially interested in the interactions between media and their unplanned and exciting results. Her inspirations include the Scottish landscape and farmland where she lives, folklore and spiritual practices. Her work has been exhibited in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and London and has won several awards.
Artist Statement:
Through painting and drawing I aim to map real and imagined spaces, drawn from my own experiences, dreams and written work. My work explores spiritual practices and rituals, pulling on both local and global contexts. I explore witchcraft in relation to landscape and the natural environment and sometimes the work has a tangible presence of animals and figures. My inspirations come from a wide range of sources including books, found images and the immediate landscape surrounding my home in North-East Scotland.
Walking with my thoughts is an important part of my process. My images are rarely planned beforehand as I prefer to react to the media and colours during the creation process. Mixing media excites me and I love this unpredictable and dynamic process. I have been making my own paint from found, natural pigments such as ash from fire, mushrooms and earth, this process being a ritual within the practice of making.
by Joyce Taylor
http://www.joycetaylorart.co.uk
Born and raised in Aberdeenshire, Joyce Taylor studied drawing and painting at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen where she was one of three students in her year who were awarded the Patrick Allan Fraser Hospitalfield Scholarship. It was during that summer she was drawn to the villages and harbours of the Angus coast. Coastal villages, boats and seascapes are still an inspiration for her work, especially her local villages of Pennan, Crovie and Gardenstown.
When driving conditions are poor, preventing her from getting to the coast, Joyce works in her rural studio on still life painting or works from sketches previously completed outdoors.
After several years teaching art and design in secondary schools, where she was a Faculty Head of Art Design and Technology, Joyce decided to take early retirement so she could concentrate on her own creativity, and she has recently returned to painting full time.
Joyce has had the privilege of exhibiting her work in solo exhibitions in the UK, France and Canada.
Her paintings can be found in corporate collections in Scotland and France and in private collections in UK, France, Qatar, Jamaica, Germany, Norway and Canada.
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