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| DOUBLE CELEBRATION FOR AN ARTIST WITH INVENTION |
| Creator of mobile art studio takes inspiration for his work from Aberdeenshire Coastline |
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| Press and Journal |
| 4 Apr 2008 |
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An Easter Ross artist has two reasons to celebrate - he has just been granted a patent for an artistic invention and his work is due to go on show at a Perthshire gallery this weekend. |
| Hugh Kirkwood, of Invergordon, who studied as both Glasgow and Chelsea School of Art, has invented a mobile art studio, called the paint-box, which enables artists to carry their equipment safely when working on location. |
| He said: "I like painting directly from life, with my main subject matter being figurative - people in a landscape or on a beach." He added that he had developed the paint-box out of necessity for the situations in which he found himself. "This paint-box has become like a camera for me now. Painting directly from life is challenging, but very rewarding," said Mr Kirkwood. |
| Some of his latest works of art will be included in the spring exhibition at the Ruthven Gallery in Auchterarder, as part of the Perth Festival of the Arts, which runs until June 3. |
| Mr Kirkwood, who will also be exhibiting at the National Galleries Duff House later this year, said he took much of his inspiration from family visits to Aberdeenshire fishing villages, such as Pennan. "The coastline from Findochty to Pennan is quite magical. You have the sea crashing on to the rocks, framed by steep cliffs and picturesque villages such as Crovie, with its distinctive Scottish architecture and narrow pathways leading you back to an older Scotland and its sense of community. There is always something to inspire me to paint this coastline," he said. |
| A centrepiece of the show will be an image, entitled Local Hero, depicting the red telephone box at Pennan that was made famous in the Bill Forsyth film. Mr Kirkwood said: "Like most people visiting Pennan, the first thing you look for is the red phone box. The phone box in the village is not the one in the movie however, that was just a prop. As it is the 25th anniversary of the making of the movie, I thought it would be a good idea to do a painting of Pennan with the red phone box in, as it was in the movie." |
| The spring exhibition at The Ruthven Gallery also features work by other leading Scottish artists like Margaret Evans and Iona Leishman. |
| Read the article on the Press and Journal website. |
| © DC Thomson, Press and Journal. |
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© The Ruthven Gallery 2008. |