A landscape painter based in Glasgow, Libby Walker is known for her recent appearances on Sky Arts’ television series Landscape Artist of the Year, reaching the Final, broadcast on 4th March, when she was runner-up.
Taking place in her studio, the exhibition tells the story of Libby’s journey with en plein air painting, and her love of Pollok Park, close to where she stays; featuring studies created in the Park and on the tv programme, it’s an opportunity to visit her studio and view original artworks and prints, many of which are for purchase.
After graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 2009 in Illustration, Libby began a successful career as an illustrator, balancing commercial commissions with her own brand of work celebrating Scotland’s communities, focusing on the character of local places – shops, cafés, pubs and architectural landmarks. The shop she opened in 2018 on Glasgow’s Southside became a well-loved destination for locals and visitors, and remained open until 2021.
Following the closure of the shop, she has shifted decisively towards landscape painting, after a period of reflection and development, harbouring a desire to return more fully to painting as a way of working – both en plein air and in the studio developing larger paintings from on-site studies and photographs – exploring light, movement, colour and the emotional experience of place, examining in particular the movement between the urban city and wild landscapes.
Alongside her studio work, Libby runs small, welcoming art classes from her Glasgow Artroom, sharing her approach to materials and looking at other artists for community and inspiration.
She has said: ‘My practice is rooted in being present in the landscape. Painting outdoors allows me to respond directly to light, movement, place and experience. Working in the studio gives me space to reflect on memory and feeling. I am interested in how place stays with us, as part of who we are. Living in many places as a child and moved quickly and suddenly, attending three secondary schools, for example. From Ayrshire , Highlands and then to Glasgow. Because of this, I am shaped by, and interested in, how we carry memory of place in fragments of colour, light, temperature, weather and feeling long after we have left. My paintings are not records of a single moment, but accumulations of time spent looking, returning and observing. My paintings always remind me of what I was feeling or what I was experiencing in my life at the time. I find comfort and joy in staying still in one place with nature. Painting allows me to bring those memories home with me in a physical presence.’
