The 144th Open Annual Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW) showcases 200 paintings by RSW members and 100 paintings by non-members, selected from the open submission, all featuring watercolour and water-based media.
‘The RSW was set up 144 years ago – we have a tradition to maintain but innovative ideas and traditional painting skills can go very well together. If you want to see a huge variety of approaches using water-based media, on a range of scales and an endless collection of subjects, this is a great opportunity to come and do that. It’s great to see these beautiful rooms being transformed again for a very special RSW exhibition.’ – Anthea Gage, RSW President
It would be appropriate to start this tour around the RSA with a painting by Archie Dunbar McIntosh (1936-2024), past President of the RSW, who passed away aged 88 last August. Remembered for his wit, warmth and intelligence, as an award-winning artist he fondly depicted ‘the lochs of the West Coast and the stone-walled harbours of Fife, boats, buoys, lobster creels and crates full of silver fish.’
A memorial work in this show, Winter Harbour illustrates Archie’s signature compositional structure of geometrical blocks, maritime motifs and layers of glistening snow on distant hills under a dark indigo sky – a harmonious pattern of shape and colour.
Painting in acrylic, Fiona Macintyre creates an evocative seascape in Winter Shore, through a sweep of sketchy, scratchy brushstrokes. An initial appearance of ‘flatness’ is deceptive as you study the geographical detail with impressionistic style. Such a clear perspective across the translucent water, crashing surf on seaweed-flecked rocks, the snowy scene delicately illuminated in pale white sunlight.
Caroline Bailey trained as a textile designer and this skill is transferred to denote texture in her watercolours through the bold layering of colour and shape. Living on the Isle of Skye, she says, ‘my work is inspired by where land and sea meet the footprints of human activity to express something of the atmosphere that I experience there’.
The rich, vibrant palette of Sun on Winter Fields, with lapis-blue sky, mauve heather hills, splash of crimson, corn fields and farmhouse centre-stage, is meticulously crafted like a woven tapestry. Another dazzling landscape in Bailey’s Farm Buildings, Orkney, again with the free-flowing blend of watercolour, gives the appearance of a textured veneer over the surface.’
The tranquillity of the seashore has always drawn artists to depict the ebb and flow of the tide. Shona Barr has a passion to paint en plein air amidst this wild beauty: ‘to watch how changing light alters colours and mood, the interplay between abstraction and representation, a synthesis of a sense of place’.
With pure white sands, Clachtoll Beach is an unspoilt paradise at Lochinver, Sutherland. Foaming Sea, Clachtoll is most atmospheric, placing the viewer right there on the beach. Colours seem to be delightfully exaggerated, but here sunlight shimmers on the clear turquoise water, akin to a tropical island.
Shona Barr received the Fidra Fine Art award for this captivating seascape.
Lynn McGregor always appreciates the stunning view from her studio which looks over Loch Awe, Argyll: ‘I try to find a balance between the various elements of texture, movement and geometry that I see in the landscape using colour and marks as I work’.
McGregor has a most distinctive technique, translating the geological structure of rugged, ice-worn mountains into a painterly jigsaw pattern. The soft tonal palette and sharp, zigzagging lines clearly capture the elements of rock, earth, water and sky. By multi-layering acrylic paint, and blocking out abstracted shapes, she is a master at distilling the immediacy of place, space and light across the loch.
In a similar manner, Chris Bushe has an abiding fascination for the Hebrides, Islay, Mull and Iona, ‘where powerful seas and winds sculpt their coastlines that provide me with a sense of joy and wonder.‘
Saligo Bay is on the West coast of Islay, and in his trademark style of thick slabs of paint, Wave, Wind, Sand & Rock captures the raw energy of this stormy day in whirling clouds and wild sea – an experiential, poetic response with vivid, visceral realism.
Robert McGilvray explores themes of abstraction, rooted in the reality of landscape – ‘the uncertainty in the mists, dark and threatening but always countered by a passage of light offering distant hope’. This is deftly illustrated in the ethereal vision of The Haar, a glimmering glow lurking through the dense, cold fog flowing in over the sea.
‘Well, the raven is a wicked bird, his wings are black as sin
And he floats outside my prison window mocking those within,
And he sings to me real low, it’s hell to where you go
For you did murder Kate McCannon.’
The Ballad of Kate McCannon by Ian Ritchie is based on a song by Canadian Country and Western singer Colter Wall, as a visual narrative of its tale of love, loss, deceit and murder. Traditionally, Country musicians took stories from newspaper headlines to produce dramatic ballads on themes of romance and murder. This is an exotic portrait of a tragic heroine, with her seductive, emerald-green eyes, surrounded by dark images of death, the black raven and a revolver decorating her hat like a brooch.
Another enigmatic lady is the subject of Cat Dancer by Ian Cook, her focused expression neatly framed to echo the eyes of the cat, in a disjointed, Cubist style. Cook’s portraiture reflects social and spiritual aspects of indigenous cultures in the Americas and Africa, which connect man and beast to preserve identity and the natural order of things.
In paintings of portraits, flowers, food and drink, James McDonald aims to perfect detailed accuracy, as seen in Roll and Chips. The chip butty is believed to have been first created in 1863 in Oldham, Lancashire by Mr Lees at his fish and chip shop – “butty” originated in Yorkshire as slang for butter. With artistic photorealism, you can really see the soft, airy texture of the bread roll and crisp golden chips.
Michael Clark first visited Paris in 1980 as an art student, and continues to tour France to embrace the timeless joie de vivre of café society, capturing charismatic snapshots of people and places. What could be more iconic than this simple, yet so effective, silhouette of a rotund gentleman carrying his essential daily bread in Baguette de Tradition.
Clark is adept at portraying the French style of joie de vivre, the pursuit of pleasure and leisure, often depicting bottles and glasses of wine. Cleverly created as a diptych, Champagne for Two features two classic flutes to toast the New Year with sparkling, celebratory fizz. ‘À votre santé!‘
With thanks to Vivien Devlin for this review.
