Recent inspiration of Barabara Rae’s work - especially her trips to the Arctic in the footsteps of John Rae searching for the North West Passage. Her watercolour sketch book and follow up prints capture the luminosity of the northern hemisphere winter light added to by the astonishing reflective and absorbing quality of ice.
It has led me to try and capture those winter skies in Argyllshire looking down Loch Sween and also explore its impact within stark winter woodlands.
Mixed media allows textures to come through although watercolour somehow gets the immediacy of it. I was also writing a piece in conjunction with the painting about the attempts to find the North West Passage and Barbara’s Orcadian namesake John Rae. See the Poetry and Art section of the website.
