I am delighted to be showing alongside some wonderfully talented artists in my only exhibition of 2026, at the fabulous Glasgow Gallery, Bath Street, Glasgow.
“Life in Colour brings together 4 acclaimed Scottish Artists, each responding to life and the world around us, in their own distinctive way. Through energy, colour and a delicately balanced sense of abstraction, the exhibition highlights the beauty, atmosphere and vibrancy of the vast world we live in and the attachment we feel to both places and memories.
Offering alternative and evocative interpretations of the landscape through the use of colour, expressive brushwork, simplified forms and textured surfaces, their connection and respect for the natural world is central to every mark they make.
Life in Colour brings the work of Emma S Davis, Victoria Wylie, Rosanne Barr and Jane Hunter together for a joyful exhibition bursting with colour.”
‘Invitation from the elements’ - mixed media on canvas, 49.5 x 49.5 cm
How this body of work came to be…
This year has been a fine, at times precarious, balance for me and the work I’ve made has, of course, been touched by how I’ve moved through this period. These paintings give shape, colour and material form to this time. Time spent noticing and wondering.
I’ve taken to regularly walking out from home, along the seafront, to the same spot on the eastern shore of our island. I find great comfort and reassurance in the repetition. I record in my notebook the same observation points each time, followed by short bursts of ‘automatic writing’ - scribbling whatever arrives in the flow of free thought. These pages have become my sketchbook, the place where sparks of creativity are found in words and nurtured without expectation.
I think about many things, but at this spot I mostly notice light and wonder about the sea. The regular visits have built, in my mind, some form of relationship between us and I often find myself drawing parallels between our experiences. I’ve written about how the sea on certain days seems busy, calm, purposeful or hurried; how the direction of the waves lead me to perceive my own role, either as observer or as part of the process. Placing shared meaning in the language used to describe both the sea and human emotion, a long practiced connection in how we talk about waves, swelling or depth of feelings.
In one particular entry I noted “When I come to meet the sea, I meet it as it is. I have no control to meet it any other way. I discover how it feels that day, how it moves, its stillness or fury. Sometimes I feel that way about meeting myself, that I need to meet myself where I am. Can I give myself the grace I give to the sea?”
‘Can I give myself the grace I give to the sea?’ - mixed media on canvas, 49.5 x 49.5 cm
‘Nature’s sounding line to the surface’ - mixed media on canvas, 64 x 84 cm
‘Streams of curiosity’ - mixed media on canvas, 44 x 64 cm
‘Tending hope’ - mixed media on canvas, 49.5 x 49.5 cm
‘The gathering tide’ - mixed media on canvas, 100 x 100 cm
