Wildlife-themed art showcased in Crieff
Art- lovers still have a chance to enjoy a walk on the wild side during an ongoing exhibition in Crieff.
Renowned creative talent Georgina McMaster is currently showcasing her work at the Strathearn Gallery in West High Street.
Surrounded by animals from a young age and brought up within a creative family, it was perhaps not surprising that Georgina elected to pursue a career as a wildlife artist.
After graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 2002 and then completing a post- grad at Bath Spa University, Georgina juggled teaching and painting for eight years before deciding to concentrate on her painting full-time in 2012.
Since then, she hasn’t looked back and is now recognised as one of the country’s most distinctive artists in the genre painting today.
Predominantly painting using oils on canvas, Georgina will often leave the background blank to concentrate the focus purely on the animal.
Georgina explained she has drawn inspiration from her large photographic archive as well as her local environment in rural Aberdeenshire.
She said: “I normally take photographs of animals, as they don’t tend to sit still for very long!
“I’ve a huge collection of images I’ve
taken over the years that I work from and it’s always great to look back for new inspiration.
“I tend not to sketch very much, preferring instead to just ‘get into’ the painting but I do like to sometimes play around with the composition first.”
She continued: “Painting living creatures, the goal is to always try to attempt to capture the character or soul of the animal which is why to me the eyes are so important.
“It’s obviously trickier with the likes of birds and small animals but larger animals are amazing because they always have so much depth and expression in their eyes which you can convey in the painting...”
Celebrating 20 years since graduating from art school, Georgina continues to be passionate about art, her painting and continuing to develop her style.
She declared: “I love painting and know I always will.
“It’s my dream job and I’m so lucky to be able to do something I love to do.
“Art can bring a viewer so much joy and paintings truly bring a room to life.
“It’s also a unique way to express yourself and it speaks volumes about a person and what they put on their wall.
“After the last few years, I’m also looking forward to attending exhibition openings again as meeting people and actually being able to stand in front of paintings and enjoy them is so much of the fun.” The solo exhibition runs until May 1. All of the pieces can also be viewed on the website www.strathearn-gallery.com.