The Fair City by Rob Hain on sale at RSGS Nature and Landscape Exhibition

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The Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) has opened a new art exhibition themed around “nature and landscape” at their visitor centre, The Fair Maid’s House, in Perth city centre.  And in addition to seeing works from Scotland's up-and-coming talent, The Fair City, the original impression of Perth by Selkirk-based Rob Hain is also on sale at this exhibition – and is going for £9,500. 

Featuring works pieces by fine artists Claire Harkess and Colin Woolf, by colourful city painter Rob Hain, well-known Guardian cartoonist Nick Hayes, and young talent Annie Armstrong this is one not to be missed!

Claire Harkess, a well-known artist who lives in Perth, is showcasing some of her most inspiring watercolours including delicate images of elk, birdlife and arctic landscapes.

Over the years, such works have helped propel Claire into the artistic limelight and, as a result, she’s appeared on television shows such as Landward and completed prestigious residency assignments including one at Edinburgh Zoo. In 2005, she was elected to the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, a considerable honour and professional seal of approval.

Gallery

Commenting on the artwork set to appear in the exhibition, Claire said:

“Spanning time and continents this collection of paintings brings together work inspired by my travels over the past 20 years. I feel very lucky and privileged to have the job I do: exploring and documenting the natural world in paint.Nestled alongside historical maps and journals and today’s inspiring explorers, scientists and thinkers, the RSGS feels a natural home for these paintings.

“Nestled alongside historical maps and journals and today’s inspiring explorers, scientists and thinkers, the RSGS feels a natural home for these paintings.”

Also on show is works by up-and-coming talent, Annie Armstrong from Braemar, whose works draw on her background in Zoology and conservation biology, as well as her love of the great outdoors.

“I want to use the language of painting to talk about the environment and conservation. Most of my works in the exhibition reflect on my time spent on a reserve in South Africa – and some of the destruction I became aware of whilst there.

“For example my piece titled 445 shows a southern white rhino with the title number etched into its skin – this is to reflect the number of rhinos which were killed in the year that this was painted.

RSGS Exhibition - Painting“I am privileged to be exhibiting with the RSGS. As a young, self-taught artist it’s is a fantastic and rare opportunity.”

Amongst her most vibrant works on show are a yawning lion, a pair of zebra set against newspaper headlines, and a “camouflaged chameleon”, as well as Rhino 445.

Colin Woolf, who is based south of Oban and is one of Scotland’s leading wildlife artists, will be offering one of his famous pin-feather paintings for the exhibition. These works are all crafted using a feather shed by the bird – a notoriously difficult way to create detailed artworks:

“My love-hate relationship with pin-feathers stems from their unpredictable qualities, which range between frustrating and impossible. Using a pin-feather requires a specific kind of action and a delicacy of touch that is very wearing for the artist.

Using a pin-feather requires a specific kind of action and a delicacy of touch that is very wearing for the artist.“To start off with, every feather has its unique properties but invariably only one of the two edges is useable. The useable side will only be found after trial and error. As an artist, you need to have faith that the stroke you are about to make; the problem with using a feather is that it is not in any way predictable.

“The tip of a pin-feather also wears down quickly and the barbs fall off after only a few hours of use. By the time I have completed a painting of reasonable size, the feather is almost completely worn out.

“Because of all these issues I always paint the bird and the more detailed areas first, because afterwards I can paint the background trees with the worn tip. The feather is then carefully inserted into the paper before framing, and below it in pencil I will write the words ‘Painted entirely with this pin-feather’ – a phrase which has become a hallmark of my pin-feather work.”

The Fair City, the original impression of Perth by Selkirk-based Rob Hain is also on sale at this exhibition – and is going for £9,500. A percentage of the sale will go towards supporting the work of the RSGS, so it’s an opportunity Chief Executive Mike Robinson is hoping will appeal to local businesses and Trusts:

1 FAIR CITY

“The opportunity to purchase The Fair City is not to be missed. This is a wonderful, vibrant interpretation of the city – more a reflection of 9am on a Saturday morning and containing lots of stories and local characters. And, by buying the piece, you’d be supporting the work of a fantastic artist and a dynamic small charity.

“If you haven’t quite got £9,500 to hand,” he added “there will be limited edition prints on offer which, with Christmas on the horizon, would make perfect gifts for anyone with connections to our great wee city.”

The final artist on show over the next two months is renowned Guardian cartoonist, writer and illustrator, Nick Hayes. He is currently writing his fifth book The Spellbound Land, to be published by Bloomsbury in August 2020, in which he trespasses the estates of some of the most powerful landowners in England, and argues for a wider right to roam.

For this exhibition, Nick has supplied limited edition lino-cut inks of an explorer that donned the back cover of the Society’s recent book, The Great Horizon by Writer-in-Residence Jo Woolf, plus intriguing works such as Wild Skulls of Britain which depicts, in cartoon style, the skeletal remains of animals such as fox, owl, seal, polecat, boar and human.

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The exhibition opened on Saturday 21st September and is on display Thursday to Saturday between 1pm and 4.30pm until Saturday 26th October, with a unique chess board and other pictures and items for sale in the run up to Christmas.

All works hanging will be on sale, with commission supporting the charitable work of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS).

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