Bio
Shirley Kirkcaldy [SWAc] is a contemporary landscape artist based in Devon, England.
Specialising in original landscape paintings in oil and mixed media, her work draws inspiration from the interplay between light, land and sea and captures the unique beauty and changing moods of the Southwest moorlands and coastlines.
Also available as Fine Art giclee prints, her artwork is designed to suit both contemporary lifestyles and curated interiors.
Shirley has exhibited widely and is represented by several contemporary art galleries. She is an Academician with the South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts (SWAc) and her paintings are held in private collections across the UK, the USA, New Zealand, Singapore and Europe.
She also teaches extensively, both in small group settings such as workshops and courses as well as demos to art groups and societies and individual 1:1 bespoke tuition.
Artist’s Statement
‘My work is an expressive interpretation of the natural environment, with a deep sense of place at its’ heart. Working from sketches and studies made in the landscape, each change of season creates an opportunity for me to explore the beauty and remoteness of the Southwest, in all its weathers and conditions.
Synonymous with light, atmosphere and energy, paintings are rich in personal responses, searching for something more than the obvious and overriding the need for direct representation. This allows a freedom to interpret and explore new ways of expressing ideas through the physicality of paint and other media, whilst also capturing an authenticity borne of a specific location.
Sketches and drawings that I make on location offer a way of seeing and editing the natural environments around me and are used as starting points for a way of working that is both exploratory and intuitive. In this way I am able to make a connection with the landscape I am in, as the observation is direct.
Contrasts of tone, texture and line are achieved through building up layers of paint, scraping them back and exploring mark making through the use of brushes, palette knives, collage and other tools.
Each way of working informs the other and, ultimately, paintings determine their own direction and their own conclusion. What lies within their layers becomes as important as what can be seen on the surface …. much like the landscape itself’.