Catalogue for Blythe Scott's solo exhibition at Morningside Gallery September 2022
COME A LITTLE CLOSER BLYTHE SCOTT BLYTHE SCOTT COME A LITTLE CLOSER
M O R N I N G S I D E G A L L E R Y MORNINGSIDE GALLERY
SEPTEMBER 3RD - 18TH COME A LITTLE CLOSER BLYTHE SCOTT
M O R N I N G S I D E G A L L E R Y
N O T E S :
All paintings are for sale and may be purchased or reserved prior to the Preview Evening. We kindly request that decisions on reserves are made by midday on Friday the 2nd of September. Please contact us if you would like further images of a painting or to arrange an in-gallery or virtual viewing appointment prior to the Preview Evening.
Painting sizes are width x height and include the frame.
COME A LITTLE CLOSER A S O L O E X H I B I T I O N
Scottish artist Blythe Scott’s exhibiting with Morningside Gallery is one of the good things to have emerged out of the lockdowns of the last couple of years. After following each other on Instagram for some months and both conscious of the physical distance between us - Morningside Gallery in Edinburgh and Blythe in Canada - the first group of paintings was exhibited in the summer of 2020 and seen mainly online and through the windows of our locked down gallery! This first full solo exhibition, entitled Come a Little Closer, is a celebration of the potentials of paint itself and the transformative impact of colour. These are paintings full of joy and visual intrigue. Harmonious layers of merging colour, abstraction, embellishments and mark making as well as an enjoyment of contrasting surfaces and textures, all characterise the works in this collection, which range from large scale paintings of Edinburgh skylines to smaller East Coast harbour scenes and mesmerising dreamscapes. After working with Blythe for the last two years remotely, exhibiting small groups of her paintings in and out of lockdowns, we are thrilled to be meeting her in person at last. Blythe is coming over from Canada to be at the exhibition opening on Friday the 2nd of September from 6 - 8.30pm and we hope you will join us for this very special evening.
Eileadh Swan Gallery Director
INTRODUCTION
Just a few months prior to lockdown in early 2020, Morningside Gallery and I found each other online and we began discussions about how we might collaborate. With me on Vancouver Island, BC, several thousands of miles from Edinburgh, many would have thought the distance between us might have been sufficiently challenging at the best of times. Little did we know what turmoil lay ahead of us and how creative we would have to be to pursue a partnership. However, I am delighted to say that a shared vision and determination brought it to fruition. Undeterred, the gallery created exciting new ways of bringing work to its audience and I used the fact that I was unable to be in Scotland, to travel in my imagination via my paintbrush instead. All of us responded differently to the challenges and changes that the last two years presented. While being very sensitive to the fact that many were experiencing difficulty, I was fortunately able to take refuge in my studio and find purpose and inspiration in this new topsy turvy world. It may seem strange to some but I immediately felt very animated by the enormity of events and the pivoting redefinition of normal. It filled me with creative energy and a conviction that art can heal, it can improve our lives in difficult times and engaging with art can be highly beneficial rather than frivolous. I was born and brought up in Glasgow and it was the ornate Victorian architecture there that first inspired my interest in cityscape. However, Edinburgh has also been a visually fascinating city to me since childhood and I have enjoyed featuring it in my work over the years. This time around though, my perspective has had to shift. I have painted this beautiful city from afar, bringing a deep sense of appreciation and longing to each piece and trying to offer others a feeling of escape through what I create. Each painting has brought me closer to the city and has helped me to understand it a little better. The pandemic forced us to physically distance, isolate and live much of life digitally. This has left many yearning for more tactile, in-person experiences. In this new collection, I have aimed to tantalise the viewer with surface intrigue that takes us beyond the initial impact of the composition and the colour. While I do see this body of work as cohesive, it is also important to me that each painting is absolutely distinct. Each has been given its own individual treatment and upon closer inspection, you may notice little swatches of tartan or crochet peeking through alongside embedded treasures and found objects. Contrasting textures have been created placing crumbled surfaces next to high gloss metal
leaf, impasto knife work, collage, inky drips and stencils to mention but a few. I have taken inspiration from the textural potential of paint itself and consequently, my surfaces have been as much built as they have been painted. This speaks of my natural desire to always offer just that little bit more than expected; to create paintings within paintings and to make work that interacts with the changing light of its environment. As we are all able to come a little closer again, I hope my paintings will convey some of the joy that this brings and remind people why it is so much better to view work in the flesh. All in all, this latest body of work is a celebration of Edinburgh, of Scotland and of imaginary Scottish worlds that are intended to offer solace and optimism.
Blythe Scott 2022
HOOTENANNIES The very first ‘Hootenanny’ painting I created was at the start of lockdown. As it became clear that we were heading into rather serious and uncharted times, I turned my thoughts towards what it might feel like when we emerged on the other side. Searching for a way to express the uncontained joy that I imagined we would feel, I drew from my memories of bringing in the new Millennium with fireworks in Edinburgh. In making that painting, I realised what a great opportunity the composition had given me to fulfil my need to balance a recognisable context with unbridled abstraction and surface and so a new series was born. This collection is a no holds barred full on presentation of colour and movement. These paintings feature vigorous mark making, technicolour palettes and texture you will want to touch.
Fire Flowers Acrylic and Mixed Media with Collage and Silver Metal Leaf on Linen Framed Size: 112 x 112 cm | £4800
Confetti Sky Acrylic and Mixed Media with Collage and Silver Metal Leaf on Linen Framed Size: 122 x 122 cm | £5200
Hip Hip Hooray Acrylic and Mixed Media with Collage and Gold Metal Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 40 x 40cm | £950
Colour Pop Acrylic and Mixed Media with Silver Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 40 x 40cm | £950
You Light Up My World Acrylic, Mixed Media and Gold Leaf on Linen Framed Size: 132 x 132 cm | £5900
Happy Hour Acrylic and Mixed Media with Silver Metal Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 40 x 40 cm | £950
Woohoo! Acrylic, Mixed Media and Gold Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 40 x 40 cm | £950
DREAMSCAPES The starting point for each artwork in the Dreamscape series is observed study of existing Scottish landscapes. Thereafter, I allow a more dreamlike, intuitive and romantic approach to take over my process. The work is intended to allow the viewer to escape to a place outside of reality, where time of day, season or even a need for plausibility, melt away. Harmonious layers of merging colour, abstraction, embellishments and mark making as well as an enjoyment of contrasting surfaces and textures, all characterise the works in this collection. These particular pieces speak about the feeling of being in limbo between two places. The pull between the two creates a third location - a place between places. Some of the motifs allude to location, direction and movement. Others suggest stitch and pattern instructions such as notches and grainlines which relate to my personal background in textiles and also my heritage. Crochet very often makes an appearance in my work which is a little nod to the lace makers of Ayrshire where one side of my family hails from.
Betwixt & Between Acrylic and Mixed Media with Collage and 24k Gold Leaf on Linen Framed Size 86 x 86 cm | £3500
Cold Hands, Warm Heart Acrylic and Mixed Media with Collage and Silver Leaf on Canvas Diptych Size: 210 x 102 cm | £7000
Cooried Under a Blanket Acrylic and Mixed Media with Collage and Gold Metal Leaf on Canvas Framed Size: 86 x 86 cm | £3500
The Sweetest Of Dreams Acrylic and Mixed Media with 24k Gold Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 56 x 56 cm | £1950
Shower Me With Kisses Acrylic and Mixed Media with 24k Gold Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 56 x 56 cm | £1950
Inner Landscape Acrylic and Mixed Media with Collage and Silver Metal Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 100 x 40 cm | £2200
Entirely Emotional Acrylic and Mixed Media with Silver Metal Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 61 x 61 cm | £2050
EDINBURGH CITYSCAPES
The starting point for these cityscapes is usually reality. However, during their creation, they quickly take on a quality that is more intuitive and semi abstract. The purpose of these works is to communicate my emotional experience of a city and the impression it leaves rather than to describe it factually. A combination of observed drawing, abstraction and a playful, inventive use of materials, characterise these paintings. While these cityscapes have been created thousands of miles away on Vancouver Island, the lack of proximity has in some ways been an advantage. Nostalgia’s palette is bright and distance has encouraged me to focus on my artistic response rather than cling too closely to reality and what might be viewed differently owing to familiarity. In this way, I hope to create a pleasing blend of fact and fiction.
Edinburgh Rocks Acrylic and Mixed Media with Collage and Gold Metal Leaf on Linen Framed Size: 122 x 122 cm | £5200
Paint Like Nobody’s Watching Acrylic and Mixed Media with Gold Metal Leaf on Linen Framed Size: 162 x 112 cm | £6200
Scream If You Want To Go Faster Acrylic and Mixed Media with Gold Metal Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 71 x 71 cm | £2600
Leave a Light on For Me Acrylic and Mixed Media with Collage and 24K Gold Leaf on Panel Framed Size 51 x 51 cm | £1650
Come A Little Closer Acrylic and Mixed Media with Collage and Silver Metal Leaf on Linen Diptych Size: 183 x 122 cm | £7400
Whoosh! Acrylic, Mixed Media and Silver Leaf on Linen on Linen Framed Size: 132 x 101 cm | £4900
True Colours Acrylic and Mixed Media with Collage and Gold Metal Leaf on Linen Framed Size: 132 x 132 cm | £5900
Hundreds & Thousands Acrylic and Mixed Media with 24k Gold Metal Leaf on Linen Framed Size 162 x 112 cm | £6200
Old Town Blues Acrylic and Mixed Media with Silver Metal Leaf on Canvas Framed Size: 162 x 61 cm| £4000
Golden Hour Acrylic and Mixed Media with Collage and Silver Metal Leaf on Linen Framed Size: 71 x 101 cm | £3200
Spring Joy Acrylic and Mixed Media with Collage and Silver Metal Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 40 x 100 cm | £2200
HARBOURS & HAVENS
I was born in Glasgow so I grew up visiting the West Coast often. However, it wasn’t until well into my adult years and after so much travelling abroad that I discovered how much I just adored the east coast of Scotland and especially the quirky little harbours of East Neuk of Fife. Jaunty cottages, bobbing boats, curvy coastlines and tangles of fishing paraphernalia have been an enduring inspiration for quite a number of years now. Even on the greyest of days, it is easy to find excuses to inject uplifting, high key colour, fluorescents and varied texture into these paintings. As with all my work, there is a balance
Frosty Moon Acrylic and Mixed Media with Collage and Silver Metal Leaf on Linen Framed Size: 112 x 112 cm | £4800
Restless Sky, Crail Acrylic and Mixed Media with Silver Metal Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 61 x 61 cm | £2050
In The Pink Acrylic and Mixed Media with Gold Metal Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 61 x 61 cm | £2050
Harbour Blues Acrylic and Mixed Media with Silver Metal Leaf on Canvas Framed Size: 86 x 86 cm | £3500
Bits & Bobs Acrylic and Mixed Media with Silver Metal Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 40 x 40cm | £950
Noughts & Crosses Acrylic and Mixed Media with Silver Metal Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 40 x 40cm | £950
Shimmer Acrylic and Mixed Media with Gold Metal Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 101 x 101 cm | £4100
Harbour Blush Acrylic and Mixed Media with Silver Metal Leaf on Panel Framed Size: 71 x 71 cm | £2600
BLYTHE SCOTT
Blythe Scott was born in 1969 in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2012, she moved to Vancouver Island BC Canada where she currently works from her home studio as a full time mixed media artist. She was brought up in a highly artistic home by a father who studied Drawing and Painting and a mother who studied Textile Design. Being equally exposed to the worlds of Art and Design, Blythe has always felt a sense of belonging to both. Immediately after high school, Blythe followed her parents’ footsteps and attended the prestigious Glasgow School of Art. It was here that she developed her passion for drawing as well as experimental surfaces and colour. She graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in Design (dept EWT) in 1991. A few years later, she went on to achieve a post graduate with distinction in Art & Design Education from Strathclyde University where she had the opportunity to explore a far wider range of disciplines than before and it was then that she settled firmly on painting as her enduring focus. Being born with a curiosity and wanderlust, she has travelled to and lived in various cities around the world and has worked as a decorative artist in Paris, gallery artist, gallery assistant and a passionate teacher of adults and children. All of these experiences have contributed to the development of her art and her understanding of the work of others. While a return to Europe is very much her future plan, Blythe has appreciated the opportunity to stretch all aspects of her practice that living in North America has offered. This diverse artistic journey has resulted in a highly individual approach to painting. Her expressive artworks are rooted in drawing while her love of experimental surface and technique as well as her ability to work closely with clients, are all supported by her background in Design. She uses mixed media, collage and metal leaf to create textured and colourful artworks which exude positivity, visual intrigue and a dreamlike quality. She creates work on a variety of scales, focusing mainly on romantic dreamscapes, quirky harbour towns and dramatic cityscapes. Blythe exhibits in galleries in Canada, the UK and also sells paintings and commissions directly. Her work is to be found in private and corporate collections in North America, Asia, the UK, mainland Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Iceland.
MORNINGSIDE GALLERY 94 Morningside Road, Edinburgh, EH10 4BY 0131 447 3041 art@morningsidegallery.co.uk www.morningsidegallery.co.uk
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