I’m fortunate to live by the sea in South West Scotland. My studio and house are comfortably settled in a 2.5 acre plot with both wild and tamed gardens surrounding me. My garden is my yang, my paintings my ying. Both feed off each other and I benefit from both mental and physical stimulation as a result. My garden is reflected in all my windows and doors; it’s very much inside outside and outside inside. My house is also full of plants. My use of reflective surfaces as inspiration in my work has been developing over the last seven years and my photography of this subject matter, although rarely used to copy from directly, helps me to resolve issues in my work and assists in the propagation of my ideas. This way of working has developed slowly. Eileadh has described my work as fractured and kaleidoscopic and I think she’s hit the nail on the head. I feel the need to break up line, to interrupt a view, to use suggestive mark making, to layer up and to simplify all at the same time. This need is for my own interest essentially but I hope it also engages the viewer, makes them work hard to understand an area, and most importantly, for them to draw on their own interpretation of a scene and make a connection to a memory. My son moved to Edinburgh a few years ago which gave me reason to visit more often. There is something comfortable and un-threatening about the town; the hills and proximity of the sea are familiar to me and the architecture, history and gardens are all subject areas that I find inspiring. There is a sense of the many lives that have lived here, and the various epochs that the city has endured and been shaped by.
Kate Bentley RI RSW April 2025
Made with FlippingBook Annual report maker