Gerry Irvine

Painting

‘My art is solely about Coigach, a group of tiny villages strung out on the northwest coast of Scotland where I live. Coigach is a very remote area with few people living in it, a unique, prehistoric landscape of hills, bare croft land, beaches and islands. I take many photos as I walk around and make rudimentary sketches and they act as references for my work. My interest lies in the shape of the land, the colours in the landscape, the changing light, the wild weather as well as the marks left by humanity – old walls, fence posts, telegraph poles, ruined crofts and lazy beds. My aim is to keep things incredibly loose. I like to put down rough blocks of colour first. I scratch into it with various tools, wipe away with rags, and add marks with oil pastel and graphite’

Gerry studied for two years at Bridge House Art, a small, independent art school in Ullapool and quickly began making and selling her work widely.