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Clare Blois

"Clare Blois is clearly in command of her medium and combines passion and technique in equal measure" - The Times

It was after her extensive travelling, that Clare Blois decided to move on from her career in hotels and estates to being a highland inspired painter. She studied at the Open College of Arts, and specialised in art and design, textiles and painting. In 2003 Clare won the JD Fergusson Award, resulting in a major solo exhibition in Perth.Having lived in the Western Isles for ten years, powerful island seascapes and skies of the Hebrides are the running themes in her oil paintings, alongside gentler farming landscapes of the Black Isle. Clare's annual trips to southern France provide oppertunities for painting 'plein air' and in a warmer colour palette.

"As a Scottish artist most of my work is concerned with the power and strength of raw landscape and seascape of the north. Where it is untouched by mankind I try to convey the deeply hewn colours of the highland landscape and the uncompromising movement of our huge seas and skies.I am also interested in how we make temporarily patterns on the land and sea... fields with crops, the wake of a ship... and the constant influence of the changing weather, rotating seasons and the astonishing forces of nature. Painting outside makes me feel part of the subject, whether experiencing the challenge of the Scottish climate or the joyful heat of a flower meadow in southern France. The medium itself is important and exciting to me; the heavy textures and rich colours of oil paint are completely addictive.My paintings have become more abstract over time, and reflect the influence of my surroundings on my feelings on that particular day. I hope the viewer finds that the work relats to their own experience in possibly a different way."

The Strathearn Gallery | 32 West High Street | Crieff | Perthshire | PH7 4DL