Since becoming a full time artist in 2005, Zanna Wilson has exhibited widely in Scotland and England and her forthcoming exhibition at The Watermill in Aberfeldy is her second solo show. After a foundation course at Winchester School of Art, she has lived and worked in Scotland. While studying at Edinburgh University she kept up her passion for painting, and after three years working at the Anthony Woodd Gallery she made the leap to full time painter.

Living with her husband Patrick Steuart Fothringham and baby Hester just outside Aberfeldy, she has a close connection with the Scottish countryside which is reflected in her work. ‘I am passionate about the special light and atmosphere experienced in Scotland’s varied landscape, and this enthusiasm has developed into an experimental approach to my work. I am constantly exploring new means to capture the movement of the elements, the changing skies and the rhythms of hill contours and outlines.

I seek to see beneath the surface and to reveal energy out of the land around me,’ says Zanna. At Leith School of Art she learned to paint with beeswax and the main part of her work is in this medium with raw ground pigments sometimes mixed with oil. The exhibition at The Watermill will feature around 30 works with subjects including well known locations such as ‘Sunset over Kerrera’, the island off Oban, and ‘Calum’s Road’ on the Island of Raasay as well as the more abstract and interpretive ‘Distant Skyline’ and ‘Fire Horizon’. Having a close family association with Appin, it is not surprising that this beautiful part of Argyll is included in her work.

She is a frequent traveller to the west and to the Hebrides where she absorbs the mood of the isles and translates and interprets the scenes in her own unique style. Other favourite spots are Achiltibuie, from where she has painted the Summer Isles, and the Lochailort area, where there are wonderful views of the Small Isles of Rum, Eigg, Muck and Canna. She has previously exhibited at the Anthony Woodd Gallery in Edinburgh, Kilbryde Castle, Dunblane and at the Edinburgh Art Fair. On three occasions her work has been accepted for the Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition at the RSA. Zanna now works from a studio in the hamlet of Dull.

The exhibition ‘Zanna Wilson – Highlands and Islands’ runs from 11 July-31 August at The Watermill, which boasts an ever changing collection of paintings and prints. It features familiar names such as Patrick Heron and David Hockney, as well as examples of Op Art.

fieldfacts

The Watermill, Mill Street, Aberfeldy, Perthshire PH15 2BG. Tel: 01887 829 129

www.aberfeldywatermill.com