LESLEY MCLAREN


Born Glasgow 1959

Education

1977-82 Exeter College of Art and Design BA(Hons) Painting


Work

1990-95 Archealogical Illustrator

llustrator of Children's Books

2000-Present Painter full-time


Exhibitions

1984 Spacex Gallery Exeter

1990 Chambers Institute Peebles

1994 Carlisle Open

1994-96 Broughton House Gallery Broughton

1995-99 Hanover fine Art Edinburgh

Leith Gallery Edinburgh

Kirkhouse Gallery Traquair

Queens Hall Edinburgh

Westgate Gallery North Berwick

Stable Gallery Yetholm

Pavillion Gallery Melrose

Blackwood Gallery Hawick

Reiver Gallery Galashiels

2000-The present

Flat Cat Gallery Lauder

Ruby Orange Biggar

Green Gallery Aberfoyle

118 Edinburgh

Di Rollo Edinburgh

Strathearn Gallery Crieff

Greens & Blues North Berwick

Panik Gallery Killearn

Christos Gallery Glasgow

Just Scottish Edinburgh

Jerdan Gallery Crail

Morningside Gallery Edinburgh

Three Harbours Arts Festival

Art at the Airport Edinburgh

Santa Ana California

West End Gallery Perth

McHardys Gallery Peebles

Hammersmith Clarion Gallery London

Atholl Gallery Dunkeld

Green Gallery Aberfoyle

Tore Gallery Inverness

Bass Rock Gallery Dunbar

Gullane Art Gallery

Touched By Scotland Aberdeenshire

Red Rag Gallery Cotswolds

Scotland Art Edinburgh

Wilson Davis Fine Art Bridge of Weir

Tighnabruaich Gallery

Colours Gallery Edinburgh

McAuley Fine Art

Fotheringham Gallery Bridge of Allan


A painting is the showcase for my quiet observations - the blackbird who hops in my studio every day for his lunch, bulky black and white cows meandering up a green hill , whispering silver birches reaching for a black thundery sky. Waiting and watching for a glimpse of drama .... I can for example enjoy an out of body experience whilst absorbing the visual spectacle of pink lichen growing on an old Scots pine. This ability to hover often spills over into day to day life, making for instance shopping an unfortunately intense experience at times. It's hard to switch off.

It's fascinating to me, but at the same time perfectly understandable, that the best work often emerges after days of mistakes, hair pulling, sometimes tears and endless scrubbing out. It can be torturous and something which is not easily shared, then ... a wee chink of light appears on the canvas as though it had always been there, mischievously holding back the answer . This doesn't just apply to art of course. I learnt that fact when my son tried to master the game of golf.

Although the common theme here is hard work and persistence, one should at times hold back and drift with the tide just to see what washes up - these moments I use as golden opportunities to hook into what really moves me.