The subject of Ruth Brownlee's paintings is the far North. Shetland, Brownlee's adopted home is over 150 miles north of John O'Groats, and her studio is close enough to the shoreline for her to hear the pebbles in the waves as she paints. It is an immersive world of constantly changing sky, sea and land. This rugged coastal environment has enraptured Brownlee and fuelled her work since her move to Shetland in 1998.

 

Brownlee's sensitive paint handling and naturalistic palette brings us into contact with the imaginative expanse of the North Sea. The convergence of colour, light and texture in her paintings captures the physical sensations and emotive atmosphere of Shetland's wild coast.