Tsg charles simpson

Charles Simpson Changing Light

Charles Simpson Changing Light 28 November – 23 December 2015

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foreword This is Charles Simpson’s first exhibition with The Scottish Gallery and in some senses it is long overdue. But then again an explanation can be found in his modesty and reticence, perhaps holding him back from pursuing a career as a painter. Stripped back to essentials a painter needs three things; ability, something to say, and belief.

Without the third quality, that art is important and that what you do is valuable, an artist will wilt in front of the bare canvas or be fatally tentative. Simpson has immense ability; he has found his subject, in the landscape of his adopted Borders and the ever-changing light on the West Coast of Scotland. His work now has a confidence near to joy; he no longer has to look left or right or behind. The work sits happily in a landscape tradition which goes back in Scottish painting by way of Duncan Shanks to SJ Peploe and late-period William McTaggart. In British terms he has Edward Seago and Constable for antecedence but can stand up for himself. Simpson’s ability to harness natural phenomena and without blunting the edges train them to his composition, always as satisfactorily balanced as a Cezanne still life, marks him out as a painter, and we wish him a long and productive middle and late period!

GUY PEPLOE the scottish gallery

The Artist on Iona, 2013

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Introduction I took up painting again in my thirties, probably as a creative activity alternative to my day job as a graphic designer in Edinburgh.

I hadn’t done any practical painting since my time at Glasgow School of Art in the early 1970s where I had chosen to specialise in drawing and painting but switched to graphic design after a year. In the intervening years I had always taken a keen interest in Scottish art by going to exhibitions such as the RSA and RSW, while my lunch hours were often spent going round the commercial galleries of Edinburgh, including The Scottish Gallery.

In my spare time I had started doing small watercolours and gouaches and even managed to sell some of them for modest prices.

In 1990 I left full-time employment and the following year moved from Edinburgh to a small rural cottage in Clovenfords near Galashiels.

I was earning my living from freelance graphic work, mainly in book design, but that year I also had my first ‘serious’ solo exhibition at Angus Macaulay’s gallery in Stenton. Gradually the balance between my graphic and art work transposed and I became a full-time painter in 1999.

I remember at art school becoming very self conscious about painting and even drawing, as I sought to develop an artistic style or identity, confused by the fusion of subject and technique. Interestingly when I later started painting again, there was no such conflict as I painted simply what interested me, namely the Scottish landscape, purely for myself and instinctively in a realistic manner. I still paint the same way today.

My paintings are subject driven. Subject matter is in turn determined by combinations of light, mood, structure and composition dynamics, as well as colour and tone. Sometimes a subject can be chosen purely because of an arresting image, such as an isolated tree, a group of sheep against the sea, or a wooden gate. Other times it can be an almost abstract compositional concept. The chosen material will then determine scale and proportion of the final painting. A location’s topography is important to me and I wish to be faithful to the subject and to what I have seen at a particular point in time. But I am also trying to create a painting in its own right and the application of the paint itself becomes just as important as the subject matter. I try to make paintings without romanticism, stylisation or artifice, whereby the depiction of the subject matter is more important than my own expression but where perhaps my own character may come through as an undercurrent.

I very much enjoy working over several months towards an exhibition, evolving and shaping a group of paintings of differing scale and proportion from a good variety of subjects. Subject matter is gathered from around my home and travels to the west coast and islands, and is often determined by the fickle Scottish weather conditions and particularly the ever changing light. A resulting coherent exhibition hopefully evolves from this accumulated material.

It is a delight for me to be presenting this exhibition at The Scottish Gallery, particularly after so many years since those lunchtime visits.

Charles Simpson

Sunset over Eigg from Bunacaimbe, 2014

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1

Crail Shore oil on canvas, 60 x 60 cms

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2

Iona North End oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cms

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Summer Sky, Iona oil on canvas, 50 x 60 cms

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Boats Passing oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms

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Iona Summer (The Finger) oil on canvas, 51 x 76 cms

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A Calm Sea oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms

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Beach and Islands, Iona oil on canvas, 30 x 60 cms

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Dark Sea, Iona oil on canvas, 50 x 60 cms

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Cow’s Rock, Iona oil on canvas, 51 x 76 cms

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10 Crossing the Sound oil on canvas, 90 x 110 cms

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Beach Rocks oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms

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12 Wave, Eigg and Rum oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms

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13 Figures on the Dunes oil on canvas, 40 x 80 cms

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14 Two Sheep, Iona oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cms

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15 Machair, North End Iona oil on canvas, 60 x 90 cms

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16 An Island Scene oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms

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17 Dozing Sheep, Iona oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cms

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18 Light on the Sea, Eigg and Rum oil on canvas, 70 x 100 cms

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19 The Abbey, Iona oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms

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20 West Coast Tree oil on canvas, 40 x 80 cms

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21 Gate to the Shore oil on ply, 44 x 50 cms

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22 North Shore, Iona oil on canvas, 51 x 76 cms

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23 Iona, Looking to Staffa oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cms

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24 Clouds over Crail oil on canvas, 30 x 60 cms

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25 Low Tide, Traigh oil on canvas, 51 x 76 cms

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26 Low Tide oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms

27 Fingal’s Stone, Looking to Iona oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cms

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28 Camusdarach Shore oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cms

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29 Dog Walkers, West Coast oil on canvas, 70 x 100 cms

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30 Evening Clouds, Eigg and Rum oil on canvas, 51 x 76 cms

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31 Small Boat in the Firth oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cms

32 Eigg and Cloud oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cms

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33 Isle of May Study oil on canvas 20 x 20 cms

34 Misty Crossing, Iona oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cms

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35 Dark Sea, Rum oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cms

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36 Changing Light oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cms

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37 Winter Hill oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cms

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38 Cleared of Snow oil on canvas, 30 x 60 cms

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39 Track down the Hill oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cms

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40 Winter Valley oil on canvas, 80 x 120 cms

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41 Dyke, Snow Covered Fields oil on canvas, 50 x 100 cms

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42 Farmhouse oil on canvas, 40 x 80 cms

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43 Andrew’s Cattle oil on canvas, 30 x 60 cms

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44 Loch nan Uamh oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cms

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45 February Beach, Dunbar oil on canvas, 20 x 50 cms

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46 Bass Rock, Belhaven oil on canvas, 20 x 50 cms

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47 Starlings and Buttercups, Iona oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cms

48 Stubble Field: Rooks and Crows oil on canvas, 60 x 90 cms

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49 West Coast Gate oil on canvas, 40 x 60 cms

50 Isle of May oil on canvas, 60 x 60 cms

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charles simpson

Born 1952 1964-70 Educated at Alloa Academy 1970-75 Studied at Glasgow School of Art Graduated with BA(Hons) 1975-90 Worked as a graphic designer in Edinburgh 1991 Moved to the Scottish Borders to work full-time as an artist and freelance designer 1999 Began to paint full-time Solo exhibitions 1991 Macaulay Gallery, Stenton 1992 Macaulay Gallery, Stenton 1996 Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh 1998 Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh 1998 Ainscough Contemporary Art, London 1999 Tolquhon Gallery, Ellon, Aberdeenshire 2000 Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh 2000 Ainscough Contemporary Art, London 2001 Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh 2002 ArtLondon (with Ainscough Contemporary Art) 2002 Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh

Winter at Inglecraig, Scottish Borders, 2010

2003 2004 2004 2005 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2011 2012 2012 2013 2013 2013 2014 2014 2015 2015

Panter & Hall, London Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh Panter & Hall, London Olympia Antiques Fair, Panter & Hall, London Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh Panter & Hall, London Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh Panter & Hall, London Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh Bourne Fine Art, The Gallery in Cork Street, London John Davies Gallery, Moreton-in-Marsh Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh Panter & Hall, London Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh Walker Gallery, Harrogate John Davies Gallery, Moreton-in-Marsh Flying Colours Gallery, London Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh Panter & Hall, London Flying Colours Gallery, London The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

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Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition Charles Simpson: Changing Light 28 November – 23 December 2015 Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/charlessimpson ISBN: 978-1-910267-27-1 Designed by kennethgray.co.uk Photography by John McKenzie Printed by Barr Colour Printers All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers.

16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ Telephone 0131 558 1200 Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk www.scottish-gallery.co.uk

Front cover: Evening Clouds, Eigg and Rum (cat. 30) (detail) Inside front cover: Isle of May (cat. 50) (detail) Right: Track down the Hill (cat. 39) (detail)