In the endless natural sequence, which colours the Scottish landscape, there is one constant and that is change. Only in front of nature with paint on paper can I throw caution to the wind and act on impulse. There is still a thrill as a painter, in catching a moment in time, when the familiar is transformed and the mundane becomes magical. It is an act of discovery, revealing the endless pictorial possibilities of the valley around me, when seasonal changes in my riverside garden become a kaleidoscope of colour. I drew the same view almost daily between September 2012 and June 2013, moving between the lush enclosure of summer green, through the transient and startling yellows of autumn, to bare open vistas, made fragile and luminous in the low winter sunlight. Duncan Shanks, 2013
About Duncan Shanks
Duncan Shanks was born in Airdrie in 1937 and studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1955–1960, later receiving a travelling scholarship which allowed him to visit Italy during his Post Diploma year. Returning to Glasgow, he joined the staff at the School of Art, where he lectured until 1979 before dedicating himself fully to painting.
