The idea for this exhibition, the artist’s fourth with The Scottish Gallery, was for Frances to do as she always does when faced with a studio empty of everything but stretched, pristine canvases: to go to Iona to make her start. However, rather than a fleeting visit this was a prolonged stay. Hers is both a sailor’s and a painter’s understanding of the island, looking inward and out and she has added many new locations and aspects. Like Peploe and Cadell before her she demonstrates a profound understanding of how the variation of weather and sea, and of aspect and viewpoint, makes the island an infinite giver of subjects.

Frances Macdonald

When Macdonald begins to work in earnest towards an exhibition of new work she will travel to Iona for inspiration. It has drawn artists back to work from nature, and in all her moods provides for Macdonald both the familiarity and stimulus she needs to begin another journey.

Like Peploe and Cadell, Frances Macdonald greatly appreciates the juxtaposition of dark, angular rock and white sand. Her use of the palette knife creates a dynamism and animation in each painting. Hers is bravura painting, her means perfectly suited to capture the essence of the broken skies and raging seas in full force, with rocks transformed into cubistic patterns. In her third exhibition at The Scottish Gallery during February 2013, Frances Macdonald looked at new subject matter: sketching the flora and fauna of the Galápagos, where she visited in November, and the South of France, where she often visits. In April 2013 Frances was awarded the Charles Rennie Mackintosh residency at Collioure and visited France in May 2013.

We look forward to hosting Frances’s next solo exhibition in March 2025.

Beyond the Island of Storms

Frances Macdonald

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