Flow Paintings by Jim Campbell

A new exhibition of landscape and wildlife paintings by Kirkcudbright artist, Jim Campbell will be on display from 12 to 30 September in the Tolbooth Art Centre, Kirkcudbright. Jim trained at Edinburgh College of Art and has a studio in the WASPS building in Kirkcudbright High Street

Jim’s work includes the figurative and the abstract, landscape and wildlife. His influences are rooted in a love of hillwalking and birdwatching in his native Pentland hills, and childhood family holidays in Dumfries and Galloway and around Blair Atholl in Perthshire, encouraged and inspired by his late father Bill. He uses a wide range of techniques and materials, latterly involving limited chromatic palettes, to express his reactions to the visual stimulus around him. Jim believes that everything starts and ends with drawing, with mark making; one of the basic and most fundamental means of communication. His latest works evolve from sketches made in the field, using sparingly selected materials and often incorporating the resources to hand; mud, seaweed, heather and grass for pigment, stone or bark to draw. He is observational in his approach, responding to the constantly changing light and mood of the landscape and weather; combining and contrasting elements of space, volume and tone to produce works which are natural and intuitive.

A recurring theme is the nature and character of the land and the relationship of people to the land, the marks made on the landscape by the passage of time and the link between collective memory and experience and a sense of belonging. These recent works concentrate on the ever changing nature of the Solway shore and sky line, the ebbing tide, the movement of light on water and the flow and saturation of sea and rain.

Jim Campbell’s exhibition runs in the Tolbooth Art Centre until Sunday, 30 September and is open daily from 11 am to 5 pm and 2 pm to 5pm on Sundays. Admission is free.