Artist Statement
As a painter and printmaker, Ros finds inspiration in fragments of nature held close for reflection. She employs a personal vocabulary of fluid marks and organic imagery to express the sensual pleasure and ephemeral quality of the natural world.
Within this realm, her work varies from representational to abstract, and she is continuously moving along between the two. Ros tends to work in series, both subject matter and the materials used in creating her lino and wood plates and prints, or in the exploration of a particular image.
In years that are more recent, Ros has reconnected to her true love of painting and has been exploring ways to connect painting and printing processes. Moving from actual plants used as printing material in eco-printing and painting, where there is a seasonal aspect to this process; she is using found plant material, and the availability changes with the seasons. The temporal quality of the material, alluding to the passage of time, and the ephemeral nature of the material itself, all speaks to a place in her that craves more connection to the natural world.
Artist Bio
I am a painter, printmaker, designer and mother of one and a string of animals, who lives and works from my studio and home on a farm on the outskirts of Dundee. My luck is having the pleasure of rural and coastal Angus on my doorstep and the art world of Dundee, with its many attractions within five minutes.
I have always been an artist, but my earlier career was as an Exhibition Designer after graduating in Exhibition and Display Design in 1972. I worked freelance at this until a bout of ill health around fifteen years ago made me have a re think. This grounding, which covered many of my current practices, has stood me in good stead for my creative years going forward.
Bringing design experience and raw creativity to my work. Inspired by a practice of creating one small painting a day, I have expanded upon the themes and ideas generated therein to build several new series of paintings and prints. My most recent series, Misty Morns is reflective of my early morning journeys through the countryside to an art venue I was showing. My abstract naturalism work examines the history of life on earth within a geologic time frame. The beauty of the forms that organic life have taken on, is examined on an intimate scale and recreated in a bold and fluid way. I am continually experimenting with surface texture and related reactions with my preferred medium of acrylic ink.
A few years ago, I added a new love to my creations in the form of individual leather bound artist’s books. Made with various papers and eco printed pages, lashed for expansion and using the natural edge of the leather. Creating a very tactile and much loved item.
