Shazia Mahmood - 'Arisaig to Durness: A Journey of Memories'

SHAZIA MAHMOOD

Arisaig to Durness: A Journey of Memories 4 - 26 JUNE 2021

SHAZIA MAHMOOD Arisaig to Durness: A Journey of Memories

4 - 26 JUNE 2021 Shazia Mahmood completed her M.A. at Winchester School of Art in 1997 and now lives in Sussex. She has an affinity with Northwest Scotland and enjoys being outdoors, making sketches en plein air. She has developed a unique style of painting which combines inks and oil paint on canvas to capture rapidly changing light and weather conditions. She is a dedicated and passionate painter and it is for this reason that her work will stand the test of time.

The entire exhibition can on the Castle Gallery website. castlegallery.co.uk

Cover Image: Oldshoremore, acrylic ink & oil on canvas, 61 x 122cm

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“ This is a particularly personal solo show for me as I remember visiting the Scottish Highlands for the first time over 20 years ago. I got in the car and drove to Mallaig. Driving through Glen coe in the middle of the night, I already knew that I was somewhere special.

I got out of the car and walked around in the pitch black and saw the most specta cular stars. The next day, in the morning light, Knoydart was incredible. I had never witnessed such a beautiful landscape. From that moment on I was hooked.”

“I’ve since visited the north west tip of Scotland many, many times discovering new locations on and off the beaten track. It ’s almost 200 miles between Arisaig on the peninsula south of Loch Morar to Durness, which is about as far north as you can get. It ’s been inhabited (sparsely!) since the sto ne age and the coastline feels very much of another age. It ’s a magical place to sit and sketch and paint for hours on end.”

“For me as a painter, I feel very much that my mission is to push the boundaries of what paint can do in relation to capturing a landscape. When you are watchi ng a landscape, it ’s not a still landscape, it always changes with a different light on it every second. From a st ormy sea, a movement of clouds, a soft and subtle light moving across the sea to the coastline, a lands cape is always in flux and it is this ‘moment ’, that split second, I am trying to capture in my paintings.”

- Shazia Mahmood

Loch Hourn, acrylic ink & oil on canvas, 31 x 122cm Opposite: Broadford, Isle of Skye, acrylic ink & oil on canvas, 77 x 102cm

Durness, acrylic ink & oil on canvas, 41 x 51cm Opposite: Rum, Eigg, Canna and Muck from Traigh Beach, acrylic ink & oil on canvas, 77 x 102cm

Sunset, Eigg from Arisaig, acrylic ink & oil on canvas, 61 x 92cm

Storm Passing Oldshoremore, acrylic ink & oil on canvas, 51 x 61cm

Walking from Kilbride to Strathaird, Light on the Loch, acrylic ink & oil on canvas, 100 x 100cm

Eigg from Arisaig, acrylic ink & oil on canvas, 61 x 122cm

Summer at Traigh Beach, acrylic ink & oil on canvas, 46 x 61cm Opposite: Camasunary, acrylic ink & oil on canvas, 77 x 102cm

Traigh Beach, acrylic ink & oil on canvas, 30 x 77cm Opposite: Elgol, Isle of Skye, acrylic ink & oil on canvas, 77 x 102cm

Camasunary, Isle of Skye, acrylic ink & oil on canvas, 92 x 124cm

W O R K S

O N

P A P E R

Rum and Eigg from Traigh Beach, acrylic ink on paper, 29 x 41cm

Rum and Eigg, Sunset, acrylic ink on paper, 29 x 41cm

The Cuillins from Ord, acrylic ink on paper, 29 x 41cm

Camasunary, acrylic ink on paper, 29 x 41cm

Balnakeil, acrylic ink on paper, 29 x 41cm

Durness, acrylic ink on paper, 29 x 41cm

Oldshoremore, acrylic ink on paper, 29 x 41cm

SHAZIA MAHMOOD Shazia Mahmood is a fine art painter based in West Sussex on the south coast of England. Since completing her artistic studies in 1997 she has exhibited extensively and her work is collected worldwide.

Her passion is landscape and coastal painting, particularly the Sussex coast and the incredible coastline of northwest Scotland, from Knoydart via the Isle of Skye to Durness on the far northwest tip.

She works with acrylic inks and mixed media on paper to capture these fleeting moments en plein air, whilst her studio paintings on canvas start with a layer of acrylic inks followed by layers of oil paint and involve pouring as well as paintbrush processes. Many years of experimentation have provided Shazia with the intimate knowledge of techniques and materials that allows her to create paintings with an evocative and mysterious air in a style that is truly her own.

EDUCATION 1996 – 1997 1993 – 1996 1991 – 1993

M.A. European Fine Art - Winchester School of Art B.A. Fine Art Painting - Winchester School of Art National Diploma in General Art and Design (merit) – Reigate School of Art and Design

ARTIST STATEMENT “After graduating in 1997 my first very small studio was at The Maltings in Farnham. My second studio was in the middle of Godalming and was originally the Fire Station. This offered a much bigger space. Now I live in Sussex and am lucky enough to have my own studio where I live which has plenty of natural light. My first ever trip to Scotland was in 1994 when I stayed in a cottage on Knoydart on the west coast. From then on I was hooked. Scotland boasts some of the most outstanding natural beauty on the planet. From an artistic point of view, for me, the inspiration is endless. My favorite places are Elgol, Oldshoremore, Assynt, Isle of Skye and the whole of the west coast of Scotland. There is a specific light that intrigues me, when the light falls on the lochs and mountains it is just magnificent. Being surrounded by so much beauty, I just have to try my best to transfer it on to canvas and capture that mystery and drama.”

SELECTED RECENT EXHIBITIONS Shazia exhibits on a regular basis in mixed exhibitions at the Castle Gallery Inverness, Cambridge Contemporary Art, Gallery Heinzel Aberdeen, The Hammond Gallery Bosham and The Little Gallery West Wittering.

2021 ‘Arisaig to Durness’, solo show, Castle Gallery, Inverness 2018 Solo Show, Cambridge Contemporary Art 2017 Solo Show, The Little Art Gallery, West Wittering 2016 ‘A Tour of the Northwest Highlands and Skye’, solo show, Castle Gallery, Inverness 2015 Cambridge Contemporary Art 2013 ‘On the Edge’, solo show, Castle Gallery, Inverness 2012 Cambridge Contemporary Art 2011 Aberdeen Art Fair with Castle Gallery

Wey Gallery, Godalming 2010 Glasgow Art Fair with Castle Gallery 2009 Solo Show, Castle Gallery, Inverness

Castle Gallery, 43 Castle St, Inverness, IV2 3DU 01463 729512 info@castlegallery.co.uk

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