CHRISTINE WOODSIDE Journeys close to Home
front cover image Fresh Morning Dollar mixed media 44cm x 46cm
Published by Kilmorack Gallery ltd, 2022 ISBN 978-1-8384862-8-0 Kilmorack Gallery, inverness-shire iv4 7al SCOTLAND art@kilmorackgallery.co.uk www.kilmorackgallery.co.uk
CHRISTINE WOODSIDE Journeys close to Home 21 May - 11 June 2022
Introduction The metal gate quietly closes as I enter Christine Woodside’s garden. A high stone wall surrounds the garden and its labyrinth of paths, trees, shrubs and flowers, all fitting somehow into this abundant space. Over the wall to the south are the Lomond hills and close by are woods with views of fields where there are birds, copses of trees and places to walk dogs. These are the inspiration to this exhibition – Journeys close to Home. Here in this garden, and just beyond it, a large amount of life is woven into a small space, and it is the same with Woodside’s paintings. Finding the front door involves squeezing past the overflowing hostas and honeysuckle which arche across the paths. Christine Woodside and Charles MacQueen have lived here for many years, and the house and studio has evolved organically around them, forming an artistic ecosystem. Here paintings, the warm kitchen where we have parsnip soup and the garden become one: an artistic-horticultural holy trinity. Twenty of Woodside’s latest works are laid out in front of me. Some are of the Lomond hills not far from here, others are of the Ochils to the west or Newburgh to the north. There is a feeling of journeying. Dogs move purposefully, and crows and doves flutter busily unaware of the artist’s eye.They are ever present inhabitants of a world we only pass through. ‘Incredible,’ I say. ‘You don’t stay still. There’s a freshness, new ways of looking.’ Christine Woodside smiles and makes no fuss. She’s a doer, always moving, and her paintings, rather than words are what’s important to her. Like the parsnip soup she cooked,
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her work needs to be eaten to be appreciated. It has taken years in the studio to become this good. The works in Woodside’s latest body of work are the first I have seen that have all been inspired so locally. Before this she would take painting trips to Italy or India; anywhere where there were new smells and colours that could inspire. ‘Far from home’ was always part of a Christine Woodside exhibition, but these new paintings are more personal, and I like them because of this.They are from lived experiences: the collared doves once kept, the table, window and pot, and the places we walk through. It is time to leave the house and studio and that is a shame. There is no grandeur here, or pomposity. It is the place of time-served artist still in her prime. Here, the tactile, the olfactory and the edible are everywhere, and this seeps into Woodside’s paintings. Making something deep-rooted and rich and keeping it light and alive is a difficult art. It is a great honour to exhibit these incredible paintings and to remember these works in this catalogue. Tony Davidson Director of Kilmorack Gallery
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Winter Window mixed media 44cm x 34cm
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Evening Glow mixed media 26cm x 34cm
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Soft Evening Breeze mixed media 69cm x 71cm
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Harvest, Fife mixed media 55cm x 69cm
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Dusk, Fife mixed media 55cm x 69cm
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Catch the Wind mixed media 35cm x 37cm
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Late Afternoon, Newburgh oil on canvas 56cm x 102cm
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Winter Sun, Dollar mixed media 45cm x 47cm
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Snow Melt, Dollar mixed media 44cm x 45cm
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December, Kinross oil on canvas 92cm x 92cm
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Loch Leven mixed media 69cm x 78cm
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Red Coat mixed media 69cm x 78cm
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Low Winter Sun mixed media 55cm x 69cm
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Moonstruck mixed media 34cm x 37cm
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Scottish artist Christine Woodside RSW RGI (b. 1946) is inspired by the landscape and wildlife around her studio in rural Fife, her whippet Jinky, fantailed doves (which she bred) and travels throughout the world. Woodside RSW RGI trained at Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen in the 1960s and is an elected member of the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Art. She exhibits regularly in Edinburgh and London.
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