FRANCES MACDONALD
Sea Fever
FRANCES MACDONALD
Sea Fever
by Guy Peploe
In Frances Macdonald’s title Sea Fever she recalls the poem of 1902 by John Masefield:
I must go down to the sea again, To the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask for is a tall ship and a star To steer her by, And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s Song and the white sail’s shaking
Here is the compulsive draw of the sea acknowledged, and in her paintings sky, sea, rock are Macdonald’s alliteration. The poem is a physical description as much as a call to the free spirit and in the same way we can experience Macdonald’s paintings in terms of ozone, blown sand and jagged rock. The margin of sea and land is a paradigm for human creativity, an ever-changing landscape of possibility, and challenge. What lies beyond, what perils, what risks and rewards. When faced with the sea and the line of the horizon, seeming flat but the visible proof of the curvature of the earth, we feel the awe and primal fear of our ancestors; a species designed to walk on the earth but defined by our need to move out, curiosity and necessity unconstrained by land bridges. And at the margin the land is shaped, in slow flux, prey to the immense forces of the moon-driven tide and cataclysm of storms, and here life flourishes: wrack where the sea otter hunts, sand where worms and shellfish burrow and a profusion of perfectly adapted birds feed on the bounty.
On the west coast of Scotland the tonal range is from black to the brightest white from which we must shade our eyes. A moving cloud over shallow waters allows sunbursts to show turquoise and aquamarine, as the sand bounces the light back to the surface. The visible geology lends hues to rocks, where lichen and sea pinks grow in the harsh environment. The green swath of the machair and brilliance of the sand, the rocks: black and sleek or grey and jagged, remnants of times half as old as the planet. These characteristics, and the limitless variety of weather, are the stimuli for Frances Macdonald and they provide an explanation for why she paints, how a life of looking has allowed to her the deep familiarity which in turn gives her access to the magic. For painting is a kind of magic, how each mark accumulates towards meaning in the satisfactory disposition of the elements, how artistic intention is revealed towards completion. Frances Macdonald has an approach which makes her painting quite distinctive and instantly recognisable. She takes her tonal range and palette from nature and then goes some way to represent the movement and physicality of her subject with the palette knife and oil paint she favours.
In Sea Fever we find the artist painting her long-favoured subjects: the curve of The White Strand of the Monks and the Island of Storms on the east coast of Iona; the distinctive rocks of the North End; the extraordinary views west from Crinan; the full blooming of bluebells in the Argyll forest. And a group of late autumn pictures of Brittany, where she attended a family birthday party but as ever put her time to good use.
1. Towards Colonsay from Oronsay oil on canvas, 91.5 x 127 cm / 36 x 50 inches
2. After the Storm, North End Iona oil on canvas, 40.5 x 46 cm / 16 x 18 inches
3. Eilean Calbha, Iona oil on canvas, 76 x 101.5 cm / 30 x 40 inches
4. Two Little Boats, St Ronan’s Bay, Iona oil on canvas, 30.5 x 30.5 cm / 12 x 12 inches
5. Sheltered Cove, Ronachan, Kintyre oil on canvas, 81 x 61 cm / 32 x 24 inches
6. Port Bhan oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
7. Staffa oil on canvas, 30.5 x 30.5 cm / 12 x 12 inches
8. Looking toward Cathedral Rock and Lunga oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
9. Towards Gribun Cliffs from North End Iona oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
10. Calbha oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
11. The Paps from Oronsay oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
12. Waiting for the Seals, Kintyre oil on canvas, 20 x 15 cm / 8 x 6 inches
13. My Favourite Time of Year, Ronachan oil on canvas, 61 x 61 cm / 24 x 24 inches
14. White Strand of the Monks, Iona oil on canvas, 76 x 101.5 cm / 30 x 40 inches
15. Toward Finger Rock on a Calm Day, Iona oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm / 24 x 32 inches
16. Storm Washed Rocks and Sea Pinks, Oronsay oil on canvas, 30.5 x 30.5 cm / 12 x 12 inches
17. Jura on the Horizon - Sea Pinks and Seawrack, Oronsay oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm / 24 x 32 inches
18. Just a Little Clump of Pinks, The Mull oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
19. Pinks and Armeria Maritima oil on canvas, 81 x 61 cm / 32 x 24 inches
20. Silver Birch and Bluebells, Duntrune oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
21. Pathway through the Bluebells, Poltalloch oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm / 24 x 32 inches
22. A Glimpse of Storm Island, Iona oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
23. Vatersay, oil on canvas 30.5 x 30.5 cm / 12 x 12 inches
24. Rhum and Eigg from Ardtoe oil on canvas, 51 x 61 cm / 20 x 24 inches
25. Ardtoe Autumn oil on canvas, 40.5 x 46 cm / 16 x 18 inches
26. The Singing Sands, Loch Ceann Traigh, Kentra Bay oil on canvas, 76 x 101.5 cm / 30 x 40 inches
27. Breezy Day Gigha from Ronachan, Kintyre oil on canvas, 30.5 x 30.5 cm / 12 x 12 inches
28. Stormy Winter Day, North End, Iona oil on canvas, 51 x 61 cm / 20 x 24 inches
29. Sgarbh approaching Crinan Harbour, Bluebell Time oil on canvas, 20 x 15 cm / 8 x 6 inches
30. One Little Boat, St Ronan’s Bay, Iona oil on canvas, 30.5 x 30.5 cm / 12 x 12 inches
31. Sgarbh Sailing between Oronsay and the Paps of Jura oil on canvas, 101.5 x 127 cm / 40 x 50 inches
32. Plage de Penfoul, Brittany oil on canvas, 51 x 61 cm / 20 x 24 inches
33. Plage du Vivier oil on canvas, 30.5 x 30.5 cm / 12 x 12 inches
34. Plage de Tréompan oil on canvas, 46 x 40.5 cm / 18 x 16 inches
35. Port du Vilh oil on linen, 46 x 40.5 cm / 18 x 16 inches
Frances Macdonald
Born Glasgow
1983–1986 Elected Council Member, SSWA
2004–2010 Elected Council Member, RGI
2013 Charles Rennie Mackintosh Residency at Collioure
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2023 Portland Gallery, London
2022 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2021 Portland Gallery, London
2020 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2018 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Portland Gallery, London
2016 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2015 Portland Gallery, London
2014 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2013 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Portland Gallery, London
2011 Portland Gallery, London
2010 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2009 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Portland Gallery, London
SELECTED MIXED EXHIBITIONS
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
McLean Museum, Greenock
The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts
The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, Edinburgh
The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Visual Arts Scotland
White Cube, London
Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition:
Frances Macdonald
Sea Fever
6 - 29 March 2025
Exhibition can be viewed online at: scottish-gallery.co.uk/francesmacdonald
ISBN: 978-1-912900-96-1
Designed and Produced by The Scottish Gallery
Printed by Pure Print
Photography by John McKenzie
Front cover: Frances Macdonald, White Strand of the Monks, Iona, oil on canvas, 76 x 101.5 cm / 30 x 40 inches (cat. 14)
All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders.
THE SCOT TISH GALLERY C ONTEMPORARY ART SINCE 18 42
16 DUNDAS STREET • EDINBURGH EH3 6HZ +44 (0) 131 558 1200 • mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk • scottish-gallery.co.uk
