FRANCES MACDONALD
The Sgarbh on Loch Nevis, 2018
FRANCES MACDONALD
ROSS RYAN
A FAMILY AFFAIR 28 November – 23 December 2020
Frances and Ross, Crinan, 1975
The show is suffused with the colours of summer‌ A storm may be on the horizon and the sense of change in the weather is ever-present
Frances and Ross, Caledonian Canal, 2019 2
A FAMILY AFFAIR Frances Macdonald and Ross Ryan, mother and son, are original painters who share much beyond their genes. Both look at the landscape and like to work directly, in front of the subject. Both use oil paint and other media, drawing with the brush or palette knife, urgent, swift markmaking to capture the fleeting effects and drama of changing weather. And they share Crinan where the Ryan family have run the hotel since the mid-seventies, from where Ross escaped for school, art school and extensive travel. But the beauty of Argyll drew him back, as well as the responsibility of taking on Sgarbh, a wooden boat, sometimes floating studio, tourist boat or star of screen! Frances Macdonald has exhibited regularly with The Scottish Gallery for a decade, alternating with a London show. With this exposure, her enduring popularity and commercial success she has become one of most celebrated landscape painters in Scotland. Frances exhibits every two years with The Gallery, her distinctive Hebridean sea and landscapes hugely popular: Iona, The Mull of Kintyre, the bays around Crinan and the view across to Jura and the Corryvreckan are repeating motifs, ever changing through the seasons. Her stock of inspiration has been greatly enriched by the access she has gained to her subject from the sea, a bay or vista discovered from the deck of Sgarbh. The show is suffused with the colours of summer, the sea pinks on the rocks, the green of the machair, the sea reflecting the sun. A storm may be on the horizon and the sense of change in the weather is ever-present as she finds the painterly equivalent for the rich textures of the
coastline with her palette-knife and oil paints. In recent months as the hotel has had to adjust to all the restrictions, she has at least been able to devote more time to her practice and her latest exhibition attests to her diligence and creativity: she feels she has never painted better. Like a good modernist Frances is reluctant to give any commentary: the paintings must speak for themselves. Ross on the other hand makes extensive notes on his journeys and we see how hard-won the paintings are, particularly in the winter when the harsh conditions create privations and huge physical problems to overcome, but make each painting a manifestation and record of time and place. A long-term project of setting messages in bottles on the ocean still brings encounters as he journeys to meet the people who find his messages and makes new encounters and works at the location of the find. Both have studios at Crinan and assist each other in practical, encouraging ways, both working in a creative fervor to push to get the work prepared for exhibition, the fruits of which will be displayed in December. Don’t miss the opportunity to meet the artists by Zoom on Thursday 10th December at 5pm (30 mins) and on Wednesday 16th December at 5pm (20 mins) when Frances and Ross will discuss their favourite locations in the Highlands and Islands. GUY PEPLOE The Scottish Gallery
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FRANCES MACDONALD
Frances, c.1971
Frances, Ross and Julia, 1978
Crinan, 2014 4
Frances in her Crinan studio, 2020
Frances in her Crinan studio, 2014
Frances at Ronachan Bay, 2020 5
FRANCES MACDONALD
1. Amazing Grace, 2020 oil on canvas, 101.5 x 127 cm / 40 x 50 inches 6
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FRANCES MACDONALD
2. Gribun Cliffs, Mull, from Iona, 2020 oil on canvas, 101.5 x 76 cm / 40 x 30 inches 8
FRANCES MACDONALD
3. Purple Shadows on the Wet Sands, Iona, 2020 oil on canvas, 76 x 101.5 cm / 30 x 40 inches 10
4. Strait of the Storm, 2020 oil on canvas, 76 x 101.5 cm / 30 x 40 inches 11
FRANCES MACDONALD
5. Stunning, North End of Iona, 2020 oil on canvas, 40.5 x 46 cm / 16 x 18 inches 12
6. Dutchman’s Cap and Staffa from Iona, 2020 oil on canvas, 40.5 x 46 cm / 16 x 18 inches 13
FRANCES MACDONALD
7. Pale Aqua Waters, Mull of Kintyre, 2020 oil on canvas, 40.5 x 46 cm / 16 x 18 inches 14
8. Sun Just Breaking Through Over Mull, 2020 oil on canvas, 40.5 x 46 cm / 16 x 18 inches 15
FRANCES MACDONALD
9. Gigha and Islay from Ronachan, 2020 oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches 16
10. Cara, Gigha and Islay, Mull of Kintyre, 2020 oil on canvas, 40.5 x 46 cm / 16 x 18 inches 17
FRANCES MACDONALD
11. Lichen-covered Rocks Near the Old Kirk, Iona, 2020 oil on canvas, 40.5 x 46 cm / 16 x 18 inches 18
12. Pale Grey Lichen and Soft Pink Thrift, 2020 oil on canvas, 89 x 89 cm / 35 x 35 inches 19
FRANCES MACDONALD
13. Kilmory Knap, 2020 oil on canvas, 30.5 x 30.5 cm / 12 x 12 inches 20
14. A Patch of Yellow Irises, Kintyre Coast, 2020 oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm / 24 x 32 inches 21
FRANCES MACDONALD
15. Black Rock from Crinan Slip, 2020 oil on canvas, 46 x 40.5 cm / 18 x 16 inches 22
16. Staffa on the Horizon Beyond Cathedral Rock, Iona, 2020 oil on canvas, 137 x 152.5 cm / 54 x 60 inches 23
FRANCES MACDONALD
17. The Purple Paps of Jura, 2020 oil on canvas, 30.5 x 30.5 cm / 12 x 12 inches 24
18. Almeria Maritima, Lichen and Thrift, Ronachan, 2020 oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm / 24 x 32 inches 25
FRANCES MACDONALD
19. The Biggest Bunch of Pinks, Seal Bay, 2020 oil on canvas, 30.5 x 30.5 cm / 12 x 12 inches 26
20. The Perfect Day, The Perfect Beach, Ronachan, 2020 oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm / 24 x 32 inches 27
FRANCES MACDONALD
21. Early Spring, Ronachan, 2020 oil on canvas, 40.5 x 46 cm / 16 x 18 inches 28
22. Across the Cowslips Towards Fionnphort, 2020 oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm / 24 x 32 inches 29
FRANCES MACDONALD
23. Irises, Loch Sween, 2020 oil on canvas, 20 x 15 cm / 8 x 6 inches
24. Between the Rocks and Sea Pinks, The Paps of Jura, 2020 oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches 30
25. The Dorus Mor from Crinan, 2020 oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
26. Martyr’s Bay, Iona, 2020 oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches 31
FRANCES MACDONALD
27. Ticket Office for the Steamer, Crinan, 2020 oil on canvas, 30.5 x 30.5 cm / 12 x 12 inches 32
28. Bluebell Wood, Duntrune, 2020 oil on canvas, 46 x 40.5 cm / 18 x 16 inches 33
FRANCES MACDONALD
29. Blown Sands and Sea Pinks, 2020 oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
30. Seal Bay, Kintyre, 2020 oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches 34
31. The North End on a Perfect Day, Iona, 2020 oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches
32. Down the Kintyre Peninsula from Seal Bay, 2020 oil on canvas, 15 x 20 cm / 6 x 8 inches 35
FRANCES MACDONALD
Frances in her Crinan studio, 2018 36
FRANCES MACDONALD Born Glasgow 1983–1986 2004–2010 2013
Elected Council Member, SSWA Elected Council Member, RGI Charles Rennie Mackintosh Residency at Collioure
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2020 The Scottish Gallery Edinburgh Portland Gallery, London 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 2013 Portland Gallery, London 2011 Portland Gallery, London 2010 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 2009 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Portland Gallery, London 2008 Portland Gallery, London 2007 Portland Gallery, London 2006 Portland Gallery, London 2005 Portland Gallery, London Art 2005, The London Contemporary Art Fair, London 2003 Portland Gallery, London Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh 2002 Portland Gallery, London 2001 Art 2001, The London Contemporary Art Fair, London 2000 Portland Gallery, London 1999 Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh 1998 Cyril Gerber Fine Art, Glasgow 1997 Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh 1996 The Scottish Arts Club, Edinburgh
1995 1994 1993 1989 1988 1977 1975
The R.G.I. Kelly Gallery, Glasgow The R.G.I. Kelly Gallery, Glasgow The R.G.I. Kelly Gallery, Glasgow Sue Rankin Gallery, London Macaulay Gallery, Stenton Shore Gallery, Edinburgh Gallery Paton, Edinburgh
SELECTED MIXED EXHIBITIONS Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums McLean Museum, Greenock The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Visual Arts Scotland The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, Edinburgh White Cube, London The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh SELECTED COLLECTIONS Adam & Company, Edinburgh Haines Watts Chartered Accountants, Glasgow Drummond Miller Solicitors, Edinburgh First National Bank, USA Fred Olsen Cruise Lines Gleneagles Hotel Halifax I and H Brown Ltd Misys PLC Capital Property Group Royal Bank of Scotland Robert Fleming Holdings Ltd Stena Shipping Line Aberdeen Asset Management and private collections worldwide
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ROSS RYAN
Ross Ryan painting at Skerryvore lighthouse, 2019 38
ROSS RYAN Earlier this year, Ross Ryan, who is a painter and professional skipper, held his second solo exhibition with The Gallery, Batten Down the Hatches. Despite the complete lockdown across the UK, his exhibition fared well without having been seen by a single person. His mother, the painter Frances Macdonald wanted to show solidarity with her son and share her solo exhibition with Ross, this December, as both an act of kindness and so that their work could be seen together. CHRISTINA JANSEN The Scottish Gallery
NOTE FROM THE SKIPPER Back in March, and shortly after touchdown from Australia I spent my first two weeks home living in the hallway. From my quarantine I communicated with Ann through a series of muffled conversations, door knocks and notes. In fact this way we managed the entire exhibition mailing list. As the pandemic took grasp on all plans, soon it became evident that the ‘show would go on’ but not as anyone knew it. I had to remember it wasn’t just a case of The Gallery doors remaining closed for my show. Never in 180 years had art lovers been denied a view, not even while the world was at war. During these anxious times, heart-warming calls to the gallery forged an understanding that this was no time to postpone, or to cancel but rather to remain in touch and express through other forms. There were lots of ‘firsts’, a lot of ‘virtual’. One of these ‘firsts’ is this forthcoming exhibition with Frances Macdonald. Mum has offered me a place to exhibit alongside during her solo show. Here we can represent both the ebb and flow of the tide in our different manners, but together. Thank you Mum! ROSS RYAN
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ROSS RYAN
Ross in the wheelhouse, 2018
Ross sketching, Ruadh Sgeir, 2020
Sgarbh on Loch Scavaig, 2018
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Ross painting at Dubh Artach lighthouse, 2019
Painting Mairi’s Bottle on Tiree, 2019 (cat. 33)
Wild winter weather on Tiree, 2019
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ROSS RYAN
The large bell on the side of the croft did not ring last night, a sure sign there was little wind left in Tiree’s giant bagpipe. The cold stone floor downstairs had me walking taller and breakfast was consumed in a series of gulps. During the night the moon made the fleeces of dozens of sheep light up creating their own white shadow. They performed like king penguins, joisting for the best spot in the lee of the building. I met Mairi and her husband as planned at the North end of Balephetrish bay. I deployed their message in a bottle during the winter of 2017 while sailing back from Barra. This bottle had no liking for the high seas and had made a hasty landfall where they soon discovered it. I described the day I chucked their bottle over the side. The boat being flanked by dolphins and how it had been the first break in the weather to cross the Minch and get her home in time for Christmas. Soon I caught myself talking without stopping and realised I had not spoken for a couple of days. Nonetheless I continued, treasuring the moment. Incidentally this location was stunning. The rocks came in every colour with white sand dashed in between. The short machair grass was trimmed by the attentive sheep to a standard that even Trump would be satisfied with if it were on one of his golf courses. We arranged to meet up again and then I slowly and methodically got on with the large canvas, while enjoying the kind weather. A squadron of swallows made several flybys. Swooping then stopping in their hundreds to eat the dead kelp. At times they created a dark squall but today I would hold off painting that one, as tomorrow a real storm was forecasted.
33. Mairi’s Bottle, Balephetrish Bay, Isle of Tiree, 9.12.19 oil and pastel on board
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116 x 122 cm
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ROSS RYAN
34. Tràigh Mhòr, Isle of Barra, 19.1.2020 oil and pastel on paper
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119 x 168 cm
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ROSS RYAN
I was sharply awoken by the loud clang of a bell. Letting the imagination react would have been unwise, as I was already alone in an old croft, down a long track and in the middle of a winter gale. Forced intervention transpired the building had an oversized ship’s bell on the gable end, and when the wind coughed loud enough it would ring. I was out the door carefully navigating the soft machair well before daylight. The van shuddered and slowed in the gusts while its shoddy Halfords wipers proved they were not made for rain. The light was just starting to appear, also seemingly finding the long winters difficult. It backdropped a seascape of the likes I had not seen and certainly not painted. Thick foam filled the air and covered the van, giving it the appearance of a poorly sheered sheep. Today only the black and tired basalt rock stopped the village of South Haynish being pushed further up the hill. Down on the shore the sand gasped for air between the waves and spray. I could not help thinking of a ship out there on this horrendous lee shore and how far she could take the treatment of the now twenty foot seas. And what of Skerryvore, whose light was now unable to find a way through the water filled air? These thoughts were of ill health and not
of use. I layered up more as though preparing for a dive, checking for gaps and tightening all cuffs. With just my face showing I piled in tea, chocolate and Coke to up my game before entering the ring. Laughing giddily as one might before taking a dangerous selfie, I clamped my hands mechanically round the edges of the board and pulled it free of the van. Holding just the corners I let it hum and flap as it tried to find a way to leave Tiree. Stumbling down the beach I launched myself over it from the windward side. Pinning the bugger down before starting to pull good sized rocks over all the edges. The seas were now massive, flashing their green fronts before tripping and folding into huge sold tubes. A stinking dead seal that had been close by got clawed back off the beach, I watched in awe as the tide somehow pulled it back out through the waves. Towards the end the sun broke through and scattered pink light into the maelstrom, exposing what looked to be an island on the horizon, however it too moved, slowly, steadily. I tracked the monster carefully. While closing full hands around my beloved brushes I moved further up the beach. I was left my painting. That was enough.
35. Hurricane Force, Tiree, 8.12.19 oil and pastel on board
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116 x 175 cm
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ROSS RYAN
36. The Burn, Tangasdale Beach, Isle of Barra, 19.1.20 oil and pastel on board
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44 x 44.5 cm
37. Ronachan, Kintyre, 2020 pastel on board
55 x 92 cm
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ROSS RYAN
38. Port Ban, Iona, 11.1.19 pastel on board
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51 x 56 cm
39. Cleat, Isle of Barra, 18.1.2020 oil and pastel on board
69.5 x 122 cm
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ROSS RYAN
40. Ronachan Study, 2020 pastel on paper
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29.5 x 42 cm
41. Sheltering Fleet, Milton Harbour, Tiree, 10.12.19 oil and pastel on board
54 x 122 cm
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ROSS RYAN
42. Tangasdale Beach, Isle of Barra, 19.1.20 oil and pastel on board
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44 x 44.5 cm
43. Balephetrish Bay, Tiree, 2020 pastel on board
60.5 x 82 cm
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ROSS RYAN
44. In the Lee of Skerryvore, Sgarbh, 2020 oil and pencil on paper
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84 x 59.5 cm
45. Sgarbh Feeling Small, Skerryvore, 2020 oil and pencil on paper
59.5 x 84 cm
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ROSS RYAN
46. Jura Looms, 2020 oil on board
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36 x 46 cm
47. Ardnamurchan in the Wake, 2020 oil on board
55 x 92 cm
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ROSS RYAN
Lying west on the outer banks are two of the Stevensons’ largest lighthouses: Dubh Artach and Skerryvore. They are known by few but have offered salvation to thousands. Over 150 years their lights have blinked a simple message, a warning of the utmost danger. During this time, rage-filled seas have continued to be denied their rights for demolition. Such conditions are no place for the Sgarbh. However, when the wind was busy frothing up waters elsewhere, a window of opportunity opened allowing me to briefly sail through past battlefields. During the winter I painted from the shore, recording the sea in all her anger. Here is a force that could move a beach overnight and flick rocks like unwanted peas. Many of these paintings are from when the pressure dropped, started and completed in the one sitting. Not all of them made it. N.B. Of the Message in Bottles launched during the 2017 ‘solo winter voyage’, several have been found. Three of them took me to Tiree and Coll. I painted where they washed up and met those that discovered them.
48. Bending on Sails, Sgarbh, 2020 oil and pastel on paper
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49 x 59.5 cm
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ROSS RYAN
49. Where the Birds Go (I), 2020 50. Where the Birds Go (II), 2020 oil and pastel on paper
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35 x 31 cm
51. Where the Birds Go (III), 2020 oil and pastel on paper
35 x 31 cm
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Ross working on the Sgarbh during lockdown, 2020
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ROSS RYAN 1993–1997
Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, Scotland, BA Hons Fine Art
PRIZES AND AWARDS 2014
Bet Low Trust, travel bursary, bottle finders, Caribbean
2013
Bet Low Trust, travel bursary, Arctic
2007
The Conrad Award, Royal Society of Marine Artists, The Mall Galleries, London
2002
Latimer Award, Royal Scottish Academy of Arts, Edinburgh
David Cargill Award, Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Annual Show, Glasgow
2001
Sotheby’s Young Art International, Tel Aviv, Israel
James Torrance Memorial Award, Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Annual Show, Glasgow
1997
St. Fittick Prize for Printmaking, Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2020, 2018, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 2013
Nelimarkka Museum, Alajärvi, Finland
2012
Kupferdiebe Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
2011
Santa Cruz, Galapagos, Ecuador
2009
The Scottish Arts Club, Edinburgh
2004, 2005, The R.G.I. Kelly Gallery, Glasgow 2007, 2009 SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2020
The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2015
Gallerie Biesenbach, Cologne, Germany
Atom Gallery, London
2014
14, Bermondsey, London
Lawrence Alkin Gallery, London
White Cube, London
2013
RAR Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2012
Goldberg, Berlin, Germany
Bunker, Bremen, Germany
PUBLIC PRINTMAKERS WORKSHOPS
2011
Goldberg, Berlin, Germany
2012
2004–2009 Lime Gallery, Glasgow 2001
Sotheby’s Auction House, Tel Aviv, Israel
The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, USA
The Lighthouse, Glasgow
The Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
1997
Scottish Arts Club, Edinburgh
RESIDENCIES 2012–2014
Auschwitz Museum, Poland
2013
Alajärvi, Finland
2011
‘The Galapagos Scholarship’, Galapagos, Ecuador Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
2003, 2004, Bilbao Arte, Bilbao, Spain 2008, 2009 2004–2005 Oslo Printmakers, Norway 1996–1997
Peacocks Printmakers, Aberdeen
SELECTED COLLECTIONS Grampian Health Art Trust, Scotland Paintings In Hospitals, Scotland
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Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition FRANCES MACDONALD and ROSS RYAN A Family Affair 28 November – 23 December 2020 Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/afamilyaffair ISBN: 978 1 912900 27 5 Designed by www.kennethgray.co.uk Photography by John McKenzie Printed by J Thomson Colour Printers 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 and of the publishers.
Front cover: Frances Macdonald, Gribun Cliffs, Mull, from Iona, oil on canvas, 101.5 x 76 cm / 40 x 30 inches (detail) (cat. 2) Back cover: Ross Ryan, Tràigh Mhòr, Isle of Barra, 19.1.2020, oil and pastel on paper, 119 x 168 cm (detail) (cat. 34) 68
The Sgarbh moored at Crinan, 2014
ROSS RYAN