Beth Robertson Fiddes

Beth Robertson Fiddes graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1995 with BA (hons), won The RSA Benno Schotz award in 1997 and won second place in the 2011 Jolomo Bank of Scotland competition – the largest Art prize in Scotland.

Her return to her Highland roots has deepened her continuing artistic exploration of land and sea. A move in early 2013 to Inverbroom, in Wester Ross, took her back to where she feels she really belongs. She now has more time to spend in the surroundings that have inspired so much of her work.

“Returning to favourite childhood haunts and seeing them afresh has given my painting a new dimension allowing memories to combine with new sights and experiences.”

Indeed, her work – in acrylic, ink and oil and also paper – vividly evokes the fleeting moment of a surging tide crashing onto headland or hissing through rock pools, the sharp intensity of a shaft of brilliant sunshine through a swirling cloud of mist, rain or spindrift, at the same time raising the possibility of a primeval landscape.

Raised in Tiree, Beth has a deep understanding of how rapidly changing and often extreme weather patterns are an integral part of the rugged beauty of the north-west Highlands.

Her work has always been based on observation and drawing outdoors is fundamental to her working methods.

“I find more and more now that I want to retain the spontaneity of the initial impressions and sketches in the final pieces.”

There has been a steady growing recognition for an artist with a unique eye and the ability to transfer onto canvas – on a grand scale when necessary – the colours, textures and moods of the dramatic landscape around her.

“My work has sometimes been described as having an otherwo ... Read More