Diary 2009

LOVE: Jo Grewar's Love Heart Paintings on display from the 2nd until 16th February & CHOCOLATE: Ruth Hinks from CocoaBlack on the 5th-7th February with her Chocolates & French Pastries

Darren Woodhead is one of Britain's leading young artists and watercolourists and is a graduate of the Royal College of Art, London. Originally from West Yorkshire and always a keen naturalist, he now lives and works on the coast of the Firth of Forth in south-east Scotland.

Moy Mackay graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1990 with a BA (Hons) degree in Design. Moy moved to the Scottish Borders 12 years ago. Each piece is created using hand dyed and carded merino fleece. The fleece is built up in layers of colour and then felted. This is achieved by using hot water and soap, working the fibres together by means of rubbing and rolling. Most pieces are finished with hand and machine embroidery. The results are vivid and intense, and from a distance resemble painted pieces. Her flower and landscape themes reflect her great passion for colour.

My work is inspired by the landscape around me and trips to the coast. I take a mixed media, abstract approach to creating a painting. My work is quite textured and incorporates parts of the landscape that inspires it. For instance in my seascape works I gather sand, shells, rope and glass and layer them with acrylic mediums to build the picture.

Philip Hutton was born in Peebles in 1949. He attended Grays School of Art, Aberdeen from 1968 to 1972 where he attained a DA in Drawing and Painting. He taught in Selkirk High School and was for twenty years a travelling art specialist around Borders primary schools. In the last ten years he has run painting classes for adults and lectured freelance in History of Art. He has had solo exhibitions since the 1970s in Peebles, Edinburgh and elsewhere, most recently (June 2009) in the Castle Douglas Gallery, and in group shows including the RSA and Aberdeen Artists. His subjects range widely from private life and places to curiosities and contrivances. The pen and the sketchbook are the foundation of his painting.

Isabell Dickson was born and brought up in Peebles before moving to the Highlands when she married. After retiring from teaching she started painting, watercolours to begin with but for the last few years oil has been her preferred medium. She has attended workshops and courses regularly in Britain and abroad trying to advance her skills. She takes her inspiration from the ever-changing moods and colours of the highland scenery trying to capture the strength and beauty of the land and seascapes.