Clare Arbuthnott RSW, a contemporary artist based in Edinburgh, was bought up in rural North of Scotland. She studied painting at the Leith School of Art and in Cumbria.
Born in 1974 to an artistic and agricultural family Clare first studied Art History at the University of Edinburgh and then worked in Fine Art auctioneering. Her life, however, has always involved ‘making and creating’ and alongside bringing up her sons, the last twenty years have seen a growing professional art practice emerging.
Recently Clare has had five solo shows in Edinburgh at The Torrance Gallery. She is an elected member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW) and won the Scottish Arts Club Award for her work in 2017.
Clare’s painting whether begun en plein air or as a direct response to a studio framed still life, reflect an immediacy and intuitive approach to her subject. Lively brushstrokes and rich colour flood her oil paintings whether landscapes deal with the changeable (and often challenging) conditions of the Scottish Hebrides or the soft glow of Provence. The choice of rural landscape over the urban is led by a childhood of immersion there and a continued conversation with both known places and new. Floral still life and mixed media work are approached with similar vigour and enthusiasm.