Above: Birch Trees and Willow Shelter 2. Mixed media on 14×14″ wood 2. Rose Strang 2026
Newly framed and ready to go. These three paintings of the Fairhill woodland near Yester Valley, East Lothian will be part of the spring group exhibition at The Limetree Gallery, Bristol, opening Saturday 25th April.
For enquiries please contact Limetree Gallery directly on this link –Contact
All paintings are on 14 by 14 inch wood in lime-washed obeche-wood frames.
Birch Trees and Willow Shelter 2. Mixed media on 14×14″ wood 2. Rose Strang 2026
Birch Trees and Willow Shelter 2. Mixed media on 14×14″ wood 2. Rose Strang 2026
Birch Trees and Willow Shelter 2. Mixed media on 14×14″ wood 2. Rose Strang 2026
‘Birch Forest’. Fairhill. Mixed media on 14×14″ wood. Rose Strang 2026
‘Birch Forest’. Fairhill. Mixed media on 14×14″ wood. Rose Strang 2026
Birch Trees and Willow Shelter 1. Mixed media on 14×14″ wood. Rose Strang 2026.
(detail) ‘Birch Forest’. Fairhill. Mixed media on 14×14″ wood. Rose Strang 2026
(detail) ‘Birch Forest’. Fairhill. Mixed media on 14×14″ wood. Rose Strang 2026
(Above – driving through Glen Shee to Braemar. Photo Rose Strang. All photos below by Rose Strang and Adam Brewster)
The more I visit the Cairngorms the more I understand how they pull at the heart. In Nan Shepherd’s words from her poem – Summit of Corrie Etchachan:
” …No vision of the blue world, far, unattainable, But this grey plateau, rock-strewn, vast, silent …”
The Braemar Literary Festival was abuzz with ideas and conviviality – it was truly special to be there, but what remains with me is the changing mood and light of the mountains and the sense that just beyond the warmth and safety of Braemar is this arctic beauty, clear water, epic forests and everchanging skies. I really want to go back there and paint!
I was surprised by viewer reactions to my paintings (The Living Mountain series, completed in 2021). It was emotional and I had some really lovely conversations with people who feel passionately about the Cairngorms, for which I’m very grateful.
Copyright Fife Arms Hotel
I attended the festival with my partner Adam, and we were blown away by the generosity we experienced from Art Farm (the people who manage art and cultural events at the Fife Arms Hotel on behalf of Hauser and Wirth). Also by the people who run the Highland Pavilion, who provided us with fresh coffee, scones and friendly chats the two days we were there.
We didn’t expect Art Farm to invite us to their yearly literary dinner at the Fife Arms, along with some well-known authors and poets including David Nicholls (One Day), Alexander McCall Smith (44 Scotland Street) and Scotland’s Makar (Poet Laureate) Peter MacKay.
The Fife Arms instagram page has some great photos of the weekend on this link –
David Nicholls was amused when I told him he’d traumatised me with his gripping, emotional book One Day. We chatted about the effects on society of lockdown, touched on in his new bookYou Are Here, which I’m already enjoying – it has the characteristic loveable, flawed characters Nicholls is known for.
I was sitting next to Peter Mackay for dinner, and had a fascinating chat about Scottish Gaelic, the structure of ancient clan society and Scottish politics. Turns out we’d both drawn a parallel between the underground mycorrhizal networks that connect trees (explored by scientist Suzanne Simmard) and non hierarchical clan society. That was a bit of a niche ‘high five’ moment! Here’s my rambling post on the subject from 2019 – Planets, Narnia, Clans, Trees)
Alexander McCall Smith was as convivial as you’d imagine, telling me an amusing tale about a painting he’d acquired from the Scottish Gallery which turned out to be by a Dutch master!
The entire weekend was a rich and autumnal experience that Adam and I won’t forget, so a warm thank-you to all at Art Farm, The Duke of Rothesay Highland Games Pavilion and staff at The Fife Arms Hotel (unmatched for lush comfort, warmth and style!)
I’ll end with a poem (it was written first in Gaelic then translated by MacKay) by Peter MacKay, which, although it’s about the sea, not the Cairngorms, somehow speaks to me of their pull …
My paintings from the Living Mountain Series will be showing in the Highland Pavilion, Braemar on the 27th and 28th September and I’ll be there for ‘meet the artist’ from 12 noon to 1:30pm.
If you follow this blog you’ll maybe remember the exciting commission I was given by the Folio Society, London, in 2021. The Folio were re-publishing their own edition of The Living Mountain, and sought an artist to illustrate the book. I felt honoured and surprised – this being one of my favourite books of all time! (the Folio edition is now completely sold out – it’s possible to buy a copy online from booksellers but it’s now into the £100s. How I wish I’d held on to more of the copies they gave me. I have just one left)
The Braemar Literary Festival was founded by world-famous art collectors Hauser and Wirth, who own the Fife Arms Hotel in Braemar. The’ve turned the hotel into a quite extraordinary experience, the place is festonned with stunning original works of art including a Picasso and an enormous Bruegel in the dining room. The atmosphere is high-end but not uppity, the style in keeping with its Victorian heritage, they even have a framed letter by Queen Victoria tucked away in an alcove somewhere.
Guest speakers to the festival will include Monica Ali, Alexander McCall Smith, David Nichol (known most recently for the televised version of his heart-rending novel; One Day), Giles Coren and many more interesting authors, journalists and presenters (link Here)
Hope to see you there! Here’s the info again …
My paintings from the Living Mountain Series will be showing in the Highland Pavilion, Braemar on the 27th and 28th September and I’ll be there for a ‘meet the artist’ hour from 12 noon to 1:30pm.
Above: North Beach Iona, May . Oil on 30×20″ linen canvas. Rose Strang 2025
“Rose Strang observes North Beach, Iona (May) with atmospheric close-up clarity. The circle of black rocks, pale sand and turquoise shallows, lead to the misty mountains beyond with a loose, impressionistic style. Textured brushstrokes contrast the weathered ruggedness and calm serenity of the isolated beach on this Spring day. The palette is cool and luminous dominated by icy blues – waves lapping, light dancing. Strang’s poetic, painterly voice speaks not just of the physical landscape but of its ever-changing natural elements with quiet contemplation.”
A really lovely review by Art Mag art critic Vivien Devlin today of the Graystone Gallery’s Edinburgh Festival Exhibition. Poetic, descriptive writing by a genuine art lover. Thank you Vivien! –
Above. Storm Island. Oil on 50×50″ linen canvas. Rose Strang 2025.
Part of a series in progress for the Graystone Gallery‘s Edinburgh Festival exhibition launching to the public Saturday 19th July 2025 from 1 to 3pm
The photo below includes me to show scale …
‘Storm Island’. Oil on 50×50″ linen canvas. Rose Strang 2025
The painting’s called Storm Island because it shows a somewhat abstracted view from the north beach of Iona to Eilean Annraidh, which means (you guessed it!) Island of Storm in Gaelic.
It doesn’t look remotely stormy from the shore, it generally looks somewhat tranquil, even mystical in the way that islands do until you’re on them. A sense of untouched purity with its white sand and luminous tuquoise water.
I can never capture in traditonal or realist paintings that feeling of mystery. Abstracting this painting a little, and painting from a place where I’m thinking of colour, shape and texture rather than what’s actually there, maybe gives more of a sense of that feeling.
The foreground suggests a rockpool. The rock pools on the north beach of Iona are incredible sometimes, you feel you’ve stumbled upon some sort of dragon’s lair, with this lime green water among the jagged jet black rocks.
I have one more of these semi abstract works to finish this week, then the series for theGraystone Galleryis complete. The exhibition launches with a preview on Saturday 19th July from 1 to 3pm. Hope to see you there!
Above: Iona Abbey from North Beach. Oil on 30×20″ linen canvas. Rose Strang 2025
Today’s painting, above, is one of two landscapes for the upcoming Graystone Galleryexhibition in Edinburgh which launches on Saturday 19th July this year from 1 to 3pm
I’m taking these two landscapes as a starting point for two much larger abstract works for the Graystone, about which I’m very excited as I really awant to play with colour, mood and texture, not just views of Iona, lovely as those are to paint!
Just looking at my palette at the end of today is an inspiration!
Above: North Beach Iona, May. Oil on 30×20 inch linen canvas. Rose Strang 2025
Lots of exciting new projects coming up!
The painting above is one of a series I’m creating for the Graystone Gallery, Edinburgh for their Edinburgh Festival exhibition, which launches on Saturday July 19th from 1 to 3pm
The painting below is for the Limetree Gallery‘s upcoming Summer Exhibition which launches 3rd July. You can preview or reserve paintings now by contacting them on their website.
(If you’re interested in buying or reserving one of the paintings please contact the galleries direct on the links in the above paragraph, thank you).
‘Sea Light, Iona’. Oil on 40 x 30 inch linen canvas. Rose Strang 2025
I have another three at larger sizes for the Graystone coming up. Readers of the blog will know how much Iona means to me, and to thousands of other people who visit the island every year. It’s a special place I’ve been visiting now for about thirty four years and I’d say it’s one of my biggest inspirations as an artist.
The next larger paintings will be a bit more abstract, but I know that people find these paintings of turquoise sparkling water joyful, and so do I!
This series is doubly special since my partner Adam and I prepared the canvases ourselves with sretcher bars and raw linen.
I’ve kept the lovely texture and colour of the linen by using clear gesso. If you look at the close ups of ‘Sea Light, Iona’ and ‘Iona North Beach, May’ below, you can see the unpainted canvas …
Above – Maspie Waterfall. Acrylic on 17 by 16 inch wood panel.
A semi-abstract painting of layered acrylic depicting Maspie waterfall in Autumn.
Maspie Waterfall. Acrylic on 17×16″ wood panel. Rose Strang 2024
Detail 1
Detail 2
Maspie Burn winds its way from the Lomond Hills in Fife down to the beautiful little town of Falkland. It’s a quiet place, best known for Falkland Palace – a favourite dwelling place of Mary Queen of Scots. There have been settlements here going back into the mists of time, or pre-history to precise. If you keep walking up to the source of Maspie Burn, you’ll eventually encounter earthworks named Maiden Castle, which show the remains of an ancient fort.
Falkland recently became better known as ‘Inverness’ in the tv series Outlander – it’s very much cuter than Inverness mind you, inverness having become a small but busy city. Photo below, me posing in Falkland, ala ‘Claire’, looking quite a bit sturdier and shorter than the model-esque Caitriona Balfe!)
Photo Adam Brewster
Caitriona Balfe in character as ‘Claire’ for tv seres ‘Outlander’
I left the painting fairly abstract as it captures the energy of Autumn without going too pretty. The wood was actually part of a series of old cupboards from a flat owned by some friends of ours. Knowing I usually paint on wood, they asked if I’d like use it for painting. Yes indeed! I like re-using stuff.
Some photos of Falkland and a photo from our walk this weekend at Maspie Waterfall, you can walk behind it!
Above – Aberlady Shorelines III. Oil on 8×5.5 inch wood in oak frame. Rose Strang 2024
I’m delighted to be exhibiting these small oil sketches, framed in oak, at The Limetree Gallery this October. If you’re interested in the paintings, or would like to reserve one, please contact the gallery for details.
Here are a few photos I took with my mobile today, showing these lovely oak frames, then below those – at the end of this post – are more detailed photos of all the paintings available for the Autumn Exibition at the Limetree Gallery, with titles and sizes.
These paintings represent the start of my Aberlady-inspired series this year. They were quick oil sketches designed to capture the atmospheric solitude and moody colours of the east coast in winter, such a contrast to my later paintings of Aberlady in June this year! More on that tomorrow…
In the meantime, here are all the paintings, below, which will be on exhibition at The Limetree Gallery, Bristol. As mentioned,please contact the gallery if you’d like to reserve any of these paintings before they go on exhibition 24th October this year…
Aberlady. Winter I. Oil on 8×5.5 inch wood. Rose Strang 2024
Aberlady. Winter II. Oil on 8×5.5 inch wood. Rose Strang 2024
Aberlady. Winter III. Oil on 8×5.5 inch wood. Rose Strang 2024
Aberlady Winter V. Oil on 8×5.5″ wood. Rose Strang 2024
Aberlady. Winter IIII. Oil on 8×5.5 inch wood. Rose Strang 2024.
Aberlady. Shorelines III. Oil on 8×5.5 inch wood. Rose Strang 2024
Rose Strang Artworks 