News...r Derek Robertson

Our really, really big news is that we are moving home and studio to the beautiful shores of Balmerino in Fife. Just 3 miles from where I grew up, the house overlooks the river Tay and is backed by a large garden and old woodlands. A picturesque view in itself, the house may be one of the most photographed and painted in the county. I am going to be busy with renovation work for the next few weeks and then setting up the studio, but I imagine that I will soon be preoccupied by painting the landscape. We can watch the sun set directly over the river.

Another piece of exciting news was that I was awarded the Small Painting Prize at the Royal Society of Watercolour Painters in Scotland annual show at the Royal Academies in Edinburgh. As well as a surprise this was a great acolade. The painting was one of my narrative works which have been achieving some wider acclaim at exhibitions over the past few years.

I have been working on  a collaborative project with the celebrated poet Rody Gorman. He writes in English, Irish and Scots Gaelic and is the writer in residence at the Gaelic College at Sabhal Mor in Skye. I have produced a number of narrative pieces to accompany his poems and these will be exhibited on Skye in the summer. If you would like a preview of the paintings and poems click here.

Above, Carmine Bee eater. A piece for Ark II by the TUSK trust. Fieldwork has taken a back seat with so much to organise with the move, but I have a lot of exhibition plans for later this year including an early show at An Talla Dearg on Skye, exhibitions in Mull, Pittenweem, a selection of paintings around Saline and work going to shows in Europe, the USA and London. Have a look at the exhibition pages for details. We hope to have a show in Balmerino once we have the studio set up and I have some paintings of the Fife coast completed.

Best wishes, Derek