Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine July 2017 | Page 434

B
orn in Glasgow and raised in Ayrshire,
Scotland, Michelle was passionate about
drawing from the tender age of three. She
attended the Glasgow School of Art. Torn
between pursuing Fine Art / Painting and Textile
Design, Michelle chose Textile Design because she
could paint her ideas and also use them for design.
In her second year, she visited Roger Bill Cliff Gallery
to view “The Glasgow Boys” exhibition, (The Scottish
colourists & impressionists). One of the paintings
by Arthur Melville was a watercolour scene of Trees
called “Autumn Loch Lomond”1893. This painting,
for her, was a life changing moment and at that
moment decided that all of her work would be in
the medium of watercolour. Michelle soon gained
a reputation for her strong use of colour using this
medium. That was over thirty years ago.
These days she uses her watercolour paintings as a
reference when her compositions are put onto large
canvases using acrylic or oil. Having the watercolour
beside her while she works on the large canvas
allows her to concentrate purely on her choice of
colour, pitch & tone, not having to think about the
composition, as that was all developed when the
watercolour study was painted.
Michelle’s other life changing moment while seeing
the retrospective exhibition of Mark Rothko at the
London Tate in 1980’s which she considers to be the
most spiritual moment she has ever experienced.
She knew then that she wanted to push her own
work towards abstraction.
Colour has become everything to her. Her painting
begins here and ends only when the balance of
colour is just right. The interplay of light and dark,
shape and space such that each element of a picture
is working in harmony, are to her, like words in a
poem or notes in a symphony. Her compositions
of colour are magnificent - colour is her obsession!