Showing: ALL

Isobel Johnstone's work is full of colour and light.

'Locked down in Dorset this year, I fell in love with England. A Scottish obsession with colour has been an excuse to go abroad. But, as one glorious Spring day followed the last, Nature demanded I go out and get on with painting what was happening. Perhaps the contrast between this beauty and the horrors of Covid 19 made everything more immediate and poignant. Whatever it was, I had found a new subject'.

Pastel is a favourite medium for working on the spot, e.g. in Venice, but oil is generally the preferred medium for still life and portraits. There is a variety of print techniques: as well as etchings and linocuts, some Venice aquatints are combined with acrylics.

To see examples of recent work, click on one of the 'thumbnails' below, on one of the Categories listed above or a word in the left margin. The artist is happy to arrange a viewing in her Hammersmith studio, by email or by telephone 07798 894 222. Other recent work may also be seen at the Rowley Gallery, 115 Kensington Church St, London W8 7LN or at the Russell Gallery, 12 Lower Richmond Road, London SW15 1JP. Prices range from £250 to £350 for framed pastels, from £250 to £900 for paintings, and from £35 to £70 for unframed prints and drawings.

Biography

From 2004 to date, painting, also researching and writing about modern and contemporary British art.
1979-2004 Curator/Director, Arts Council Collection, Hayward Gallery, South Bank Centre, London.
1988 sabbatical in Italy; continued working at outdoor subjects during time off.
1975-79 Curator, Scottish Arts Council Collection, Edinburgh.
1969-73 Lecturer in art history and drawing tutor, Glasgow School of Art.
1975 Published Walter Crane (as Isobel Spencer), Studio Vista.
1973 Glasgow University (Ph.D.)
1967 Edinburgh College of Art and Edinburgh University (M.A. Hons. Fine Art) with travelling scholarship.

Exhibitions

2021 Rowley Gallery window show, London
2020 Russell Gallery, London
2020 New English Art Club, Mall Galleries, London.
2019 Russell Gallery, London
2019 New English Art Club, Mall Galleries, London.
2019 AAH (Artists At Home), Hammersmith and Chiswick.
2018 AAH, Hammersmith and Chiswick.
2016 AAH, Hammersmith and Chiswick.
2015 Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait exhibition, Kings Place, London
2014 Venice Revisited, studio show 28 Elgin Crescent W11
2013 Calli e Campielli, studio show 28 Elgin Crescent W11
2013 Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait exhibition, Kings Place, London
2011 Dulwich Art Gallery Open Exhibition
2011 Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait exhibition, Kings Place, London
2010 Venice and London, paintings and pastels, 28 Elgin Crescent, W11
2008 Dulwich Picture Gallery Friends Autumn Exhibition.
2007 Studio Show, 28 Elgin Crescent, London W1.
2007 Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.
1998 An Exhibition of Summer Paintings, Leone Cockburn Gallery, Edinburgh.
1996 The Italian Connection, Vicarage Cottage Gallery, North Shields.
1996 Paintings from Italy, Leone Cockburn Gallery, Edinburgh.
1995 Under Southern Skies, Paintings of the Italian Landscape by Joy Girvin, Nerys Johnson and Isobel Johnstone. Woodlands Art Gallery, Greenwich.
1991 Italian Landscape, solo exhibition, Terrace Gallery, Worthing.
1989 Italian Landscape solo exhibition, Gardner Centre, University of Sussex.
1969 Arbroath Art Prize, Arbroath Art Gallery (prizewinner).
1967 Pernod Art Exhibition, Edinburgh (prizewinner).