Greg Drumm

Developing my own techniques, mainly in pencils and acrylics and further enhancing my skills by attending workshops and night classes in life drawing, portrait painting and landscapes I soon found more galleries willing to exhibit my work.

It was during one of those workshops I had an epiphany, that EUREKA moment when I was introduced to the world of pastel painting, I just fell in love with the hands on technique, a totally different way of painting (with your fingers) for me. I regularly use other mediums but always find myself coming back to pastels.

Since taking semi retirement from a Building Surveying career I’ve been able to spend the last few years focusing more on my art career.

Galleries: I’ve exhibited in several galleries in Scotland and currently have work on show in The Holroyd Gallery, Ballachulish (near Fort William) and McGregor Fine Art Gallery, Glasgow.  If you’re in the areas with the eased travel restrictions please pop in to see them – the Holroyd in particular have adjusted their openings times so I’d advise you to visit their website to plan a visit.

Exhibitions: I’ve been a regular exhibitor at Mountain Film and Outdoor festivals across Scotland and my first solo exhibition was at Dundee Mountain Film Festival.  Since then I’ve enjoyed two further solo exhibitions. I’m also involved with my local (Kinross) Art Society and regularly attend and participate in their events and yearly exhibition.

Commissions: I’ve had a variety of commissions over the years ranging from animal portraits, traditional style landscapes and even an abstract multimedia style landscape.  It can be quite tricky at times trying to interpret visually what the client wants and I find it best to always chat it through with them to hopefully transfer those feelings and ideas onto canvas.  The most tricky commission I’ve done was for a Seach and Rescue Dog Handler who was a member of his local Mountain Rescue team.  He’d already bought a few of my pieces when his wife contacted me to say that his dog had recently died and she wanted me to paint an image of them together on the hill. It turned out to be a huge success!

Open Studios: I was due to be taking part in the Perthshire Open Studios Week in August 2020 however due to Covid this has been deferred until next year. So I hope to see some of you then.

Competitions:  I’ve not really entered many competitions and was therefore over the moon earlier this year to be chosen as one of the artists (watercolourists) to represent Scotland at the International Fabriano Aquarello Art Exhibition in Italy. This exhibition was also a victim of Covid albeit an online event was held and the organisers hope that the actual event will run next year.

Scotland is a truly wonderful country with a mass of wild remote and beautiful hidden locations to explore and discover. It has a magnetic pull on me, giving me a desire to get out there and be part of it in all conditions. As an outdoor enthusiast I love being out in the mountains or walking along a coastal shoreline, Be it in rain … hail … sleet … snow … oh and occasionally even sunshine.

I feel so lucky to be able to combine both passions, so that when people view my work I hope they get an affinity, a connection with the outdoors, making them feel like they’re involved in the scene I have created, by capturing its ruggedness, its remoteness and / or its wildness that the elements frequently provide along with the kaleidoscope of light and shade that the weather cascades down on the scene.

For me, the strong, rich pigments and vast range of choice Unison Colours provide allows me to attain these effects more readily than other mediums. These chunky, chalky jewels allow me to blend and graduated colours, tones and hues to give the desired outcome.

Most of my paintings are inspired from a combination of going out into these remote and majestic locations, sometimes waiting for hours to get the right light, sitting in a bothy or in my wee tent, just waiting on the weather changing, wandering around the landscape, finding areas to get a different angle, aspect or perspective and sometimes catching the moment there and then (usually by luck). My tools generally consist of a camera, sketch book, pencils, water colours, inks and a few pastels to capture shapes, ideas, colours and tones which assist in forming my compositions once back in my studio.