Tracing Scotland's Soul: Two artists, one landscape at Glasgow Gallery

The Herald Scotland

7 days ago

(Image: Bridget Hunter's 'A Favourite Blue')
Bridget Hunter's work greets you first: coastal scenes bathed in soft light, wildflowers arranged just so, and still lifes that somehow feel alive with sea air and salt. Her palette is warm, but not sentimental; these are not postcard views but lived-in spaces. You sense she knows these places well — not just their shape, but their silence.
Bridget is a painter based on the South West coast of Scotland whose work is rooted in a deep appreciation for the everyday and the wild beauty of her surroundings. Inspired by artists such as Joan Eardley, Pierre Bonnard, Ivon Hitchens and Barbara Rae, she captures still life and Scottish landscapes, particularly Loch Doon and the West Coast islands, with warmth, energy, and a strong sense of place.
Often sketching outdoors or around her home, Bridget uses a variety of mark-making tools, from watercolour brushes to oil pastels. While some of her paintings begin en plein air, her recent work leans toward abstraction, exploring mood, colour, and memory. A passionate draughtswoman, she continues to hone her observational skills through life drawing, believing it to be the foundation of all great art.
(Image: Julie Smith's 'Cloud Bank Over Harris') Then you step into Julie Smith's world — a shift in tone, like stepping into deeper water. Her pieces are layered, elemental. Paint clings to panels textured with sand, wool, even coal. Glints of copper and silver flicker beneath translucent washes. Smith's landscapes are less about what you see, and more about what you feel standing there — the wind, the stories beneath your feet, the long shadow of history.
Julie is best known for her semi-abstract interpretations of the Scottish landscape. Born in Irvine, Ayrshire, she worked as a stained-glass artist and framer for many years until attending painting classes at Glasgow School of Art. Julie became an occasional practical art tutor at the University of Glasgow's Centre for Adult & Continuing Education but now concentrates solely on painting.
Working in oil over a watercolour base, she pays particular attention to the preparation of her painting surface. Board is textured with Orkney wool as well as sand or sea washed coal- shards from the [[Ayr]]shire coast. Metal leaf is then carefully placed, sealed and masked before several layers of acrylic gesso are applied around it.
Together, their work forms a kind of duet: Hunter the observer, Smith the interpreter. One reaches outward, the other downward — but both are anchored in the Scottish land and its changing light.
(Image: Bridget Hunter's 'Red Roof Carrick') There's something deeply personal in this pairing. Both artists draw from memory, from walks taken and weather felt, but they bring it to canvas in such different ways. What unites them isn't style, but spirit — a reverence for the places that shaped them.
As exhibitions go, this isn't one to rush through. It invites lingering, looking twice. Perhaps even seeing something of your own history reflected in the brushwork.
Whether you come for the opening on 2 August or slip in quietly later in the month, one thing is clear: this is more than an art show. It's a map of emotion, etched in pigment and place.
Opening event: Saturday 2 August, 2–4 pm (all welcome)
Exhibition runs: 2–30 August
Venue: The Glasgow Gallery, 182 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 4HG
Website: www.glasgowgallery.co.uk