Val Carr

VAL CARR grew up in Caithness, the most northerly county of mainland Scotland.  After leaving school, she studied at Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen, gaining a Diploma of Art and a Post Diploma.  She graduated in 1977.  Art was not a priority while her family were growing up, but in 1997she resumed painting full time.  Since then she has exhibited widely; she is also a tutor for art classes and she undertakes talks and demonstrations.

She works mainly in soft pastels, in bright colours, sometimes on a black monoprint base, for contrast.  Her work is mainly figurative and frequently humorous; verbal messages within her pictures have become her trademark.  Line and composition are also important in her work; her figures are elongated or "stylised", allowing her to mould them into particular shapes on the page.  Above all, her pictures are fun and those who buy her work are normally looking for that element.

She has undertaken a number of portrait commissions including family portraits and portraits of children and she has designed greeting card illustrations.

Val is also a creative writer and she had her first book, Green, published in 2002.  It is an autobiographical account of her very happy childhood in Caithness, "teeming with rich colourful adventures".  It is illustrated throughout with her own  black and white drawings.

To see further images, click Search or to check on availability of work click Contact Us.

If this page has opened without a navigation bar to the left, please click  Home