D.E.Johnston

D.E.JOHNSTON lives in the Mearns where he was born and brought up.  He is a remarkable watercolour artist whose work is always inspiring.  His subject matter is all around and his feeling for the landscape is transmitted through every stroke of his brush.

 “It’s difficult to believe but this is my fifth show at Tolquhon and I am delighted to continue my association with the gallery.  The work in the exhibition is the product of the last two seasons painting.  I still try to work out of doors whenever the weather allows.  Sometimes, paintings are finished on the spot while, at other times, having established the basis for the work, I find an idea can be more effectively worked through in the studio.

Whatever method, I try to get as close as possible to the original experience of being in the landscape.  For a work to be successful, it must do much more than replicate a scene; it must also bear witness to the act of seeing and connect with the artist’s emotional response to the landscape.  If it does both of these, then it will have made its mark.

Watercolour is uniquely sensitive to its environment; it handles quite differently depending on the atmosphere in which the work is created.  Perhaps this is why it continues to fascinate and why it is, for me, the ideal medium in which to interpret the uniqueness of the Mearns landscape.”  D.E.JOHNSTON, February 2007.