Peter McDermott
Peter, entered the West Surrey
College of Art & Design at the age of 15, becoming the college’s
youngest student. After 5 years formal training, and following a
period of 18 years spent in London where he rose to the position
of Creative Director within a highly respected agency, Peter felt
led to change direction, return to the country of his father, and
pursue his first love, watercolours.
Now based on the Isle of Skye
with his family, Peter has been painting professionally for just
over 15 years, and in that time he has enjoyed successful exhibitions
at the following venues:
1996 Sept. Joint Exhibition
- Piccolo Press Gallery Nairn
1997 March. Joint Exhibition - Eden Court Inverness
1997 Sept. One man Exhibition - An Tuireann Arts Centre - Isle of
Skye
1998 May. One man Exhibition - Torrance Gallery - Edinburgh
1998 June. Watercolour Challenge Series (Grand final runner-up)
1999 May. One man Exhibition - Torrance Gallery - Edinburgh
2002 Sept. Joint Exhibition - Torrance Gallery - Edinburgh
2005 Dec. Christmas Exhibition - Di Rollo Gallery - Edinburgh
2006 Aug. Joint Exhibition - Atholl Gallery - Dunkeld
2007 April. Joint Exhibition - Di Rollo Gallery - Edinburgh
2009 November - Edinburgh Art Fair
2010 May. Joint Exhibition - Atholl Gallery - Dunkeld
Recognised as one of Scotland's
leading exponents of watercolour, Peters work is represented in
private collections around the world.
Artists thoughts:
Watercolour
fascinates me...
It’s the combination of discipline and freedom. Discipline,
to wait patiently while washes are drying, not being tempted to
‘adjust’
during the drying process, and freedom, because every mark the brush
makes means something. Therefore a brush stroke can suddenly become
a tree, shadows, rocks, conscious all the time that a wrong move
or lack of patience will ruin what has been already been created.
And landscape...
As a child, landscape represented a connection to one’s roots,
whether it was a painting by my Czech Uncle Ládia of the
Krakenos mountains, or a photo of our Scottish Aunties on the shores
of Loch Lomond. Landscape evoked emotions of belonging and family.
Later, the landscape became a demonstration of God’s magnificent
presence in creation, especially with the ever-changing light and
dramatic weather patterns found particularly in the Western Isles.
Because of this, my work is unashamedly representational, enabling
everyone to recognise and react emotionally to the location and
elements portrayed.
I draw my inspiration from
James Fletcher-Watson, one of Britain’s finest landscape watercolourists,
Edward Wesson for his economy of brush strokes and John Singer Sargent
for his incredible ability to take the very ordinary and turn it
into something beautiful.
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