Artist statement
Creative Cromar @Balmuir will present an intriguing array of paintings in various media and styles, drawing, sculptures - indoor and outdoor, ceramics and creative sewing. Our inspiration is multi-faceted and is often drawn from our local area. We are delighted to be sponsoring two local youth entries this year.Enjoy our exhibition spaces and refreshments.
Extended Bio
We are a group of artists drawn together in our locale, collaborating to present several events each year, in order to celebrate our art and to support and encourage each other. Our members show during NEOS at Balmuir and in 4 other venues around Tarland. At Balmuir this year, we have Rowan Addy and Lizzie Brooker, our two youth sponsors from Aboyne Academy, who painted wonderful portraits for their Higher Art exhibition, and we look forward to seeing some of their other work.
Janet Healey is fascinated by the patterns she comes across in tree bark, lichen, rocks, stones and felled timber, to name but a few. They are the inspiration for her designs created with acrylic paint and Indian ink on watercolour paper.
Nigel Healey (ceramics) wakes up at three in the morning with an idea and takes it from there. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t! His ceramics are hand crafted and unique.
Willow Thomson has lived in the Howe of Cromar for two decades and this is where she draws her inspiration for most of her paintings. She says that there is something about the light and the unique colour palette here that gets into your being and gets reflected in every piece of work she creates, whatever the subject or medium.
Jane Smith (sculptor) is creating a new body of work for NEOS which is inspired by the beautiful garden setting of Balmuir and is drawing on the forms of birds, butterflies and bugs to explore allegorical themes.
Jane Oram (multi media) feels that home is not just a place, it’s a relationship. She likes to work in materials that she is drawn to, often collected on walk, and she responds to them intuitively. As she works the materials become part of her inner home, her ‘happy place’.
Sue Wilson loves to create something from nothing, often with big and bright pure colours, and making practical solutions to ideas that are useful in everyday life. She particularly enjoys the process of taking an idea and transforming it into bright, beautiful, pieces with a purpose.
Jan Williams is inspired by what she sees when walking in the countryside. Her squirrel picture is in pastel using mark making and a cool blue background contrasting the warm hues of the red squirrel.
