Shirley Kirkcaldy

Shirley Kirkcaldy, Waiting for Spring, Original Landscape Painting, Natural Tree

2020

Shirley Kirkcaldy is a painter and illustrator, and her work explores the natural landscape, in particular, that of Dartmoor, where she lives, and the southwest coastlines she visits regularly. Her practice involves drawing in the landscape and working intuitively and expressively in a range of media, predominantly oil but often incorporating oil stick, wax, acrylic, ink, or charcoal. Combining visual notes, made on location, with memory and materials in her studio, ideas are investigated and possibilities explored until Kirkcaldy feels that something beyond the obvious has been achieved. Drawn to the edge of places where light and atmosphere feature significantly, her work aims to depict a sense of place and time where final images become less documentary and thus open to viewer interpretation. Kirkcaldy’s work is represented by several southwest galleries and in private collections in the UK, Europe, USA and New Zealand. Kirkcaldy is a member of the Southwest Academy of Fine Arts, exhibits widely and has been a featured artist in Devon Life, Dartmoor Magazine and The Artist publications.