Macmillan Fine Art

Macmillan Fine Art Artist

A small head study from a few months ago.One of those ‘didn’t quite make it’ paintings that seemed to be going somewhere...
06/09/2026

A small head study from a few months ago.

One of those ‘didn’t quite make it’ paintings that seemed to be going somewhere, but in that heady mix of joy and experimentation, I pushed it a little too far…it didn’t end up like this.

Still, perhaps that’s part of the process — sometimes the paintings that don’t quite work are the ones that teach you the most.

One of four new paintings I’ll be exhibiting at the lovely Gallery Franklin summer exhibition in St andrews this month. ...
01/07/2026

One of four new paintings I’ll be exhibiting at the lovely Gallery Franklin summer exhibition in St andrews this month.
It opens this Saturday 4th July until the 31st July

Echoes of moonlight,
28.5 x 22cm
Oil on arches paper on board

Finally finished this painting today.Sometimes a painting needs to be left alone for a while — a day or two, or sometime...
23/06/2026

Finally finished this painting today.

Sometimes a painting needs to be left alone for a while — a day or two, or sometimes even a month or more. Distance allows you to return with fresh eyes; you start to notice things that need adjusting, areas that can be enhanced, softened, or pushed back.

More recently, I’ve found myself moving away from simply following the reference and instead allowing the painting to take on a life of its own — heightening the colours, exaggerating forms, and abstracting the image that little bit further.

With the initial delicate rendering behind me, I am left to explore texture, mark-making, and colour. At times the image dissolves, only to slowly re-emerge, creating an almost breath-like surface — a place where suggestion and presence sit somewhere between the visible and the imagined.

A small oil on Arches paper, completed recently.I often think of my landscapes as places that have been edited by memory...
15/06/2026

A small oil on Arches paper, completed recently.

I often think of my landscapes as places that have been edited by memory. They are made by removing as much as adding — erasing moments, details, and fragments until something familiar remains. The east coast of Scotland is almost always the starting point: a landscape held through feeling as much as observation.

A small oil I finished recently.Sunlit Path, Oil on Arches paper
07/06/2026

A small oil I finished recently.
Sunlit Path, Oil on Arches paper

I have a (bad?) habit of reworking paintings…often. Scrape it down, redraw, scrape it, push the paint, dry, redraw, etc....
19/05/2026

I have a (bad?) habit of reworking paintings…often. Scrape it down, redraw, scrape it, push the paint, dry, redraw, etc. When it works I feel it looks great but, there are times the painting is just discarded or painted over. So when I recently started this I abandoned my usual habit and only used the brush (and not a 00 🧹 in sight!) with little use of the palette knife. Feels and looks different…and getting through it a tad quicker!

15/05/2026

Some new landscapes on Archers paper I’ve been working on and a Nocturne on the easel that needs resolved.

A new portrait I’ve been working on for the last wee while…almost there
24/04/2026

A new portrait I’ve been working on for the last wee while…almost there

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