Charles Simpson : Back to the Eye
Charles Simpson (b.1952) was educated at Alloa Academy, between 1964-70 before studying at Glasgow School of Art from 1970-75. Simpson practiced as a Graphic Designer in Edinburgh for 15 years before moving to the Scottish Borders in 1991 to work as an artist and freelance designer. He became a full-time painter in 1999.
Simpson's studio looks immediately out onto the landscape of the Scottish Borders, providing him with a wealth of inspiration for his work. Annual trips to the north-west coast and islands of Scotland, such as Mull and Iona, also help him capture the effects of light on the land, sky and sea.
"I was a late starter to painting professionally. I was 43 when I had my first solo exhibition in Edinburgh which was in the basement gallery at The Open Eye in Cumberland Street in 1996. I had a second show upstairs in the main gallery in 1998. The latter show did remarkably well consisting of 48 paintings ranging in price from £150 to £2000. After a circuitous route it's lovely to now be back at the Open Eye.
It has been quite a trip from those much simpler days and the world is greatly changed, more convenient in some ways but far more technical and complex. Those inspiring heroes such as David Donaldson, Robin Phillipson and Alberto Morrocco are no more. How did we cope without the internet? When was the last time I was in an art supply shop? I'm hardly even in Edinburgh these days.
As then, I still do my own framing but now with the proper equipment and I don't need to crawl about on the floor of our small front room, sawing, joining and assembling. It is remarkable how styles of framing have changed, now more bespoke than those standard stock mouldings. However, paint and canvas are just the same and painting itself still presents the same issues as it has always done.
Nowadays I've got a bit more experience and know how than when I started, but my interest in the same type of landscape and seascape subject matter remains - though the Glen Nevis trees for this show have been a new direction. Yet every painting is still a bit of a mystery tour and I'm really not sure how it all happens sometimes."- Charles Simpson
