Artist with upcoming Glasgow exhibition credit dying father for pursuing profession
A
n artist who’s holding a solo exhibition in Glasgow on Saturday credit her father and brother, who each died throughout the final 10 years, for uplifting her to pursue a profession in portray.
Alison McWhirter, 48, shifted her profession from instructing and publishing to portray in 2013, after her father, James, who died per week later with colon most cancers, inspired her to chase her passions.
Ms McWhirter, who was born in Dumfries and is now residing in Glasgow, additionally credit her brother, Alan James, who died from a sudden mind haemorrhage in 2021 on the age of 48, for being her “absolute mentor”.
After holding exhibitions in London and having her art work showcased in New York, Hong Kong and Singapore, Ms McWhirter can be opening her second exhibition, titled Summer Palette, on the Annan Gallery in Glasgow on Saturday.
Speaking about her father, Ms McWhirter informed the PA news company: “In the last week of his life, he said, ‘Look, life is so short, it’s incredibly short, it’s so fleeting. Forget everything you’re doing in your career and focus on becoming a painter, do it for me’.
“And my brother was a huge influence because he was my absolute mentor.
“If I ever needed some advice, he was always there, and he was the most positive and colourful person.
“He said to me, ‘Alison, what would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail’, and I wrote that in my sketchbook and looked at it every day.”
Of her household’s motivation, she added: “When I’m having days that I’m doubting myself, they do help me power through and I don’t want to let them down.”
Ms McWhirter stated she “didn’t have the confidence” to pursue a profession as an artist earlier than the motivation from her household as a result of “it’s really tough to make it in the art world”.
“I think it’s particularly difficult right now because a lot of funding has been cut,” she stated.
“The general impression is that a career in art is really difficult.”
Ms McWhirter stated that she tries to repeatedly meet artists within the early levels of their careers to debate her expertise, to supply “as much advice as they want to take”.
“I really want to see as many people succeed in the art world as possible because I think if there was more art in the world, there would be so much more joy and much less stress.”
Ms McWhirter stated that the “main thread” all through her work is “the use of colour to convey emotion”, and he or she regards herself as an summary painter who’s “interested in conveying a pure feeling”.
She stated that she usually finds flowers, and particularly sunflowers, coming by way of in her work, saying: “My dad loved sunflowers and I always think that sunflowers are quite masculine in some way.
“For some reason, when I’m painting sunflowers, I’m always smiling to myself thinking, ‘it’s a bit of my dad coming through in my work’.”
She added: “I feel that flowers are very monumental, and everyone connects with flowers and I love painting them for that reason.
“My paintings are really, really emotional, and a lot of people who come to the exhibitions, it’s quite a strange thing but people can get really emotional.
“The flowers have always got some sort of deep connection, some sort of memory that they have.”
For Summer Palette Ms McWhirter has been learning the “beautiful” palettes of well-known artists, from Frida Kahlo to Wassily Kandinsky, to encourage her work.
“That was a sort of starting point, they are impressions of those palettes of artists that I really like that use really interesting colour combinations,” she stated.
“It’s kind of moving, because you can see the relationship between the paintings that they created.”
Ms McWhirter stated that whereas that is her second exhibition on the Annan Gallery, she has had “very successful” exhibitions in London, and her work has been showcased in New York, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Of her upcoming solo exhibition, she stated: “I’m a bit anxious about the exhibition opening but I always get like this and it’s always fine.
“It’s good nerves, I’m trying to replace the word anxiety with excitement.”
Alison McWhirter’s Summer Palette solo exhibition runs from September 2 to 24 on the Annan Gallery in Glasgow.