Biography

About Margaret Borthwick.

Margaret  Borthwick's  art practice over the last three years has been inspired by repeatedly walking in and exploring local landscapes, both alone and with friends. She immerses herself  in the environment over different seasons, weathers and times of day discovering, cycles of change, sense of  place, sounds and smells. Repeated visits enhance observation of the micro and macro aspects of the landscape  and her work has evolved to encompass both. Every visit  sparks new images and ideas and familiarity with the landscape and its history adds to the enjoyment. ​Colours, patterns light and textures are integral to the work and memory and imagination are added to the baseline of sketches and reference photographs to develop the finished work. Fungi, trees, branches and foliage inspire her and depicting micro and macro aspects of the landscape and seeing both together enhances the visual record.​ Larger works are usually painted in oils, sometimes mixed media. Recently she has enjoyed returning to watercolours especially depicting  leaf patterns with negative  painting techniques. Monoprints using found objects collected on walks are presented alone or added to mixed media. The smaller micro aspect  depictions are usually of fungi and tree bark patterns and are drawn in ink or produced in pen and wash. These may be grouped in arrangements of 4 or 6 images. ​Margaret Borthwick aims to take her viewers deeper into the landscape and its intangible beauty, enriching their sense of place.