New work by the Invergordon artist Hugh Kirkwood goes on show at The Ruthven Gallery this weekend. The new paintings come at a high point in the artist’s career after having recently been rewarded for his artistic inventions.

Kirkwood, who studied at both Glasgow and Chelsea Schools of Art, has recently been granted a patent for his invention the ‘paint-box’. He explained, ‘I like painting directly from life with my main subject matter being figurative, with people in a landscape or on a beach.’

To make the job of painting on the spot easier Kirkwood developed the concept of the portable studio, which he describes as ‘developed out of necessity for the situations I found myself in.’ He continued, ‘this paint-box has become like a camera for me now. Painting directly from life is challenging but very rewarding.’

Kirkwood, who will also be exhibiting at the National Galleries Duff House later this year, takes much of his inspiration from family visits to Aberdeenshire fishing villages such as Pennan. Kirkwood said, “The coastline from Findochty to Pennan is quite magical. You have the sea crashing onto the rocks, framed by steep cliffs and picturesque villages such as Crovie with its distinctive Scottish architecture and narrow pathways leading you back to an older Scotland and its sense of community; the small kirk in Findochty, perched high over the sea which from the inside looking out through the clear glass windows you see seagulls as if dangling from puppet strings hovering on the breeze, or the moon rising over Cullen beach. There is always something to inspire me to paint this coastline.”

A centre-piece of the show is the image ‘Local Hero’ that depicts the iconic red telephone box set within Pennan that was made famous in the Bill Forsyth film. Kirkwood explains, “Like most people visiting Pennan, the first thing you look for is the red phone box. However, the phone box in the village is not the one in the movie; that was just a prop. As it is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the making of the movie, I thought it would be a good idea to do a painting of Pennan with the red phone box in as it was in the movie.”

The Spring Exhibition at the Ruthven Gallery is one of the many art events taking place during the Perth Festival of the Arts and runs until the 3rd June. The show also features work by other leading Scottish artists including Margaret Evans and Iona Leishman.