The Perthshire landscape has provided inspiration for generations of artists, and Scottish painter Claudia Massie is no different. Nora McElhone met her to find out more about how her love for autumn and winter views translates on to the canvas.
Originally hailing from the Borders, Claudia Massie lives and works in the quiet Perthshire village of Forgandenny with her husband, four-year-old daughter and two friendly dogs. Her studio is filled with several ‘works in progress’, mostly landscapes that have been inspired by scenes in Perthshire or the Borders.
Claudia explains that she tends to be inspired by the location that she is in.
“When I lived in Edinburgh, I painted a lot of cityscapes,” she reveals, “and I paint scenes from the Borders where I come from. I go there a lot as my parents are still there. I always have quite a few paintings on the go, I often work on one quite briefly, as there is a limit to what you can do with wet paint.”
She paints almost exclusively in oils: “I like the versatility and strength, and depth of oils.”
Having grown up in the rolling Borders countryside, Claudia moved to attend the Edinburgh College of Art, where she studied drawing and painting and graduated in 2000.
She did a few different jobs and spent a lot of time taking photographs before deciding that painting was what she really wanted to do.
“I realised that I wanted to do more painting,” she explains. “I lived in the Borders after college and then went back up to Edinburgh and applied myself, so started painting cityscapes. Edinburgh is a real painter’s city. It is interesting to work with the shapes of the buildings, the way they loom above you. Back in the country the weather plays more of a part in a way that it doesn’t do in the city.”
After spells in Edinburgh, Durham and Carlisle, Claudia, her husband Matt and daughter Florence moved to Forgandenny just over two years ago.
“We were pretty keen to come back up to Perthshire,” she says. “I was born in Perth and my grandparents were teachers up here. They used to run a school called Butterstone near Dunkeld — so I spent quite a lot of my childhood up here. It was nice to come back.”
Since returning to Perthshire, Claudia’s work has seen her drawn to a subject matter that others wouldn’t necessarily find inspiring.
“For the last few months I have been focusing on forestry plantations,” she says. “I go up to Murray’s Hill quite a lot because I like something about the landscape there. The plantation has quite interesting compositional possibilities — bands of colour or an absence of colour across the landscape. The trees have a darkness, impenetrability, with the light all around.”
She has recently found another location that she is looking forward to exploring through sketches and paint.
“There is an area that I went to just the other day above Stormontfield. The open view looking across the Tay Valley with forestry and stubble fields is quite appealing, especially in winter.”
Claudia enjoys working at this time of year, preferring the cooler months to the greens of spring and summer.
“In autumn and winter I like the light, a yellowing sulphurous sort of low light, which is good for shadows,” she explains. “I love the wide sweeping views in Perthshire and I like bad weather!” she laughs. Claudia enjoys the challenge of capturing the view as one weather system is replaced by another, something that the open countryside allows her to do.
Last winter, she tried her hand at reproducing the incredible snowfalls.
“I did a few pieces and was quite pleased with one called Winter in Fife. I will try to do more this year. There is a surprising amount of colour in the snow — yellow, blue and pink.”
As mother to Florence and with another baby on the way early next year, Claudia’s approach to painting has been adapted over the past few years. She would love to be able to do more work out in the field. “If I had all day every day, I would go out more,” she says, “but I can’t spend too much time travelling so I go out and look at places and do quite a lot of drawing but not as much painting as I would like outside. I take millions of photos.”
Trying to paint when you are caring for a small baby is a challenging prospect and the artist admits that, “When Florence was born I found not being able to work immensely frustrating so when I did get the chance to work I was so focused that I realised what I was missing.”
When baby number two comes along she is hoping to be much more laid back.
“I’m going to try and keep up as much as I can,” she says. “I’m hoping that I am going to be a lot more relaxed and generally more confident!”
Florence has obviously inherited her mother’s love for art, and the family’s dining table is home to a stack of sketch books that the little girl adores filling with pictures of animals and trees.
“She will sit down and draw for an hour at a time and she fills reams of paper at a time. I’m deeply envious — I wish I could do that!” says Claudia with a hint of pride.
Apart from admiring her daughter’s prolific drawing skills, Claudia cites artists such as Joan Eardley and Anselm Kiefer as painters that she admires.
“There are some artists or paintings which when I see them, I want to go and paint myself.”
She also has a few pieces by Edinburgh-based artist Camilla Watson on her living room walls. “She does a lot of work with old maps and I find her pictures really interesting and complex.”
She believes that her style is, “developing all the time. I still consider myself in the very early stages of becoming competent. Every painting I do I learn something from.”
Spending so much time creating a picture can have its drawbacks.
“By the time things get to exhibition stage sometimes I have gone off them. I quite like them for a while or if I see them again after quite a long time. Often the ones that I think are really good are the ones that sit on the gallery walls for ever!”To find out more about Claudia and her work, visit www.claudiamassie.co.uk“In autumn and winter I like the light, a yellowing sulphurous sort of low light, which is good for shadows,” she explains. “I love the wide sweeping views in Perthshire and I like bad weather!” she laughs. Claudia enjoys the challenge of capturing the view as one weather system is replaced by another, something that the open countryside allows her to do.
Last winter, she tried her hand at reproducing the incredible snowfalls.
“I did a few pieces and was quite pleased with one called Winter in Fife. I will try to do more this year. There is a surprising amount of colour in the snow — yellow, blue and pink.”
As mother to Florence and with another baby on the way early next year, Claudia’s approach to painting has been adapted over the past few years. She would love to be able to do more work out in the field. “If I had all day every day, I would go out more,” she says, “but I can’t spend too much time travelling so I go out and look at places and do quite a lot of drawing but not as much painting as I would like outside. I take millions of photos.”
Trying to paint when you are caring for a small baby is a challenging prospect and the artist admits that, “When Florence was born I found not being able to work immensely frustrating so when I did get the chance to work I was so focused that I realised what I was missing.”
When baby number two comes along she is hoping to be much more laid back.
“I’m going to try and keep up as much as I can,” she says. “I’m hoping that I am going to be a lot more relaxed and generally more confident!”
Florence has obviously inherited her mother’s love for art, and the family’s dining table is home to a stack of sketch books that the little girl adores filling with pictures of animals and trees.
“She will sit down and draw for an hour at a time and she fills reams of paper at a time. I’m deeply envious — I wish I could do that!” says Claudia with a hint of pride.
Apart from admiring her daughter’s prolific drawing skills, Claudia cites artists such as Joan Eardley and Anselm Kiefer as painters that she admires.
“There are some artists or paintings which when I see them, I want to go and paint myself.”
She also has a few pieces by Edinburgh-based artist Camilla Watson on her living room walls. “She does a lot of work with old maps and I find her pictures really interesting and complex.”
She believes that her style is, “developing all the time. I still consider myself in the very early stages of becoming competent. Every painting I do I learn something from.”
Spending so much time creating a picture can have its drawbacks.
“By the time things get to exhibition stage sometimes I have gone off them. I quite like them for a while or if I see them again after quite a long time. Often the ones that I think are really good are the ones that sit on the gallery walls for ever!”To find out more about Claudia and her work, visit www.claudiamassie.co.uk“In autumn and winter I like the light, a yellowing sulphurous sort of low light, which is good for shadows,” she explains. “I love the wide sweeping views in Perthshire and I like bad weather!” she laughs. Claudia enjoys the challenge of capturing the view as one weather system is replaced by another, something that the open countryside allows her to do.
Last winter, she tried her hand at reproducing the incredible snowfalls.
“I did a few pieces and was quite pleased with one called Winter in Fife. I will try to do more this year. There is a surprising amount of colour in the snow — yellow, blue and pink.”
As mother to Florence and with another baby on the way early next year, Claudia’s approach to painting has been adapted over the past few years. She would love to be able to do more work out in the field. “If I had all day every day, I would go out more,” she says, “but I can’t spend too much time travelling so I go out and look at places and do quite a lot of drawing but not as much painting as I would like outside. I take millions of photos.”
Trying to paint when you are caring for a small baby is a challenging prospect and the artist admits that, “When Florence was born I found not being able to work immensely frustrating so when I did get the chance to work I was so focused that I realised what I was missing.”
When baby number two comes along she is hoping to be much more laid back.
“I’m going to try and keep up as much as I can,” she says. “I’m hoping that I am going to be a lot more relaxed and generally more confident!”
Florence has obviously inherited her mother’s love for art, and the family’s dining table is home to a stack of sketch books that the little girl adores filling with pictures of animals and trees.
“She will sit down and draw for an hour at a time and she fills reams of paper at a time. I’m deeply envious — I wish I could do that!” says Claudia with a hint of pride.
Apart from admiring her daughter’s prolific drawing skills, Claudia cites artists such as Joan Eardley and Anselm Kiefer as painters that she admires.
“There are some artists or paintings which when I see them, I want to go and paint myself.”
She also has a few pieces by Edinburgh-based artist Camilla Watson on her living room walls. “She does a lot of work with old maps and I find her pictures really interesting and complex.”
She believes that her style is, “developing all the time. I still consider myself in the very early stages of becoming competent. Every painting I do I learn something from.”
Spending so much time creating a picture can have its drawbacks.
“By the time things get to exhibition stage sometimes I have gone off them. I quite like them for a while or if I see them again after quite a long time. Often the ones that I think are really good are the ones that sit on the gallery walls for ever!”To find out more about Claudia and her work, visit www.claudiamassie.co.uk“In autumn and winter I like the light, a yellowing sulphurous sort of low light, which is good for shadows,” she explains. “I love the wide sweeping views in Perthshire and I like bad weather!” she laughs. Claudia enjoys the challenge of capturing the view as one weather system is replaced by another, something that the open countryside allows her to do.
Last winter, she tried her hand at reproducing the incredible snowfalls.
“I did a few pieces and was quite pleased with one called Winter in Fife. I will try to do more this year. There is a surprising amount of colour in the snow — yellow, blue and pink.”
As mother to Florence and with another baby on the way early next year, Claudia’s approach to painting has been adapted over the past few years. She would love to be able to do more work out in the field. “If I had all day every day, I would go out more,” she says, “but I can’t spend too much time travelling so I go out and look at places and do quite a lot of drawing but not as much painting as I would like outside. I take millions of photos.”
Trying to paint when you are caring for a small baby is a challenging prospect and the artist admits that, “When Florence was born I found not being able to work immensely frustrating so when I did get the chance to work I was so focused that I realised what I was missing.”
When baby number two comes along she is hoping to be much more laid back.
“I’m going to try and keep up as much as I can,” she says. “I’m hoping that I am going to be a lot more relaxed and generally more confident!”
Florence has obviously inherited her mother’s love for art, and the family’s dining table is home to a stack of sketch books that the little girl adores filling with pictures of animals and trees.
“She will sit down and draw for an hour at a time and she fills reams of paper at a time. I’m deeply envious — I wish I could do that!” says Claudia with a hint of pride.
Apart from admiring her daughter’s prolific drawing skills, Claudia cites artists such as Joan Eardley and Anselm Kiefer as painters that she admires.
“There are some artists or paintings which when I see them, I want to go and paint myself.”
She also has a few pieces by Edinburgh-based artist Camilla Watson on her living room walls. “She does a lot of work with old maps and I find her pictures really interesting and complex.”
She believes that her style is, “developing all the time. I still consider myself in the very early stages of becoming competent. Every painting I do I learn something from.”
Spending so much time creating a picture can have its drawbacks.
“By the time things get to exhibition stage sometimes I have gone off them. I quite like them for a while or if I see them again after quite a long time. Often the ones that I think are really good are the ones that sit on the gallery walls for ever!”To find out more about Claudia and her work, visit www.claudiamassie.co.uk