New paintings by Broughty Ferry artist, extreme sports enthusiast and Forfar Academy art teacher Douglas Roulston are amongst work featured in an exhibition at Gallery Q in Dundee.
Originally from the southside of Glasgow, the artist gained a BA (Hons) followed by a Master of Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design.
His works currently concentrate on the use of vivid colours to represent the vibrant diversity of the Scottish landscape while focusing on the changing weather of Scotland, creating turbulent skies and wild waters.
Massive knee injury
But it was actually an injury he sustained while skiing in Austria that led the now 38-year-old to pursue a career in the arts.
“I ended up moving up to Dundee to study fine art at Duncan of Jordanstone,” he explains.
“Before then I was going to be a ski instructor and go out to Austria.
“But during my trip in Austria I had a massive knee injury which scuppered my career in skiing.”
Lifelong interest in art
Douglas has been painting since he was a child.
There was artistic influence in his family.
He’d go out painting with his dad.
But the medium really “took hold” of him after his injury and he decided to relocate to Dundee to do the fine art course.
“You are forced to do everything at art school, but I was always into landscape,” says Douglas, whose story was told in a film called The Mountain and the Beach two years ago.
“In particular I’ve always been drawn to 19th century Romanticism in Scotland.
“That’s what I studied for my degree and my masters degree in art.
“That drew me on to painting these really quite dramatic art scenes with light rays coming through the clouds.
“I was always wanting to show landscapes without many human features.
“Almost to create a loneliness in the painting for the viewer to relax I suppose.
“I always liked that feeing of being alone on the hill with your thoughts and wanted to show that in the paintings by not showing many human features.”
Mountain bike project
Douglas still retains an interest in extreme sports.
He’s currently working on a project with a mountain bike company, which will be launched in a few months.
He saw an opening in the market for what he describes as a “mountain biking landscape artist”.
He also loves teaching art design part-time at Forfar Academy.
He loves the job and gets inspired by the talents of the pupils, as much as he tries to inspire them.
It’s quite a lonely experience being an artist, so he thrives off being part of the school and wider community.
‘Converted’ to east coast landscapes
Originally a west coaster, however, being based in Broughty Ferry has “slightly converted” him to the landscapes of the east.
“I was always a west man and the landscape of the west coast,” he says.
“I would say I prefer doing a lot of the sea scenes from the west coast because of the turquoise waters and the colour you can inject into the work.
“But over on the east coast, if I’m doing field scenes, the colours of the plants, the rape seed – I would say there’s a completely different outlook on the paintings that I do.
“You get more red cliffs over on the east coast.
“I find myself going up to Lunan and Arbroath for painting. I really enjoy the colours that come through on the rocks over in the east.”
‘Honour’ to exhibit at Gallery Q
He really enjoyed studying at Duncan of Jordanstone because they were in touch with traditional painting as well as contemporary art.
Walking past the old Queen’s Gallery in Nethergate as a poor student, he remembers wanting to exhibit there.
It’s “quite an honour” to have his work on display there now as Gallery Q.
However, having painted one of the penguins in the Dundee penguin trail a few years ago as well as the Oor Wullie Bucket trail, he’s also amazed how the ongoing regeneration of Dundee offers so many opportunities for young artists, gamers and designers.
“A lot of young artists worry about not having a career in art or that it goes nowhere,” he says.
“But really I want to change that.
“I want to show you can either do something on the side or you can do it for yourself or you can make real money from it.
“That’s something I also try and get across to the pupils I teach.”
When to see the exhibition
The exhibition featuring Douglas Roulston’s work ends at Gallery Q in Dundee on February 25.
All items can also be viewed online at www.galleryq.co.uk/
Conversation