Margaret McKay

MARGARET McKAY was born in Edinburgh and had an interest in art from an early age. She initially pursued a medical career, and married a doctor whose work took them to exotic locations including several years living in Fiji. It was not until the family settled in Inverness and her children were older that she was able to devote herself fully to painting, when she studied with the Open College of the Arts and subsequently at Edinburgh College of Art and Leith School of Art.

The highland landscape with all its contrasts and variety has inevitably influenced Margaret's work. In addition, an awareness of the Scottish painterly tradition has helped her to develop a personal pictorial language. Oil is her preferred medium and whenever possible she paints the landscape out of doors, but believes that the more considered approach, using sketchbooks in the studio, also has advantages.

Margaret enjoys varying her subject matter, enabling her to keep her work fresh and lively. As well as landscape, she frequently paints still life, and is very attracted to architectural subjects and interesting interiors. Every year she paints in France with a group of fellow Scottish artists and this adds another dimension to her work, requiring a different approach to light and colour.

Margaret McKay exhibits widely in the north, and is a member of Highlands Open Studios, one of Britain's largest annual art events.