Artist's work gets royal seal of approval
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A CAITHNESS artist has just received a Royal Diploma for Painting from the Queen in recognition of his work being selected for the Royal Scottish Collection in Edinburgh.
The diplomas were first issued in 1838 to artists of "eminent talents" and have continued in the same format until today.
Scotscalder’s Neil MacPherson has now joined the select group of members of the Royal Scottish Academy, having been elected as an academician by the members in Edinburgh in 2006.
"I’m absolutely delighted," he said.
"It’s been going since the 1830s but not many artists actually get there in the end."
Since being made an academician, MacPherson has spent time on various committees and seasonal exhibitions.
The final part of the long process for full membership is to submit a painting of quality to be judged and selected for the permanent collection.
MacPherson’s successfully submitted painting, The Lost Angel,comes from Highland folk tales of the angels who opposed God being cast out of heaven and having to live out their days in the dark hollows of the Earth.
The 5ft by 4ft oil painting shows a decrepit, abstracted, pale figure being led back to the light and the true path by a young deer, an image which has been used over the centuries by artists to represent the mother of Christ.
"It’s based on an old Scottish legend that the angels that opposed God were thrown out of heaven and banished to live in the bowels of the Earth forever and a day," explained MacPherson.
"The Irish and Scottish folk thought that this was the little people – fairies and things – now and then coming to the surface."
He added: "As the years have gone by these stories have disappeared and it’s meant to be that the angels have served their penance and been gathered up and taken back into heaven."
Originally born in Elgin, MacPherson moved to the far north in the mid-80s, coming to Caithness to paint for one exhibition.
But, over 25 years later, he is still here and in the same property.
"Most of my ideas do come from Caithness — from word of mouth or speaking to farmers who have farmed the land for generations," he told the Caithness Courier.
"They have lots of stories about the mounds and the fields and the old archaeological things. They bring these things to life and it turns into a picture for me."
A true professional, MacPherson works around nine hours a day, six days a week at his studio. "It’s the only way you can get a body of work together," he said.
"If you are putting on a one-man exhibition you need around 20 to 25 pictures and that would be around a year’s work."
And helping him keep up his vivid imagery is the Caithness light – something he feels really enhances art in the far north.
"When I moved up here that’s one thing I did notice," he said.
"When you do get a blue sky it’s quite, quite different from anywhere else — it’s very crystal clear and enhances the colours in everything."
The 57-year-old has also been busily involved over the last few weeks as head of the selection committee and chief hanger for the 151st Royal Glasgow Institute annual exhibition in the Mitchell Gallery in Glasgow.
It is the second biggest open exhibition of paintings and sculpture in Britain, after the Royal Academy summer exhibition in London, with 384 exhibits being selected from 1600 submitted works. The exhibition can still be seen by anyone visiting Glasgow until the middle of October.
New paintings by MacPherson can also be seen in the Compass Gallery and Roger Billcliffe Gallery in Glasgow and the Bohun Gallery in Henley on Thames.
His work can also be viewed in the permanent collections of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, the Royal Scottish Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh and Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
