Downstairs

10 June – 22 June

'Still' - Beth Robinson

My inspiration for these artworks comes from the play of light in clear glass, the beauty of flowers, and also the small artwork by Albert Durer, entitled A Great piece of Turf (1503). It interests me to see how beautiful the flowers of weeds look, especially a convolvulus - and I like that verse in the Bible which says that the grass of the field is clothed with more glory than King
Solomon.  Once you begin trying to draw grass you realise how intricate it all is. And that has been very fascinating and fun.

Robert Burns wrote a poem about a daisy. He had accidentally stepped on one, and crushed it - and decided to write a poem to commemorate its simple beauty and the fact that it is often overlooked to the point of being trodden on with complete disregard.

My work was originally intended to highlight the beauty and delicacy of flowers we know as weeds, but of course, I couldn’t help myself to include the loveliness of roses and other flowers which we have successfully bred and kept throughout human history. All of these grasses and weeds have come from the verges of either the drain behind Akina park or the Irongate stream.

The cultivated flowers have all been picked from my own garden.  Ever since I was seventeen I have been drawing and painting clear glass containers full of water.  But it has only been since living in my own home and being able to plant roses such as Margaret Merrills that I have begun the process of really studying flowers too. I love the very transitory nature of flowers. They do not last long. I like watching them unfurl in a circular way, always with their “face” towards the sun.