Penny Wemyss

Penny Wemyss is inspired and motivated by the landscape, be that rural or urban. Her working process always starts with working outside, responding and reacting to the scene and environment, drawing and gathering information and ideas. Back in the studio Penny uses these initial works to develop pieces that reflect her thoughts and feelings about the subject. Experimentation and exploration allow her to create an expressive and emotive piece of work which captures the mood, passion, and energy of the subject without losing sight of the original scene that inspired her. One of Penny’s paintings has been shortlisted for the Scottish Landscape Awards 2023.

I am a landscape painter living and working in Scotland.

The work in this exhibition was inspired by and created from a time when I lived across the Clyde from the Govan Shipyard. The shipyard with all its activity, industrious sights and sounds; it’s huge engineering sheds, mysterious, cavernous spaces full of activity and sound from which would emerge great hull sections of ship; the giant portal cranes towering up and over the yard, punctuating the Glasgow skyline, monumental structures moving slowly, imperceptibly across the yard, their presence almost other worldly, fascinated me and motivated and inspired me to record and paint this daily view.

My process always starts with working outside, responding and reacting to the scene and environment, gathering information and ideas by drawing and sketching, responding to the scale of the structures and the relationship between them. Some of the initial drawings stand as finished works whilst others I explore further back in my studio to create more considered pieces that reflect my thoughts and responses to the subject.