1st July – 15th July 2025
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We’re delighted to welcome Vanessa Reynolds and Catherine McClure back to Six Foot Gallery. ‘Brighter Days’ is a joint exhibition by the Ayrshire based artists, bringing together an eclectic mix of painted canvases, fluid art, botanic contact prints, mixed media, and stitch. They don’t think of art as a straight line – it is something that lives and breathes, guiding them this way and that, organically. This is art that makes them happy, and they hope that their visions give you happy vibes too; a celebration of optimism, sunshine, and the colours of long, warm, summer days. Evoking feelings of energy and freedom that the natural world brings, with its cycle into growth and abundance being apparent right now.
Vanessa Reynolds moved up to Ayrshire from Hampshire and then Brighton three years ago. She has worked as an art and textiles teacher for over twenty years, mostly at Sixth Form level, working with sixteen to eighteen year olds. Vanessa met Catherine at an art evening class at Ayr College, and they have since jointly exhibited in Open Studios Ayrshire, and shared many exhibitions together including at The Dick Institute and at The Barony, West Kilbride.
“I have always lived in the countryside, or near the edge of the town and this is obvious through the choice of most of my subject matter. I like the tangled, wild places. The layers of undergrowth and the walks through nature.”
Vanessa appeared as a featured artist on Sky Arts Landscape Painter of the Year and was also a member of in The Society of Botanic Painters in Hampshire.
The work exhibited in Brighter Days is work produced by Vanessa over the last 30 years, and serve as examples of different points in her artistic journey up until now. We see a real mix of styles and subject matter, although the natural world, the outside, and wild nature are strong themes throughout. Vanessa tells the gallery: “I have been/will be an artist all my life. As an art teacher, I loved to help extract ideas and art styles from young minds, so they could see their own visions. While living in England I regularly exhibited my work in galleries across the south coast, for example Brighton, Chichester, and Winchester. Since moving to Scotland in 2022 I have exhibited my work in various venues across Ayrshire e.g The Dick Institute and The Big Art Show Paisley. My practice is very eclectic, from paintings in acrylic, to my new obsession of botanic eco printing. I love to mix media and like to stitch, print, and collage. As a country girl, brought up in rural Hampshire, my main subject matter/first love is nature, particularly, the wild tangled undergrowth and the creatures that make it their homes.”
Read our interview with Vanessa over on the SFG blog.
Catherine McClure is an abstract expressionist painter who works from her home studio in Prestwick, Ayrshire. She works across a variety of media including acrylic, oil and watercolour paintings, botanical plaster-castings, and pebble mosaics.
“My work is influenced and inspired by the forms and colours of the natural world and ranges from figurative to abstract. My use of vibrant colours expresses my joy of painting, evoking feelings of happiness and energy.”
Catherine’s work has been exhibited across Scotland including at The Barony Centre, West Kilbride; The Harbour Arts Centre, Irvine; The Art Department, Paisley; and Souter Johnnies Cottage, Kirkoswald. She was longlisted for the 2024 Women in Art Prize. Catherine opens her studio to the public annually as part of Ayrshire’s Open Studios Weekend. She is also a member of the Scottish Society of Artists.
“I have always undertaken creative practice alongside my professional career as a nurse but began to create on a more regular basis in 2019. My first major project during this period was a pebble mosaic installation, My Universe, consisting of nineteen individual mosaics installed in my home driveway. This was also the first public facing work I had created, and the community conversation and interaction the work continues to stimulate has been a motivating factor in my ongoing artistic exploration. Following the completion of this project, I started painting regularly and continue to enjoy this form of artistic expression. Initially, my paintings were predominantly abstract works in acrylic medium, but I have now broadened my practice to include some figurative work and use a variety of media (oil, watercolour, inks) alongside acrylics. I am influenced and inspired by the forms and colours of the natural world, and these influences feature in many of my paintings, whether they’re figurative or abstract. My interest in the natural world has also led me to explore and produce botanical plaster cast art.”
Read our interview with Catherine over on the SFG blog.
Vanessa Reynolds and Catherine McClure’s show, Brighter Days, runs at Six Foot Gallery from Tuesday 1st July to Tuesday 15th July 2025. Find out more about the artists on Vanessa’s Instagram and Catherine’s Instagram.