Esther Armstrong

Esther Armstrong is a Ross-shire born artist living and working near Strathpeffer. She is already well established locally as a commission-based artist, covering subjects as diverse as animal portraits,wildlife and landscape and her work has steadily been reaching a wider audience in this country and abroad. In 1994 she was runner-up in the national Paint a Wildlife Subject competition held in London, her entry of a greylag goose, produced in watercolour.

Her affinity for wildlife subjects has continued and in recent years she has accompanied a group of deer stalkers in Wester Ross and Ardgay, researching not only deer-stalking but also witnessing some of the most rugged and beautiful landscape in Scotland. Around eleven years ago, Esther switched from working mainly in watercolour and oil to her now favoured medium, soft pastel. Her ability to capture the light and air within her work is well suited to this delicate yet expressive medium, much loved by the French Masters of the 18th Century, such as Chardin, Watteau, Delacroix, and of course inventively used by the impressionists, Degas being possibly the best known among them.

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Esther has exhibited at various venues throughout the Highlands including Duff House, Royal in Banff, London, and a solo exhibition in Eden Court, Inverness. Esther's response to the area she lives in:  The more I paint, the more I see the beauty there is to paint and then I realise just how much I took this for granted. Once I'm satisfied with a finished painting I can feel elevated and humbled at the same time, and if I can convey just a small part of that to the viewer, then that is even more special to me.