Highland artist Lousie Allan has been showcasing her work at an Inverness exhibition
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Louise Allan, from Plockton, had her paintings on display at the city’s creative academy for the Cianalas and Terrafabulations show.
This is a new venture for Ms Allan who graduated from Moray School of Art in 2018.
“I went to study when I was 58,” she said.
“I have always done art and been creative, but I never did anything about it.”
Ms Allan who was once a nurse and then ran a B&B in Plockton when raising her children, started off by taking evening art classes.
“My daughter went to art school, but I couldn’t put the both of us through it at the same time,” she said.
“When she graduated in 2013, I decided it’s my time now.”
For 10 weeks she would drive to Edinburgh for a two-hour art class to get experience under her belt.
She then completed her NC in art and design in Portree at UHI and then studied at Taigh Chearsabhagh Lews Castle College.
Ms Allan, who is now 66, was picked to take part in the Circus Artspace degree programme last March.
She said: “Being picked for the programme has been really good because it made me feel not so alone.
“You were with like-minded people and we embraced everything that was put to us.
“It gave me a sense of purpose and belonging. We knew that there was a possibility of an exhibition at the end of it so it focused us.”
There were 30 graduates on the programme who are committed to making contemporary visual art accessible to a broader Highland audience.
Her exhibition is in collaboration with other artists on the programme where they explored the gaelic word Cianalas.
The gaelic word is used to describe a deep-seated sense of belonging to the place where people’s roots lie.
Ms Allan said: “[Cianalas] is not an actual place but just that feeling of being and what it means to everyone.
“It could bring up memories and stir lots of emotions, so we thought that word described it quite well.
“My pieces are not realistic drawings of where my place is but more sort of an emotional response to how I feel about my place.
“They were painted during lockdown, when there was a wee bit of hope and light.
“The blues are predominant as it felt like we were turning a corner a wee bit.”
Ms Allan added her daughter is an animator: “She is my go-to critic. We support each other in our work.”
