Judy Fairbairns

Judy Fairbairns moved to Mull in 1978 on a whim, where she brought up her five children in addition to working in a number of family businesses including: developing the first whale- watching business in the U.K, a recording studio, seven self-catering cottages, a large guest house and a working hill farm! At this time in Judy's life there was no time to paint, but plenty of varied life experiences, and with that, memories.

At forty nine, during a short period of living on the mainland, she completed a one year course in Art and Design at Falkirk College, where she excelled. Proceeding from that time, she has worked steadfastly on developing her skills, initially making more mud than sense on the canvas, never being too precious with her decisions and being prepared to take risks in pursuit of stretching the potential of her work.

Judy Fairbairns works from her own emotive centre, intuitively, and often with a rebellious disregard for proportion and exactness. In fact, if she can push the boundaries, she will, either in colour or form, loving the extraordinary and the element that reaches out to the 'otherness' of things. "I paint feelings and moods in colour, and it is more than usual for a colour to come into my mind- one that I would never have imagined for that part of the work. I have now learned to 'listen' to my intuition on this as it is always surprising and always right."'

All of Fairbairns' inspiration comes from the natural world, which covers every subject to some degree, being particularly interested in metaphysics and the 'beyond' of everything and everyone. Moving colour across the work, spontaneously and quickly, sometimes without seeing an end result, the work unfolds at its own pace. The spaces between the start of a piece and its conclusion can stretch days, weeks or months, and is an obvious celebration of life, for which there is so much of it to live.

Exhibitions Solo § October to December 2005- Stirling University § Summer 2004- Tobermony Chocolate Factory § September 2003- Glengorm Castle, Isle of Mull Shared § March 2005 onwards- Inverness Airport Exhibition § October 2004 to April 2005- Highland Open Exhibition § November 2004- Tore Art Gallery, Black Isle § Summer 2003- Hospital Trust, Stirling Castle § Septembert 2004- Glengorm Castle, Isle of Mull Galleries The Luckenbooth, Tarbert Gallery Nomansland, Aberlour Glengorm Castle, Mull Artery Gallery, Crieff Calgary Carthouse Gallery, Mull An Tobar, Mull Tore Gallery, Black Isle Shoreline Gallery, Aberdour Portmore Gallery, Mull Commissions § Piano Bar, Glenmoriston Town House Hotel, Inverness § J.M. Architects, Edinburgh

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