Fiona Sturrock at The Biscuit Factory
Barn Owl, acrylic on canvas
There’s something quiet but radiant about Fiona Sturrock’s work, a kind of contained joy. Her still lifes and landscapes, mostly painted in acrylics, draw from the natural world: birds, flowers, old jugs and vases, familiar corners of countryside. The colour palette is earthy and muted, but the paintings themselves are bold, confident. You get the feeling these are scenes Fiona loved — moments she wanted to hold onto.
Fiona is interested in how the old and new sit together — the past and present occupying the same space. Her paintings often bring vintage objects into conversation with fresh blooms or birds mid-flight. It’s as though she’s capturing the layers of time inside a single image: memory and presence side by side.
She works from a mixture of life, photographs and imagination. There are echoes of the Colourists and Impressionists in her approach to colour and light, but there’s also something unmistakably contemporary, rooted in the now, and in Scotland.
Fiona’s route into painting was not linear. Born and raised in Fife, she grew up in a creative family where art and music were simply part of life. But it wasn’t until 2012 — after years working as a Clinical Psychologist — that she began exhibiting professionally. A chance invitation to show work in Perth led to growing demand for her paintings, and she has continued to build her practice ever since.
This is refined, thoughtful work, packed with texture and with just enough looseness to keep things alive. Whether it’s a vase of flowers or a glimpse of landscape, each piece feels like a pause, a way of saying: look again.