In memory of my father Dr Ronald D Harkess OBE
Exhibition opens Saturday 11th October at 10am
Sales enquiries welcome on receipt of this catalogue
Full exhibition may be viewed at
www.strathearn-gallery.com
Exhibition runs until 9th November 2025
Award-winning artist Claire Harkess RSW RGI is one of the leading watercolourists of her generation.
For more than three decades, she has approached painting as both a journey and the creation of an image. While Claire has honed a profound command of her medium, each work remains a leap into the unknown - a negotiation between control and chance, precision and spontaneity, revealing an artist in a state of constant exploration.
Since graduating from Glasgow School of Art in 1993, Claire has dedicated her career to observing and recording the natural world, portraying wildlife in their environments with insight and sensitivity. Her work reflects a deep concern for conservation and the protection of vulnerable species, celebrating the creatures with whom we share the planet. Each painting offers both a reminder of beauty and a call to responsibility: the essence of the natural world distilled and reimagined in another form.
Her dedication and talent have earned her deserved widespread recognition. Elected to the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW) in 2005, she went on to receive the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year award in London in 2017, one of the most prestigious honours in her field. In 2023, Claire was also elected by her peers to the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (RGI), further recognition of her achievements.
At the heart of her practice is a relentless drive to experiment. The apparent effortlessness of her paintings conceals a finely tuned balance of material, technique, and intuition - the choice of paper, the weight of the brush, and the interplay of pigment and water across the surface. Throughout her career, Claire has continually tested new approaches, explored global painting traditions, and refined her art with every brushstroke.
Immersion in the natural world remains central to her work. She has travelled widely - from Svalbard to Kenya and the Galápagos Islands – studying wildlife in its native habitats. In recent years however, Claire has turned her attention closer to home, finding renewed inspiration in the environment and ecosystems of Perthshire, where she lives and works.
Her paintings reveal not only the life of her subjects, but also her own continuing journey of discovery. More than likenesses of the natural world, they capture atmosphere, fragility, and fleeting beauty, inviting viewers to share in that sense of wonder.
Feather and Leaf invites us to explore the brilliance of watercolour at its most ambitious. This exhibition from Claire Harkess reveals both her technical mastery and her spirit of experimentation. Through a collection of works devoted to one of her most enduring subjects, birds, she explores the depth, risk, and brilliance of the medium.
Two distinct threads run through the exhibition. Some works are meticulously planned: executed swiftly with elegant use of negative space and deliberate brushstrokes that evoke mood, movement, and presence; or carefully constructed through collage, each fragment placed with precision. Others are layered and complex, evolving slowly over months or even years on heavy paper or board, their luminous surfaces built up through repeated washes, abrasions, and overlays of colour.
“The beauty of watercolour,” Claire explains, “is that it has a life of its own. You need to let the paint flow, give it freedom and allow gravity and pigment to do their work.” For Claire, paper is more than a surface - it is a collaborator. Fragile Chinese sheets capture the immediacy of a single brushstroke, while fibrous papers encourage pigment to bleed and bloom unpredictably. Even after 30 years, she continues to explore colour, movement, and the boundless possibilities of her medium.
Collage is another vital strand. From thousands of carefully saved ‘treasures’– tiny paintings, fragments of earlier work, and ancient Asian ledgers – Claire painstakingly constructs unique, refined and elegant compositions. Edges are ripped or cut and some joined with fine lines of gold leaf, echoing the Japanese tradition of kintsugi, creating something stronger and more beautiful - works that are both fragile and resilient, understated yet powerful.
By contrast, her vibrant, complex and layered paintings on heavyweight paper first emerged during the pandemic, inspired by clear skies and heightened colours that seemed to illuminate every detail of the everyday. Many of these works, however, were seeded years earlier with boards prepared and backgrounds built through successive colour washes. Each layer is applied, washed back, and left to develop, allowing ghost images to appear and fade while waiting for the next stage of their journey. Some paintings are resolved quickly; others rest for years - one in this exhibition took nearly a decade to complete.
At the heart of Feather and Leaf is Claire’s deep connection to the natural world. Birds recur throughout the work –sometimes boldly present, sometimes hidden within layers, their delicate forms suspended between movement and stillness. Yet the exhibition is not only about its subjects; it is equally about the joy of creation itself. “Even the smallest discovery still gives me pleasure,” Claire says. “That’s the beauty of watercolour – it keeps teaching you.”
Feather and Leaf is more than a collection of paintings - it is a celebration of craft, patience, and the enduring allure of watercolour. For collectors and admirers alike, it offers an unmissable opportunity to experience Claire’s artistry at its most ambitious, and to connect with works that celebrate and honour our profound bond with the natural world.
Susan Bennett, Strathearn Gallery
‘Grey’ belies its gold Bright glints of bobbing bullion Wagtail in the burn
Their calls at first light and dusk
Punctuating time
A leaf-breath movement
Eye-stripe, stump-tail, blended browns: Wren - completely there
Slicing through the din
An oystercatcher’s clear notes
Ahead of the Storm, watercolour, 61 x 70cm
Birds singing at dawn
An everyday miracle Taken for granted
Musical movements
The long-tailed tits, living minims Writing their theme tune
Sudden low contrail Glimpsed just above the water Dipper flies upstream
Memory of a Riverbank, watercolour, 71 x 91cm
Signature wing-clap
As if applauding themselves Woodpigeons take off
Woodpigeons Announce the Day, watercolour & gold leaf, 42 x 72cm
Suddenly a jay
Living exclamation mark
Loud sound, bright colours
An early morning heron Keeps frozen vigil
Early Morning, watercolour, 51 x 72cm
Over mute black rocks
A bead of sound and colour
Piercing the Air, ink, 36 x 57cm
Spearing the sea with themselves
Deadly projectiles
The wren’s giant song
Such improbable volume What size are its dreams?
The Buzz of Summer, watercolour, 69 x 138cm
October Notes from the Orchard, ink & gold leaf, 96 x 140cm
Website www.strathearn-gallery.com
Email info@strathearn-gallery.com
Artist Acknowledgements:
With thanks to the Strathearn Gallery
Claire Harkess has selected haiku from Chris Arthur to accompany her work - a special thanks to Chris for granting permission to print his haiku, many of which featured on Northwards Now.
Extra special thanks to John, always
