Gillian Park graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1993 as a graphic designer before rediscovering painting at the age of 40. Entirely self-taught as a painter, she left her day job just over five years later to pursue art full-time. Based in Ayrshire, she works primarily in oils, creating bold, expressive landscapes, skies, and florals under her banner The Fearless Creative. She is the author of Don’t Be a Starving Artist®, and her paintings are held in collections worldwide, including the King’s Collection at Dumfries House.
In 2024 she launched her first collective exhibition with six emerging students, who together sold over £12,000 of work in six weeks—an achievement that showcased both their talent and her passion for nurturing artists. An award-winning educator and mentor, Gillian’s mission is to spread the joy of creativity and prove to the world that art is not just a calling, but a real job.
In 2018, shortly after retiring from four decades in the public sector, Elizabeth Lawson picked up a paintbrush for the first time since her S2 art teacher suggested she “do something else”. Under the mentorship of professional artist Gillian Park, she immersed herself in her painting and a hobby became a passion.
Elizabeth has entered judged competitions, participated in art fairs and exhibitions, taken on commissions and has completed Gillian’s Don’t Be A Starving Artist programme. A major highlight came in 2024 when she was part of “The Ayrshire Collective”, a group artists led by Gillian, for a seven-week exhibition at a major local arts centre where she sold almost all of her work.
Elizabeth’s art bursts with colour, energy and often influences of the Far East. When not in her studio, Elizabeth tends her garden - often a muse for her paintings – and just enjoys life shared with friends and family.
Sue Howat is a mixed media artist with a love for colour, working from her home farm in Ayrshire where she also runs her creative business, Sixpenny Studio. Drawing inspiration from the rural landscapes around her, Sue creates original works across a wide range of surfaces, including cradled wood boards.
Her practice incorporates an array of mediums such as watercolour, Indian ink, cold wax, acrylics & gel plate prints giving her collections a rich variety of textures and styles. In addition to her original pieces, Sue offers a professional range of high-quality prints & cards making her work accessible to a wider audience.
She is an active member of the creative community, regularly exhibiting her work both in person and online, and participating in events that connect her with collectors and fellow artists alike. Her art reflects both her love of experimentation and of vibrant creative pieces.
Lesley Herd is a mixed media and collage artist based in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. She began her art practice in 2018 and has since developed a deeply intuitive and expressive artistic style. Inspired by the ever-changing moods of the sea and the textures of the natural world, her abstract pieces often incorporate gel-printed collage papers, a technique that introduces complex textures and surface qualities not achievable through paint alone.
Lesley draws inspiration from weathered materials - eroded stone, distressed wood, peeling paint - as well as typography and found marks, which frequently appear in her compositions. She also creates paper collages using gelprints and collected ephemera, guided by a responsive process that balances colour, form, and texture.
Through her work, Lesley captures the tension and energy of the coastline—from calm, reflective moments to wild, stormy fury—inviting viewers to connect with the raw beauty of time-worn sea and shore.
Debra Ingham-Barrow has always been guided by creativity. She first expressed this through careers in both catering and hairdressing, before moving into kitchen and restaurant design, where she blended her practical skills with a keen eye for aesthetics. Her dedication to design was formally recognised in 2012 when she earned a Diploma in Interior Design from Staffordshire University.
In 2018, Debra returned to hairdressing, rediscovering it as another channel for her artistic expression. However, her true passion lay in the visual arts, and in 2022 she enrolled in an Art and Design course at Ayrshire College. After two years of study, she chose to concentrate on the artistic practices that inspire her most.
Debra’s work is deeply influenced by the natural world. Having lived on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast and Scotland’s rugged west coast, she draws constant inspiration from the landscapes, textures, and timeless beauty of these environments.
Janelle is a portrait and wildlife artist based on the Isle of Arran, where she has successfully run her own gift shop for the past 18 years. With a background in curtain making, she developed a strong appreciation for colour and design before pursuing her artistic interests more fully through online classes. Inspired by Christian Hook, she discovered a passion for impressionistic portraiture.
Janelle enjoys working with vibrant, bold colours but often adapts her palette to suit the mood of her subject, frequently starting from black-and-white references to choose tones that best capture character and atmosphere.
Recently, she has explored more limited palettes to create greater harmony. She believes learning is a lifelong process, with colour theory at the heart of her practice.
Morven lives in Ayr, and her daily dog walks with Robbie provide endless opportunities to explore the Ayrshire countryside. These wanderings inspire her work, offering glimpses of hidden paths, dense woodland, and the quiet mystery of emerging from tangled undergrowth. She is less concerned with recording an exact scene than with evoking the sensation of being immersed in the landscape—drawing the viewer into feelings of nostalgia, curiosity, and wonder at what might lie beyond.
Working in mixed media and oils, Morven has spent the past two years experimenting with watercolour, inks, pastels, collage, acrylics, and spray paint. By layering colour and texture over collaged surfaces, she creates paintings that balance representation with abstraction, adding depth and a tactile quality. Her aim is to capture both the physical and emotional essence of place, offering works that invite exploration and a lingering connection with the landscape.
Louisa is a Londoner who studied sculpture in Newcastle upon Tyne, where she met her Scottish husband and subsequently moved to Ayrshire. Louisa is inspired by her physical, hereditary and emotional relationship to places she knows. In Ayrshire, as a wild swim enthusiast, she loves the sensory thrill of the cool sea water and the vast seascapes. The Ayrshire weather, wind, waves and spectacular sunsets inspire her. Her heritage, in the Dolomites of northern Italy, continue to leave her in awe of the geological forces which create such drama and beauty in the mountains.
Louisa practices both figurative and abstract styles of art. She has returned to Life Drawing and finds the human figure an endless source of challenge and fascination. Louisa also works intuitively creating abstract work with dynamic contrasts of texture, colour and tone. She applies layers to cover or reveal bold marks, translucent paint and geometric structure. Louisa has most recently worked on 2D artwork but is beginning to explore sculpture again.
Caroline is a homegrown artist, born and based in Irvine. She first studied Art & Design at Glasgow College of Building & Printing, but like many, life took her on a different path. After a 28-year break, she returned to painting in 2018, reigniting her lifelong passion for creativity.
Working from her home studio, Caroline draws inspiration from Scotland’s coastline and countryside, with dramatic skies and striking seascapes a particular focus. Many of her ideas are sparked by adventures with her husband and dog in their motorhome, Betsy.
Caroline works mainly in acrylics, enjoying the freedom of bold colours and textured mark-making with a variety of tools and surfaces. She also loves soft pastels, often combining them with gouache underpaintings for added depth—what she calls the best of both worlds.
Believing creativity lives in everyone, Caroline hopes her journey inspires others to be brave, follow their passions, and never give up on their dreams.
