Joanna Wilson’s art is a paradox of thoughtful drawing and exuberant expressionism. There is a lilting quality to her handling of form reminiscent of the rise and fall of her local Cromdales. But her figurative compositions incorporate decorative elements too, which seem to reference the urban settings of Edinburgh and London where she has also studied and worked. An award-winning artist of international acclaim, in 2022 she was featured by Saatchi Art Online. Her studio in Grantown is a hive of creativity, where you can usually find her multitasking (she is a mother of four), helping out a friend or ‘making a mess’ as she humbly puts it. 

 Cartographical lines, organic shapes, figurative sketches with colourful painted overlays: these are the hallmarks of the abstract style for which Joanna Wilson is best known. But among her many visual references are people and place: the craggy glens that she can see from her window, the music she listens to while she works and the ‘virtual’ models she draws from live projections in her studio. And so we see traces of our rich musical heritage in her rhythmical cross-hatching and intuitive selection of colour. 

We see the undulating lines of rivers in spate and lochs formed by the pooling of pigment. And above all, we see an animated tension between the human figure in all its imperfection and the natural world it inhabits.