Muriel Barclay | Figurative painter

Scottish painter Muriel Barclay has an unusual arts background.

Born and bred in Glasgow she graduated with a degree from Edinburgh University before heading to London where she initially worked in Jacques O’Hana’s Gallery in London’s Mayfair.

She returned to Glasgow to teach history and raise her family, while at the same time studying Drawing and Painting at Glasgow School of Art and History of Fine Art at the Open University.

From 1989-2002, while teaching history and raising three sons, she studied Drawing and Painting at Glasgow School of Art and History of Fine Art at the Open University.

Encouraged by awards from Paisley Art Institute, Glasgow Society of Women Artists and the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Art, Muriel left teaching in 2001 to become a full time painter. Since then Muriel has been in great demand for solo exhibitions North and South of the border.

Muriel’s free spirit comes across in her work with a rare balance being achieved between an often, vivid colour palette and an intimacy with the subjects or characters involved.

Known for her painting of figures and/or animals, Muriel’s objective with her work is to engage the viewer in a narrative within her painting, a narrative that may or may not be “her” narrative, but nevertheless a storyline all the same.

Interested in relationships and how these can be captured in a painting, Muriel has an innate facility to portray human movement, posture, mood and thought, in settings that invariably speak of occasion and/or play.

Her painting of animals speaks of careful observation, study and understanding.

Collections

Her work is to be found in the collections of of Ernie Els, Sir Arnold Clark, Lord Harris, Sultan of Brunei, Alex McLeish, Sir Jack Harvey, H.B.O.S., Biggart Baillie and Arisaig Partners

Awards

- John Green Fine Art Award at the PAI, 1999;

- Glasgow Art Club Fellowship awarded at RGI, 1999;

- Glasgow Society of Women Artists’ Special Award, 2000;

- Mabel Mackinlay Award, RGI, 2001.