The Crash of Purple Thunder - Bathing House
Born in Zambia, raised there and in Northumberland, Ruth trained in fashion and built an award-winning interior designer business in Newcastle. Having worked and travelled in many countries across the globe, absorbing cultures, colours and the beauty of the natural world, she now works happily in her studio in Newcastle Arts Centre painting in oils, always from experience of the countryside she loves – the Northumbrian coast, and the very special Outer Hebrides.
Ruth’s instinctive response to the rich colours in the Hebrides, in the landscapes and echoed in the traditional island tweeds, produced a profound effect on her work. Each painting in this collection is based on a particular Harris Tweed swatch, the starting point limiting the paint pallet mixed from just these colours. As a result, her landscapes resemble not just the purple, peaty rivers, vibrant turquoise of the seas, blindingly white beaches, and heathery moors but also the natural ingredients that went into dying the yarns. Her joy in being there as often as she can, expressed in her paintings, has made her work much loved and sought after. Her paintings are now collected world-wide, and during the pandemic she produced her first book – a sell-out – The Outer Hebrides Captured.
But she also has an enthusiastic following for her paintings of her own Northumberland Coast as a result of 7 years of exhibitions in the North-East. For decades now Ruth has regularly walked the Northumberland Coast with her husband Phil and a border collie – Skye who caught his last ball at the ripe age of 15, and now young Pip who shows a similar dedication and enjoyment. Painting the sky, seas and sands has been irresistible, in all seasons and with all the varying moods.
Predominantly working in oils, Ruth employs a technique that uses both palette knife and brush resulting in the richly textured, vibrant style for which she has become renowned. She is now running workshops for art groups across the county.
Selected exhibition history
2026
Alnmouth Arts Festival – Solo Exhibition, Grosvenor Terrace gallery, Alnmouth June 19-21.
2025
Summerhall Arts Centre Edinburgh – Solo Exhibition “Textures of Sea and Land” 12-14 Dec
Whitespace Gallery Edinburgh - Solo Exhibition “Textures of Sea and Land” 5-11 Dec
Newcastle Arts Centre – Group Exhibition 28 Nov to 19 Jan
Talla Na Mara Gallery Harris - - Solo Exhibition “Textures of Sea and Land” 1-29 Aug
Alnmouth Arts Festival – Solo Exhibition Northumberland Oil paintings 13-15 June
Fika Gallery Morpeth - Solo Exhibition of Scottish and Northumberland Oil paintings 18 April to 3 May
Nucasa Gallery Newcastle - Solo Exhibition of Scottish and Northumberland Oil paintings 21 Mar to 6 April
2024
Baltic Open Newcastle – Group exhibition 16 Mar to 1 September
Talla Na Mara Gallery Harris – Solo Exhibition ”Yarns to Riches” 1 Oct to 16 Dec
Alnmouth Arts Festival - Solo Exhibition of Scottish and Northumberland Oil paintings 14-16 June
Newcastle Arts Centre - Group Exhibition 29 Nov to 21 Dec
2023
Gallagher & Turner Gallery Newcastle – Group Exhibition 29 June to 12 Aug
Gallery North West, Brampton – Group Exhibition 1 Sept to 30 Nov
Peel Tower Arts Festival Craster – Group Exhibition 4-5 Nov
Alnmouth Arts Festival - Solo Exhibition of Scottish and Northumberland Oil paintings 16-18 June
2022
The Sill – “Unpossessable Country”, Solo Exhibition Hadrian’s Wall 1900th Anniversary 4-31 July
Talla na Mara Isle of Harris “Outer Hebrides Captured”,– Solo Exhibition 1-30 June
Spanish City, Whitley Bay – “For The Love of Art Northeast”, Joint exhibition, June to October.
Bankside Gallery, London “Secret Postcard Auction” May in aid of Combat Stress,
Alnmouth Arts Festival – Solo Exhibition, Grosvenor Terrace gallery, Alnmouth 16-19 June
2021
Newcastle Arts Centre - “Northern Vistas” Solo Exhibition Northumberland and Scotland 19 Nov to 23 Dec
Alnmouth Arts Festival - Solo Exhibition of Scottish and Northumberland Oil paintings 16-18 June
Aviary Gallery Jesmond - “Light & Colour” Joint Exhibition of International Artists 4-17 Nov
2020
Aviary Gallery - “Northern Lights” Solo Exhibition Northumberland and Outer Hebrides 3-15 November
Talla na Mara Gallery, Isle of Harris - “Outer Hebrides Captured” Solo Exhibition (Cancelled due to Covid).
Alnmouth Arts Festival – Solo Exhibition June (cancelled due to Covid).
2019
Corrymella Scott Gallery Jesmond - “Northumberland Coast to Outer Hebrides”, - Solo Exhibition 21-31 Nov
Mall Galleries, London – “David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year”, Joint exhibition 28 May 28 to 2 June
Awards
Shortlisted David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year 2019 Mall Galleries, London
Interior Design Awards KBB Lords, London publications
Art of Design Magazine November 2024
Northumberland Coast Captured art book first published April 2022
Outer Hebrides Captured first published April 2020
Scotland on Sunday article in Scotsman 24 October 2021 “Draughts of sparkling air and vivid colours” about the Outer Hebrides Captured book and exhibition on Isle of Harris
TV and radio
× Sky Arts show Painting Birds with Jim Moir and Nancy, asked to be the Artist for the North East
episode as Jim and Nancy look for the Curlew in Alnmouth, October 16 2022.
× Radio 4 interview for Open Country 16 Dec 2021 about the 1900 th Anniversary of Hadrian’s Wall
