By Karen Carruth

It’s been around six years since I last caught up with Ayrshire-based artist, Elaine Johnston, and it’s been a time of change in her career.

Most recently, she has taken up residence in the historic Burns Memorial Monument, in Mauchline, giving her a base to paint from and a great space to exhibit both her own fine art, and those of other artists.

The changes haven’t all been geographic. Elaine is now an internationally known name, selling work all over the world, exhibiting in more than 30 galleries, and has also cemented herself in the Scottish art scene, specialising in painting animals. So much so, that she says she is regularly called the ‘cow lady’.

These days, Elaine is totally confident in her abilities. It shows in her work and how she now carries herself. She has matured as has her own style of painting.

“My style has adapted out of need. When my kids were younger, I had to find a way of painting with a child on one hip, a paintbrush in my hand and hold a glass of water to dip my brush in, perched in the other hand.

“The luxury of bending up and own to change brushes is over. I’ve learnt that using a champagne flute is perfect, as I can manoeuvre that in between my fingers without dropping everything,” she says, waving one around which is filled with mud coloured water.

We are in the middle floor of the Burns Memorial building and she has various household lids and cups dotted about the floor which have been pilfered to be used as paint palettes.

She likes to continue working as customers wander around and is most comfortable in her painting clothes. “People don’t come here to see an artist standing in a skirt and heels, they want to see the process in action.”

Back to her brush of choice, just the one these days and it is one with a 45 degree angle on the bristles, which offers her the option of a fine tipped effect, as well as a broad brush stroke. She shows me the dexterity of the brush strokes she can create while creating a Highland cow painting on a piece of slate.

Elaine is passionate about painting animals, she loves finding the movement of the hair and portraying it perfectly.

Now that she has 20-odd years experience of working in many fields of artistic life eg, creating backdrops for theatre shows, experience in sculpting, her beloved fine art, portraiture and now animals, she seems to have found her stride.

One of the many wonderful things about taking up residence in Burns Memorial is that there are plenty of high ceilings that can take her huge paintings. She’s certainly not afraid of scale, that comes from her background in theatre. No size is too big.

I ask who has the space to display such massive pieces. “Many of my clients ask for larger pieces to be centrepieces for their contemporary apartments in New York or for office boardrooms, or closer to home, for those huge West End townhouses that are so desirable.”

Now that she sells across the world she has learnt a few valuable lessons when dealing with different nationalities and what they respond to.

A feature of the work that Japanese clients desire, is her black and white work. That was highlighted when a colourful piece was accidentally sent to a client in Sydney and then found its way to Japan. It was a mistake, but a costly one.

The Japanese were not impressed by the colour combinations, it just wasn’t to their liking (though the Sydney buyers loved the new style they received and had hung them by the time Elaine was notified of the mistake). But it cost a lot of money to sort out and she is is now wiser to what each demographic wants.

In the studio, she has cows of all descriptions, pyrotechnic coloured pheasants, chickens, majestic stags, energetic boxing hares, and even race horses in full gallop.

Her work is fun, it’s colourful and people fall in love with her painting as she creates them on the stand when she attends shows and trade events around the country.

She attends the Royal Highland Show, Glamis Castle, the Country Living Fair, Scone Game Fair and various other ones, and she says that as she paints on the stand, there is usually someone in the crowd thinking: “That’s the one,” and they buy it on the spot.

Being a talented artist is one thing, being an efficient business women is another talent all together. She knows her strengths, which is painting – paperwork, not so much.

“I’ve realised that I should stick to what I am good at, so I now have another artist, Hugh Rankin, whose work is also exhibited here, help me with my paperwork. I would advise all people in my position to realise their strengths and seek the help they need.”

Having built a business from scratch, and having all that experience behind her now, Elaine is investing in Ayrshire’s artists of the future by mentoring art students from local schools in art techniques, portfolio preparation and the skills required to develop a successful art based business.

Finding a successful subject matter is wonderful, but Elaine is still mindful of keeping an eye on colour trends to stay topical, she shows me the flicks of colour she incorporates into her work that she has found to be popular lately, particularly in backgrounds, and within her colourful pheasants.

As much as customers would love to buy her large original artwork, she is aware that cost can be an issue, and therefore the gallery has a selection of prints and also small items available featuring both Elaine’s work, and also some other artists work.

There are cushions, mugs, candles, notepads, coasters and place mats featuring really bright backgrounds that can be mixed and matched to suit customers’ needs.

There are also hip flasks, tankards, knitwear, notebooks and other little items that would be terrific gifts.

Being based in Ayrshire, you would think would be a hindrance to an artist, but Elaine disagrees. She says that the area is a hub of talent and is delighted to be based in the heart of Burns’ country.

Future plans are clearly defined in her head. She would love to see a home interiors range featuring her work, maybe called ‘Johnston at home’, you can see the the cogs working away in her head to see where she can take her new ideas.

The beginning of the year is Elaine’s quiet time, she closes the gallery, she finishes paperwork, organises her life, and takes the family on holiday for serious rest and relaxation to be refreshed to face another year dealing with her first love – painting fine art.

Details:

Contact details: www.johnstonartist.co.uk

Cost: prints from £25 to £450. Originals from £300 upwards.