A major retrospective exhibition of paintings and prints by Elspeth Haston opens at the Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh from Friday 7th to Monday 10th June. The exhibition will include works spanning a career of over 70 years, the first time that so many works by this artist will be shown together.

Elspeth is from Skene, Aberdeenshire, born in 1932. She studied sculpture at Gray’s School of Art, and was selected for a post diploma, followed by a career as a painter, exhibiting extensively in the North East of Scotland. She recently moved to East Lothian where she continues to paint as well as reviving her interest in printmaking.

Her paintings in watercolour and oil have a looseness and spontaneity and by working outdoors, even in wind and showers, there is a directness to the subject resulting in an individual painterly style. Each painting demonstrates an approach which uses the medium and technique to best capture the colour and atmosphere unique to the time and place.

Elspeth has travelled in Scotland, England, France, Spain and Portugal, including the Azores, exploring the more hidden side roads and tracks to find remote painting places. Here she will rest her painting board on a rock or tie a rock with string to hold down her easel in strong winds. Her passion for fishing villages and harbours can be seen in the exhibition, with working people, their boats and the water captured with atmosphere and colour in a range of media.

Now 92, Elspeth continues to explore – both in place and in technique.