About Keith

Although I have had an "eclectic" career history, covering everything from trawler deck hand to marketing manager, I have always been happiest when creativity was to the fore.

 

I graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in the early 1980s with a degree in Jewellery and Silversmithing. Following a brief (and failed) attempt at being a jeweller on the Isle of Skye, life choices required a more stable earning potential and so began the meandering career path that ended almost full circle as a graphic/jewellery designer for Ortak, an Orcadian Jewellery company, based in their Edinburgh office. In 2013, the company went into administration and I found myself 51 and unemployed.

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I took the opportunity to pursue a more personal creative journey once again, this time developing my photography and the original purpose of this site was to promote that venture.

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Then, in 2016 I suffered a heart attack, which somewhat curtailed my enthusiasm! It took me a while to get any sort of confidence back and also dealt a bit of a blow to my photographic ambitions.

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A couple of years later, during a visit to the open studio of a neighbouring painter, Katy McKidd Stevenson, I picked up a flyer for a weekly portraiture class she was running at Fife College. It was always something I'd wanted to try, but never known where to start. Well, there was no excuse now. And I'm so glad I went along. I don't think I've ever had as much enjoyment and fulfillment as I have since starting to paint portraits. Covid put an end to the classes but not to my desire to improve. I introduced myself to oil paints which was a further step change in my development.

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And so now, what was my photography web site is gradually morphing into an art and photography site and hopefully will ultimately be my painting web site (with some photos in there too).

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I hope you enjoy looking through my work.

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Most pieces are for sale - get in touch if you're interested - and if you are ever in Edinburgh, I have a few paintings in the Torrance Gallery on Dundas Street.

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Thanks for visiting.

 

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