Colourful Women

" I am a retired primary school teacher and amateur artist. Until recently I taught children and adult art classes but hadn’t developed my own art work. However last winter I started this project of Colourful Women.

It was in the winter of 2024 that I spotted the front cover of a Sunday magazine. It featured a stunning photograph of Sinead O’Connor, the Irish singer. I loved it and decided to have a go at painting it myself. The first painting was in black and white like the photo. However then I decided it might look better in blue to represent the singer’s mood in the picture.

The next painting was of Malala Yousefzai. I had just read her autobiography, Malala, as she had received a Nobel peace prize for her fight for the right of every girl to receive an education. This was painted in red and yellow.

After that I was on a roll…I thought of more inspirational women who were famous, but who had also overcome difficulties in their lives. My portraits included Ellie Simmonds the Paralympic swimmer, Diane Abbott the politician and Rosie Jones the comedian.

Over the course of six months I painted 20 women, all in different colours. Usually I tried to use the colours to represent the women in some way. I called these paintings Colourful Women for obvious reasons. 

I would like to raise money for Glasgow Womens Aid through this exhibition - through the sale of art work and donation links at the exhibition. 

Facebook page - Colourful Women

Website containing information about each of the famous women -   www.colourfulwomen.uk