Paintings by an award winning Scottish artist can be seen in Newcastle for the next four months as well as a number of other galleries. Keith Salmon, winner of the prestigious Jolomo art prize in Scotland, has 10 of his paintings in the Winter Exhibition at The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle upon Tyne. The exhibition runs until the end of February 2016. "I was first contacted by Sam Knowles at The Biscuit Factory early last year after he had seen my website and enjoyed the work," says Keith. "He invited me to exhibit 10 works at their 2014 Autumn exhibition. The work seemed to go down well with their clientele and I have since been invited back for this year's Winter Exhibition." Keith's work also features in the Print Exhibition at The Gallery on the Corner, 34 Northumberland Street, Edinburgh from December 5 to December 30, 2015. His paintings can be seen at Harbour Arts Centre, 114 to 116 Harbour St, Irvine, Ayrshire KA12 8PZ at the Affordable Art Fair from December 15, 2015 to January 8, 2016. "I'll also be showing two works at Art Exposure Gallery on the Great West Road in Glasgow during the run-up to Christmas." Keith has also just started exhibiting at The Waverley Gallery, 144 Main Street, Prestwick, Ayrshire, KA9 1PB. "The Waverley Gallery in Prestwick has been framing my work for almost 10 years now and so it is great that they are now also exhibiting some of the paintings." Keith Salmon's work is based almost entirely on the walks he does over the wild Scottish mountains, through the glens and along the coastline. "I walk these places throughout the year and experience them under all sorts of conditions," he says. "The constant changes in atmosphere, light and colour are for me what make the Scottish landscape so special. Produced in acrylic and pastel, oil or graphite, the works try to capture a little of what it is like to get away from the roads and into these beautiful, quiet and sometimes isolated locations." Keith studied Fine Art in the early to mid 1980s and has continued with his art ever since. "I started working full time however, in 2009 and shortly afterwards my work won Scotland's biggest art prize, the prestigious Jolomo Award for Scottish Landscape Painting." In 2010 Keith became the first UK artist to undertake the Speyer Scholarship in southern Germany, where he lived and worked for four months. Since then, he has widely exhibited his work and has undertaken several commissions including creating several paintings for the Matorrazo Arts Project in San Paulo, Brazil. "I also set up a large drawing project here in Scotland in 2014 and I am currently working with Seattle based landscape photographer and film maker Daniel Thornton to produce an hour long documentary about my work. Plans for the next 18 months include a trip to Joseph, Oregon to do a short residency with Dan and my partner, ceramicist Anita Groves, a possible trip to Iceland to develop ideas for a 2017 exhibition and art project there, creating one or more large drawing and sound-scape works. I am also hoping to introduce my work to the London market at some point soon." Keith plans to start work on a book, too.
