The Artists: Hermione Gibbs

Raised in the Scottish Highlands, I was captivated from a very early age by my wild surroundings and the dramatically colourful landscapes and skies.  I have always had a thirst for colour and love for bright scenes, and my passion for art stems from  childhood, watching my mother who is an artist and almost never without a palette or brush in her grasp.  She encouraged me to “paint in the moment.”  After completing my education at Stowe School in 2006, I went to Edinburgh to do a foundation course at Leith School of Art.  I then headed to the cobbled streets of Florence where I trained for four years as a portrait painter under the classical method of “sight size” at Charles H Cecil studios.

​Besides portrait painting, I revel in painting landscapes.  Since Florence I have travelled to different parts of the world to capture other cultures, architecture and study others’ ways of living.  I don’t always paint a subject as one might see it with one’s own eye.  I paint what I see in my mind as a dream-like vision.  It is a form of Magical Realism in art.  Much of my colour use has been inspired by trips to India, Cuba, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Brazil, Kenya and of course, the Scottish Highlands.