FILM - WATER FALL
FILM - on location in Mexico
NEXT EXHIBITIONS:
6-10 March 2024 Affordable Art Fair Battersea Park. Email me for complimentary tickets.
BACKGROUND
Abigail McDougall was born in Oxford in 1982 and grew up in Canada, Italy and Dorset. She graduated from Falmouth College of Art in 2005 and then moved to Bristol to start an art career, working from the renowned Jamaica Street Studios for many years. Her first exhibitions "Bristol in a Different Light", “Adventures in Light” and “Art for Sustainable Transport”, a solo show at the Royal West of England Academy, established her work as culturally important in the South-West. These series captured Bristol and the surrounding countryside in vivid and atmospheric colour palettes, especially scenes featuring water, such as the Bristol Harbour, the river Avon and the canal networks. Abigail went on to paint many more places that were close to her heart, such as London, Italy, Morocco, Brighton, Manchester and Bath. She still produces landscapes and cityscapes to commission.
In 2011 Abigail started the online nomadic gallery “Bristol Contemporary Art”, later re-named “Water and Rock” and exhibited in empty stores in central Bristol during the financial crisis, which had seen many shops on important streets become empty. She started exhibiting at the Affordable Art Fair in 2014, in Bristol, Brussels and London. She has many collectors in Belgium, France, the rest of Europe and further afield, such as Morocco, the USA, Australia. She has also exhibited at many other art fairs, such as The Other Art Fair, Edinburgh Art Fair, Manchester Art Fair, Brighton Art Fair and has been a regular at the RWA Autumn Show.
In 2016 Abigail started her collection of paintings “Agua Es Vida”, inspired by the mangroves and sinkholes of Mexico, particularly in the Yucatan area. By now she was firmly settled on the medium of watercolour, after many years of experimenting with acrylics and oils. Watercolour is the perfect medium for painting water, because the artist works with the fluidity of the paint and the spontaneity of the flow. Watercolour is also the least harmful medium to the environment, which is very important to the artist, having been so touched by the fragile ecosystems and waterways in Mexico and everywhere else. Abigail’s lucid depiction of light and shape evoke a feeling of simultaneous movement and serenity. The artist makes pilgrimages to these places of tranquility, which have particularly interesting shapes and colour palettes. The mangroves and sinkholes in Mexico provided a changeable palette of intense turquoises from refracted light on the calcium in the water.
Abigail’s water paintings have also been inspired by travels to botanical gardens in the U.K. and Morocco and waterfalls in Wales in the Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia. They focus on the reflected patterns of roots and plants on the surfaces of still bodies of water, explored with a harmonious and vivid colour palette. Featured botanical gardens include Lost Gardens of Heligan, Kew Gardens, the Majorelle garden in Marrakech.
The ever- changing imagery reflected on the surface of water has, for millennia, been a powerful allure to contemplation and reflection. Hermann Hesse wrote about this subject in his classic work “Siddhartha”. For the last 10 years, Abigail’s working and living practices have been very much influenced by yoga and meditation. Water is also a very political subject, globally. The artist calls attention to a belief that the successful future of our species and our enjoyment of a richness in biodiversity will be intrinsically tied up with how we respect and distribute water sources in the coming years.
In 2019 Abigail McDougall moved to a small mountain village on the island of Thasos in Greece, to start an experiment in sustainable living. Having always considered herself an “environmentalist”, she was inspired by some immersion experiences with the stone-age wilderness-living teacher Lynx Vilden, to find out what it would really mean to integrate with nature and live “green”.
Made primarily of marble, Thasos is a green island and one of the few Greek islands that still has its water sources available. This “holy water” sustains the islanders, their olive groves and their tourist businesses and is the source of life and livelihood itself. The mountain village of Kazaviti is picturesque and romantic in its half-abandoned state, with exotic and unique Macedonian stone architecture. Abigail’s house is in the top corner, opening up onto the mountain-side, with a patch of land to start a permaculture project. Abigail maintains an important relationship with the UK and is currently completing a yoga teacher training in Bristol, with a view to offer courses in art, yoga and nature in Greece, where she is already offering art residencies.
Alongside the village there is a stunning gorge, with giant rocks and waterfalls running down, the setting of Abigail’s new art studio. Roman stone terraces tease out memories of Dionysian hedonism, when wine was grown in the village for great parties in Athens. The landscape is Olympian in its scenery, scale and beauty. The magnetic pull of the history and essence of our human ancestry is palpable, sending vibrations of millennia through the soul.
Abigail’s new paintings of rockscapes, running water on boulders and deep clear turquoise pools, are an artist’s attempt to capture an essence of our true nature, a deep respect for water, an attempt to embody the solidity and dignity of rock and a gentle whisper to those who are touched by these artworks to come home.
In 2011 Abigail started the online nomadic gallery “Bristol Contemporary Art”, later re-named “Water and Rock” and exhibited in empty stores in central Bristol during the financial crisis, which had seen many shops on important streets become empty. She started exhibiting at the Affordable Art Fair in 2014, in Bristol, Brussels and London. She has many collectors in Belgium, France, the rest of Europe and further afield, such as Morocco, the USA, Australia. She has also exhibited at many other art fairs, such as The Other Art Fair, Edinburgh Art Fair, Manchester Art Fair, Brighton Art Fair and has been a regular at the RWA Autumn Show.
In 2016 Abigail started her collection of paintings “Agua Es Vida”, inspired by the mangroves and sinkholes of Mexico, particularly in the Yucatan area. By now she was firmly settled on the medium of watercolour, after many years of experimenting with acrylics and oils. Watercolour is the perfect medium for painting water, because the artist works with the fluidity of the paint and the spontaneity of the flow. Watercolour is also the least harmful medium to the environment, which is very important to the artist, having been so touched by the fragile ecosystems and waterways in Mexico and everywhere else. Abigail’s lucid depiction of light and shape evoke a feeling of simultaneous movement and serenity. The artist makes pilgrimages to these places of tranquility, which have particularly interesting shapes and colour palettes. The mangroves and sinkholes in Mexico provided a changeable palette of intense turquoises from refracted light on the calcium in the water.
Abigail’s water paintings have also been inspired by travels to botanical gardens in the U.K. and Morocco and waterfalls in Wales in the Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia. They focus on the reflected patterns of roots and plants on the surfaces of still bodies of water, explored with a harmonious and vivid colour palette. Featured botanical gardens include Lost Gardens of Heligan, Kew Gardens, the Majorelle garden in Marrakech.
The ever- changing imagery reflected on the surface of water has, for millennia, been a powerful allure to contemplation and reflection. Hermann Hesse wrote about this subject in his classic work “Siddhartha”. For the last 10 years, Abigail’s working and living practices have been very much influenced by yoga and meditation. Water is also a very political subject, globally. The artist calls attention to a belief that the successful future of our species and our enjoyment of a richness in biodiversity will be intrinsically tied up with how we respect and distribute water sources in the coming years.
In 2019 Abigail McDougall moved to a small mountain village on the island of Thasos in Greece, to start an experiment in sustainable living. Having always considered herself an “environmentalist”, she was inspired by some immersion experiences with the stone-age wilderness-living teacher Lynx Vilden, to find out what it would really mean to integrate with nature and live “green”.
Made primarily of marble, Thasos is a green island and one of the few Greek islands that still has its water sources available. This “holy water” sustains the islanders, their olive groves and their tourist businesses and is the source of life and livelihood itself. The mountain village of Kazaviti is picturesque and romantic in its half-abandoned state, with exotic and unique Macedonian stone architecture. Abigail’s house is in the top corner, opening up onto the mountain-side, with a patch of land to start a permaculture project. Abigail maintains an important relationship with the UK and is currently completing a yoga teacher training in Bristol, with a view to offer courses in art, yoga and nature in Greece, where she is already offering art residencies.
Alongside the village there is a stunning gorge, with giant rocks and waterfalls running down, the setting of Abigail’s new art studio. Roman stone terraces tease out memories of Dionysian hedonism, when wine was grown in the village for great parties in Athens. The landscape is Olympian in its scenery, scale and beauty. The magnetic pull of the history and essence of our human ancestry is palpable, sending vibrations of millennia through the soul.
Abigail’s new paintings of rockscapes, running water on boulders and deep clear turquoise pools, are an artist’s attempt to capture an essence of our true nature, a deep respect for water, an attempt to embody the solidity and dignity of rock and a gentle whisper to those who are touched by these artworks to come home.
ART C.V.
Education:
2005: Graduated from Falmouth College of Art
2002: BTEC Diploma in Art Foundation
Galleries and Organizations:
2023 – Mayne Gallery Kinsgbridge, Devon
2018-2021 Member of the Wilderness Art Collective
2011- 2024 Bristol Contemporary Art (now Water & Rock)
2019 Doorway Gallery, Ireland
2010-2024 Coldharbour Gallery Bristol
2018-2024 Tonic Gallery, Salcombe
2011- 2021 Degree Art
2009-2021 Artist Member of the Royal West of England Academy/ exhibited in the Open Autumn Exhibition many tears running
2012- 2018 Rise Art Selected Artist
2009-2021 Jamaica Street Artists Studio Member
2018 Folly and Muse Gallery
2010-2014 Rostra Gallery, Bath
2011-2016 Made In Britain, Bristol
2008-2011 Nails Gallery Bristol
Exhibitions:
2011: Royal West Of England Academy: Solo Exhibition: “Art for Sustainable Transport”.
2009-2024 Affordable Art Fair: Bristol, London Battersea, London Hampstead, Brussels with Bristol Contemporary Art, Water and Rock and Degree Art
2013-2014 Brighton Art Fair
2014: Claremont Fine Art
2014: Buy Art Manchester with Degree Art
2015: The Other Art Fair, Bristol
2016: The Other Art Fair London
2016: The Edinburgh Art Fair with Doorway Gallery
2018: Art 3F Luxemborg with Folly and Muse
2018: Art 3F Brussels
Publications:
The Bristol And Bath Art Book 2022
Clifton Life
The Bristol Magazine
Paint and Draw (cover article)
Association of Illustrators (cover)
Vogue Magazine
Dark Mountain Project Online
2005: Graduated from Falmouth College of Art
2002: BTEC Diploma in Art Foundation
Galleries and Organizations:
2023 – Mayne Gallery Kinsgbridge, Devon
2018-2021 Member of the Wilderness Art Collective
2011- 2024 Bristol Contemporary Art (now Water & Rock)
2019 Doorway Gallery, Ireland
2010-2024 Coldharbour Gallery Bristol
2018-2024 Tonic Gallery, Salcombe
2011- 2021 Degree Art
2009-2021 Artist Member of the Royal West of England Academy/ exhibited in the Open Autumn Exhibition many tears running
2012- 2018 Rise Art Selected Artist
2009-2021 Jamaica Street Artists Studio Member
2018 Folly and Muse Gallery
2010-2014 Rostra Gallery, Bath
2011-2016 Made In Britain, Bristol
2008-2011 Nails Gallery Bristol
Exhibitions:
2011: Royal West Of England Academy: Solo Exhibition: “Art for Sustainable Transport”.
2009-2024 Affordable Art Fair: Bristol, London Battersea, London Hampstead, Brussels with Bristol Contemporary Art, Water and Rock and Degree Art
2013-2014 Brighton Art Fair
2014: Claremont Fine Art
2014: Buy Art Manchester with Degree Art
2015: The Other Art Fair, Bristol
2016: The Other Art Fair London
2016: The Edinburgh Art Fair with Doorway Gallery
2018: Art 3F Luxemborg with Folly and Muse
2018: Art 3F Brussels
Publications:
The Bristol And Bath Art Book 2022
Clifton Life
The Bristol Magazine
Paint and Draw (cover article)
Association of Illustrators (cover)
Vogue Magazine
Dark Mountain Project Online