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Lisa

Beattie

Midlothian based impressionist painter Lisa Beattie has always been fascinated by the movement of sea and sky. Without the benefit of art tuition at school, she is largely self-taught after taking life-drawing sessions to improve her anatomy drawings as a medical student. She works full-time, predominantly in oil, from field sketches to portray remembered seascapes. Using soft brushes and palette knives, she depicts the atmosphere and emotion that she experienced rather than a postcard image. She paints rapidly, alla prima, to convey the immediacy, raw energy and transience of her subject seeking to convey joy and hope with her dramatic work. Much of her adult life has been spent moving between countries across Asia and the Middle East. These varied landscapes and cultures have profoundly shaped her visual perception. Collaboration with local artists, most notably Donald Ramanayake in Sri Lanka, have significantly deepened her technical skills and conceptual understanding. Although she has exhibited successfully in UK galleries, it was Ramanayake who supported her first solo exhibition in Colombo. Since then she has achieved further international success with works held in numerous private and corporate collections. She is currently a member of the SAA, Visual Arts Association and Visual Arts Scotland. Since returning to Scotland she is seeking to establish herself in the art community in UK. She sells her work from her online store. Her most recent achievement was to be long listed for VAA Artist of the year 2026.

Disciplines: Painting

Location: Eskbank, Dalkeith

Materials: Oil
Midlothian based impressionist painter Lisa Beattie has always been fascinated by the movement of sea and sky. Without the benefit of art tuition at school, she is largely self-taught after taking life-drawing sessions to improve her anatomy drawings as a medical student. She works full-time, predominantly in oil, from field sketches to portray remembered seascapes. Using soft brushes and palette knives, she depicts the atmosphere and emotion that she experienced rather than a postcard image. She paints rapidly, alla prima, to convey the immediacy, raw energy and transience of her subject seeking to convey joy and hope with her dramatic work. Much of her adult life has been spent moving between countries across Asia and the Middle East. These varied landscapes and cultures have profoundly shaped her visual perception. Collaboration with local artists, most notably Donald Ramanayake in Sri Lanka, have significantly deepened her technical skills and conceptual understanding. Although she has exhibited successfully in UK galleries, it was Ramanayake who supported her first solo exhibition in Colombo. Since then she has achieved further international success with works held in numerous private and corporate collections. She is currently a member of the SAA, Visual Arts Association and Visual Arts Scotland. Since returning to Scotland she is seeking to establish herself in the art community in UK. She sells her work from her online store. Her most recent achievement was to be long listed for VAA Artist of the year 2026.

Previous Experience

For many years Beattie exhibited internationally; since returning to the UK she has participated in many art fairs and festivals including sharing a market stall in Greenwich. Most recently her work has been shown in Scotland in Rathbones annual show, Paisley Art Institute’s annual show at Glasgow Arts Club, and was shortlisted in VAA 500 2025. In 2026 she has exhibited in Edinburgh, at the Western General Hospital and featured in Artists Showcase at The Melting Pot and Isle of Harris Brewery in Outer Hebrides. A recent achievement has been inclusion in the longlist for VAA’s Artist of the Year. Teaching part-time and undertaking commissions combine with travels to remote parts of Scotland where increasingly rapid climate change inform her work. Themes of ecological and sociological shifts, hope over despair and other paradoxes such as transience versus antiquity, are manifested in the energetic mark making of her landscapes.

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