* CLAIRE HARKESS RSW (SCOTTISH B. 1970 - ), WEE PENGUIN gouache on paper, signed 26cm x 17.5cm Mounted, framed and under glass Artist's label verso. Note: Claire Harkess was born in Ayr, Scotland, graduating from Glasgow School of Art in the early 1990s. In recent years her painting has taken her to fragile lands to study and interpret life on the edge. Antarctica, Outback Australia and St Kilda are all places where, in such extreme environments, survival is difficult and the balance of life is delicate. Harkess has also worked on the Galápagos Islands, made famous by Charles Darwin’s ‘The Origin of the Species’. This isolated volcanic outpost remained relatively untouched by man, evolving to become one of the World’s unique ecosystems. The balance present in nature is clearly communicated through Claire's paintings. Painting in watercolour or gouache offers a unique directness; the essential qualities of light and energy present in the natural world are the very essence of the medium itself. The delicacy of her palette and oriental economy of her mark-making creates a subtle tension representing a world that is ‘holding still’, giving a sense of freedom, spirit, time and place. Claire's work is exhibited at The Scottish Gallery ,where her most recent highly successful solo show was in July 2020, and at other prestigious galleries around the UK.