Elaine Rapson Grant – Committee Member

Born in Clarkson, Renfrewshire Elaine Rapson-Grant was aged just six when she moved to Scrabster with her family.

With her love of nature and all creatures wild, it is no surprise then that she loves painting wildlife and, in particular, kingfishers, butterflies, foxes, puffins, highland cows and hares. Her preferred medium is either watercolours or acrylics and Rapson-Grant is not afraid of experimenting with new painting techniques either.

When painting wildlife you have got to be quick, so Rapson-Grant mostly uses watercolours, never sketching, but instead building up washes of colour until the desired effect is achieved. This also helps to obtain a fluid movement in the medium and gives the painting a somewhat impressionist feel. Rapson-Grant also enjoys painting abstract acrylic canvases, sometimes embellishing them with gold leaf and jewels. On occasion using impasto within the acrylics to heighten their tactile appeal.

Rapson-Grant has sold her work throughout the world, mostly through her eBay shop. At present she has an Etsy shop as her outlet however, at the moment, she sells only to within the U.K.

On a regular basis Rapson-Grant exhibits at the Caithness Artist’s annual exhibition in Thurso and enjoys this as it can sometimes give her a chance to meet her buyers, since she finds being an artist can be quite a solitary craft.

In the future Rapson-Grant is hoping to become more involved in local Craft Fayres, where, as well as original works of art, she shall have available for sale her greetings cards which have been produced professionally using images from her original paintings.