Lilian Strang Neilson
For thirty-five years Scottish artist Lilian Strang Neilson lived and worked in Catterline, on the Kincardineshire coast. Her introduction to this tiny, cliff-top village came through her friend, Joan Eardley RSA (1921-1963), whose own artistic output had been transformed by her move to Catterline. When Joan died in 1963 Lil carried on the tradition established by Joan, of regarding Catterline as the inspiration for numerous paintings - a magical, spiritual place.
For many years Lil's paintings reflected her dramatic surroundings - they were dark, brooding landscapes and seascapes, usually on a scale worthy of the vast sea below her and the open fields behind. Using thickly applied paint Lil created subtle, sombre paintings which aptly described her own moods and emotions. More recently Lil had come out of what she herself termed her "grey period" and, by exploring the inner depths of her mind, the realms of her dreams, her Celtic past and her own spiritual side, had come to create a series of remarkable, vibrant, glowing fantasies, replete with symbols and recurring motifs.
The influence of Joan Eardley as both a person and a painter on the artists in Catterline was all encompassing. For Angus Neil and Lil Neilson, Joan Eardley's international fame had the effect of obscuring their own tremendous talents. Aberdeen Art Gallery attempted to redress this balance by staging an exhibition of the work of Angus Neil in 1994. At the private view an informal discussion led to the idea of staging an exhibition of Lil's work, but rather than holding a retrospective of her career, an exhibition of her current paintings and prints was planned. This collaborative effort between Dundee Printmakers Workshop, Seagate Gallery and Aberdeen Art Gallery, which took place in 1986, provided Lil with the opportunity to create numerous screenprints. Lil's obvious pleasure in using the new medium was a delight to behold. Her prints included the same idiosyncratic, creative elements as her paintings. Misaligned registrations and "mistakes" enhanced rather than detracted from these prints, each one was different from the last and all had a unique freshness and spontaneity.
The ten large paintings included in the exhibition - vibrant, colourful and deeply moving - gave triumphant testiment to Lil's consummate skills.
It was always a pleasure to visit Lil. Though modest and private she could talk eloquently about her work but seldom chose to do so. More often she would avoid the students, art historians and the inquisitive who visited Catterline in order to follow the Eardley trail, thus missing Lil's studio, her home and the remarkable paintings which she was producing there.
