This is a pretty little watercolour by the Scottish artist, Irene Halliday.
Irene Halliday was born in 1931 in Kingsmuir, Scotland.
She attended Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee between 1948 and 1953, studying under Alberto Morrocco. From 1956-1979 she worked at Didsbury College of Education becoming Head of Art and Design. She spent an academic year as a visiting professor at State University College, Buffalo, New York State from 1972 to 1973. She left full-time teaching at Manchester Polytechnic in 1979 but continued to teach summer schools in Alston, Hull, Lancashire and Harrogate.
Irene Halliday was elected to the Royal Society of Watercolourists in 1955.
She has exhibited at the Royal Academy in London, the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts and elsewhere in England, Scotland and the United States.
In 2002, Halliday returned to live in Arbroath where she was inspired by the sea coast and land around her home.
This little watercolour shows the port at Symi, one of the prettiest of the Greek islands. It shows a scene at twilight looking out from the shore to the Aegean Sea. Little house lights twinkle in the distance and are reflected in the clear blue water. A pink haze dusts the sky in the far distance - and in the sky, little stars start to come out. It is a much-understated scene and the concentration of all the soft twilight shades gives the study a very peaceful feeling.
The muted tones and pale colours built up using watercolour and more opaque gouache paints are quite typical of her work.
Image size: 17.5 x 17.5 cm. Frame size: 37 x 38 cm. It is signed: Halliday, bottom right.
A very charming study made on one of her travels to Greece. It was exhibited at the Torrance Gallery in Edinburgh in their Christmas show in 1997. There is a ticket price for this show of £220. Her work regularly goes through prestigious Scottish auction houses such as Lyon and Turnbull and Bonhams.
It is beautifully presented with a cream coloured mount and a gold-tone frame. It is ready to hang on your wall. It was very tricky to photograph all the subtle colours - and my photographs certainly don't do it justice.