On a mild spring morning I ventured west to the leafy suburbs of Glasgow to visit artist Claire Kennedy in her home studio. Surrounded by shelves overflowing with materials, collected objects and visual ephemera, we spoke about her artistic journey, the quiet inspiration of Glasgow's urban landscape, and how painting helps us make sense of the passing of time.
Kennedy's studio is a calm, light-filled space tucked within the bustle of family life. Looking around, it's easy to see why her paintings feel so richly layered. Photographs, papers and found objects coexist with brushes and pigments, echoing the dialogue between photography and paint that has become central to her practice.
"What I love about working with photography and paint at the same time is that visual contrast," she tells me. "I love seeing [that graphic quality of] black and white photography placed next to the looseness of paint. It keeps surprising me, which is why I'm still doing it."
'Skyline'. Acrylic paint and photography.
Artistic practice arrived at a particularly significant point in Kennedy's life. While raising a young family, making work became what she describes as an "antidote to a busy family life." Creative time was often found in "snatched moments," but those moments became deeply restorative. "It was meditative," she says, recalling the simple pleasure of "pushing colours around."
She also reflects on how the conditions for artistic experimentation have changed over the decades. "We had more space for that in the 90s, when we didn't have our phones." It is a remark that feels especially relevant today. In a world of constant digital distraction, Kennedy's practice offers a reminder of the value of sustained attention and following one's own creative instincts.
Glasgow itself remains one of her greatest sources of inspiration. Rather than depicting the city literally, Kennedy is fascinated by its accumulated surfaces: weathered walls, industrial structures and worn textures that quietly record the lives lived around them. She speaks of the city's "layers and textures," of "a sense of history and a passing of time," and of the "transient nature of life - we're all passing through." Whether observing the marks left on stone through years of weathering or the traces of previous generations embedded within the urban landscape, she finds herself continually drawn to these physical reminders of time's slow movement.
'Keeping Watch' and 'Resilience'. Acrylic paint and photography.
That fascination is beautifully realised in her new Finnieston Crane series, which features in our 2026 Summer Showcase. Standing directly beneath the iconic structure, Kennedy was struck by how "eerily quiet" it felt compared to the clamour of its industrial past. The crane became less a monument than a vessel for memory, its silent presence hinting at the countless stories that unfolded around it. For Kennedy, disused infrastructure can "hold a lot of forgotten stories," while the successive layers of paint in her work mirror the accumulation of history itself.
Her work is created much like the places that inspire them. Layers are added, obscured and revealed, creating surfaces that feel sedimentary, as though memories have settled into the canvas over time. Interestingly, Kennedy compares this process not to storytelling but to music. She encourages me to listen intentionally to the individual layers within a song, noting that "a piece of music is telling a whole story." In much the same way, each new layer contributes to the emotional rhythm of her compositions, building harmonies between image, texture and colour.
Ideas often begin quietly. "Sometimes I get a seed of an idea," she explains, "and even if it takes months or years to germinate, that spark is always very memorable." Those moments of inspiration continue to percolate beneath the surface before finding their way onto the canvas, giving her work its thoughtful, contemplative quality.
Before we finish, I ask Kennedy what advice she would offer aspiring artists. Her answer is refreshingly straightforward: "Find out what means something to you. Don't do something because you think someone else might like it." In an age where authenticity can feel increasingly difficult to hold onto amid an accelerating digital culture, it is advice that resonates well beyond the studio.
We are delighted to present Claire Kennedy's latest works in our 2026 Summer Showcase. Through layered surfaces, fragments of photography and richly worked paint, they invite us to pause, look closely and consider the histories that quietly shape the places we move through every day.
