Gilfedder Designs

Our Lady, Lighthouse and Cairn This painting draws together memories of the Hebridean crossings between Benbecula and North Uist, reflections from the Divine Office, and the writings of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. In the image of Our Lady as both lighthouse and cairn, I wanted to explore guidance, trust, danger, and hope in Christ amid darkness and uncertainty. North Ford, Benbecula c. 1880s Source The Hebridean Crossing The painting began with stories told to me by my mother-in-law, Belle MacPhee of Benbecula in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. As a young girl, she crossed the ford between Benbecula and North Uist long before a causeway existed. The journey depended entirely on the rhythm of the tide and could only be attempted when the water was low enough. Even then, it required local knowledge, patience, and courage. People crossing the ford travelled mainly by horse and cart across a landscape both beautiful and exposed, where sea, sand, and sky could seem to merge into one another. The...

“Yet they’re ever uneasy asunder.” — from The Joys of Love Never Forgot. A Song, 1735. Some paintings depict a moment; others speak of a lifetime.  In Darby and Joan, I set out to create a work that would not reveal itself all at once, but would ask for stillness, patience, and a slower kind of looking. At first, the painting presents two figures held in a tender embrace. Their faces meet gently, their eyes are closed, and their hands rest upon one another with the ease of long familiarity. Yet the work is not merely a depiction of affection; it is a meditation on companionship, faithfulness, and the kind of love that endures through time. Love shaped through years rather than moments.  This reflection moves through the main elements that shape the work: the figures’ stone-like construction, the living use of colour, the expressive brushwork, the gold leaf of the wedding rings, and the Genesis vision of relationship that underpins the painting.  The phrase and title of...