Meet the Scottish artist turning 'the ordinary' into extraordinary paintings

Scottish artist Katie Pope explains the inspiration behind her artwork. She has spent years turning her everyday experiences into extraordinary paintings. 

Katie has painted a number of colourful canvases over the years of locations across Scotland that she believes "elevates the everyday".

Katie Pope [Photograph by Allan Whyte]

The artist said much of her work is influenced by her childhood and that it reflects places and things that have a "sense of importance" to her.

Katie said that many of the "ordinary scenes" from our lives can be "profound", something she hopes to express through her art.

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'A memory of Priesthill' [Image: Katie Pope]

She said: "I suppose all my art is kind of about how do I respond/feel about my surroundings and my past.

"To be honest, a lot of it is about memory and also about how innocuous views can conjure up such depths of feeling within you.

"It’s about celebrating life and sometimes that isn’t always, especially in Scotland, going to be sunny and beautiful in a traditional sense, I suppose it’s like trying to find that beauty in what is our experience every day."

Katie attended art school in Edinburgh and has held a number of exhibitions across the UK including in London and Glasgow.

She grew up in Priesthill in Glasgow’s Southside before moving to Motherwell shortly before starting high school.

After sharing one of her paintings on social media Katie said she was surprised to hear from people not only across Scotland but from around the world, who said her artwork had "captured their imagination".

The Top of Gardner Street [Image by Katie Pope]

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She explained: "It’s an amalgamation from my imagination, so I suppose what I was surprised about was people contacted me and were like oh that actually really seems to capture my memories of growing up in those types of areas.

"The painting itself is kind of from my head it’s not geographically accurate but it’s almost like a memory painting in terms of I remember like the texture of those buildings, I remember the silhouette of the water tower, I remember the skies, certain colours.

"Sometimes it seems certain ones (paintings) just seem to capture people’s imaginations."

She added: "When I tell people the areas that I paint I suppose Glasgow sometimes has that oh it’s a bit rough it’s a bit dreich what do you paint there, but actually like for me a sense of place is so important.

"I love Glasgow and I want to hopefully translate that affection through the paintings and sometimes it’s not a picture-postcard sort of painting, they are quite raw and rough, I think there is beauty in that."

Over the years Katie has painted locations ranging from her local supermarket to the iconic Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow’s East End.

Dreich Night at the Barras [Image by Katie Pope]

Katie explained one of her main sources of inspiration is portraying lives being lived and that "all of our lives are a valid source to make work from".

She said: "I suppose it’s about trying to focus on subjects which perhaps don’t get painted, maybe aren’t represented that often.

"I think painting is about not sticking rigidly to rules. I am quite expressive I suppose, it’s just in the way of mixing media, working in a spontaneous way.

"I do think it’s probably just about actually depicting things or places that maybe people are like why are you painting that but actually the people that get it, they really like it."

Glasgow Necropolis in Winter [Image by Katie Pope]

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She added: "When people do get it they are surprised in a way because I suppose it’s a bit more unusual to like some of the subjects that I do paint.

"I suppose it's just trying to express a sense of place but also just the emotions that are innocuous things that sometimes conjure up and I suppose trying to make a beautiful painting out of something so ordinary."

Katie continues to produce new artwork and said she hopes to reschedule an exhibition, which was originally supposed to go ahead last year at her studio in Trongate but was cancelled due to Covid-19.