Elizabeth Blackadder is widely recognised as one of Scotland’s most significant twentieth century artists. Awarded the Carnegie Travelling Scholarship and an Andrew Grant Postgraduate Scholarship, Blackadder’s travels founded a passion that is reflected in her art, the attention to detail she applied to her surroundings bringing her paintings to life. Working mostly in oils and watercolours, Blackadder was also a prolific printmaker. The inspiration she took from different mediums can be seen throughout the sketchbooks from this bequest.
This sketchbook consists of an eclectic combination of studies, from watercolours to collage. The book begins with a series of watercolours and pencil sketches of flowers; a glimpse of the preliminary stages of the exquisite botanic paintings Blackadder is known for.
The latter half of the sketchbook consists of a series of collages comprising of vibrant wrappers and other ephemera from her travels in Japan. A well-travelled individual throughout her life, Japan became a special place of creativity for Blackadder, the vibrant colours and delicate brushstrokes of Japanese art inspiring her still-life paintings such as her Still Life with a Japanese Kite (1980), and Japanese Still Life, Silver and Gold (1983). These collages are also interspersed with pencil sketches of Blackadder’s beloved cats.
