Finlay Trevor’s painting practice is rooted in the landscape of the North West Highlands of Scotland, beginning in the places that have shaped his understanding of land, labour, and belonging. Since graduating, he has extended this work across the wider Gairloch area, painting people whose lives are inseparable from the environments they inhabit – figures who feel not simply placed into landscape, but formed by it.
His approach is built through time spent on the land itself, often helping on Red Point farm and allowing relationships to develop through shared work rather than formal sittings. These encounters lead to drawings and studies made on site, later translated into paintings with layered, physical surfaces that hold both observation and lived experience. The works explore pre-industrial life within a post-industrial world, where older ways of working persist alongside contemporary pressure.
Rather than relying on inherited symbolism – particularly the romanticised image of the shepherd -Finlay’s paintings aim for an honest depiction of rural labour, acknowledging beauty and endurance while resisting idealisation. His recent achievements include selection for the National Portrait Gallery London’s Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award (formerly the BP Portrait Award), being shortlisted for the Mall Gallery Crinan Residency, and receiving the Visual Arts Scotland Graduate Showcase Award.
