Funny Face

Scottish artist Rhonda Smith is a Glasgow School of Art Drawing and Painting graduate (1987 – 1991). She lives in Renfrewshire, Scotland where she has painted full-time for 30 years. Her subject matter is often the powerful timelessness of the sea. She works from sketches and oil studies to create images that are semi-abstract and layered. Her paintings are worked up over months, and often incorporate sand and other materials. These are mixed with the oil paint to build up richly textured surfaces.

Rhonda is also interested in the emotional link between painting and photography. She uses her own family albums to explore themes of memory, nostalgia and longing. She will often find an image that inspires, then add or erase figures, or change faces, clothing and backgrounds, to create expressive, painterly portrayals of joyful and sometimes melancholic moments in life.

Rhonda’s paintings are held in public, private and corporate collections throughout the UK and also in Europe, USA, Canada and the Caribbean – including those of Sir Mick Jagger, the Swiss Bank Corporation and Paisley Museum and Art Galleries.