2008 is the eighth consecutive year of our series devoted to contemporary Scottish Art. It is sponsored again by Aberdeen Private Wealth Management to whom we extend our thanks for their continued support for this very Scottish event. The format of the exhibition is now well established and we have continued to keep the show fresh by adding new names to the list of participants whilst keeping faith with our senior established artists.

Scottish art continues from strength to strength. The centres of Glasgow and Edinburgh as schools of art have their own characteristics and the juxta position makes the selection even more dynamic.

I was fortunate to meet some our artists in Scotland last autumn and quickly became aware of the some of the sources of inspiration, particularly for the landscape painters, when I drove through Fife to some of the east coast villages and looked out across the Firth of Forth with the sun glistening across the water and the peculiarly high horizon. What artist could fail to be inspired by such scenery. Then to Pittenweem and the little fishing ports on the Fife coast. Seagulls and fishergirls - John Bellany country.

So we come again to our showcase exhibition. For those of you who know and love Scotland I am sure that you will find that this exhibition evokes memories of colour, vitality and place, which make
up the essential spirit of Scotland.

John Falle
January 2008