Marcelle House, Alloa, Clackmannanshire, artists exhibit Go Forth! at Resonate Arts House

The exhibition, titled Go Forth!, will feature works by Marcelle House painters who have been capturing the landscape around the River Forth and its tributaries, particularly the Devon and the Black Devon.

Five local artists; Mike Marriott, David Fagan, Karen Strang, Suzanne Williams and Brian McFie; have been working out in the open, painting and drawing from life – a style known as plein air.

Artists have long painted outdoors, but working in natural light became particularly important in the mid 19th century, especially for French impressionists like Monet and Renoir.

And the tradition still endures today, with Karen explaining to the Advertiser: “We are literally experiencing the damp, the cold, the wet, the wind and the occasional glimmer of sun.

“But there's also the sounds, that you can in some respects – well, we would like to think – incorporate. So there's birdsong and the waves; it is a multi-sensory experience, which we try to translate into drawing and painting.”

The around 30 works, most of which were painted at locations within Clackmannanshire, will be on display at Alloa's Resonate Arts House for a month with the opening ceremony on Friday June 3 at 7.30pm, when visitors will have the chance to meet the artists and poet Paul Cowan.

The exhibition will be on until July 5 and is free to attend.

Painting by Karen Strang

While it is physically impossible to go out painting in the rain without the right equipment, according to Karen and Suzanne, they don't look for a perfect scenario or a perfect day – the beauty of plein air painting is taking chances and working over a period of time.

The artists have been rediscovering the Wee County lately by following the rivers, sometimes off the beaten track.

Karen said it all started when fellow Marcelle House painter Brian McFie wanted to sketch the environment around their studios. He then went down to the old harbour, where the natural and the industrial scapes meet.

She added: “So that then set us all off on a path of discovering what's around us and then David Fagan got very much involved in going out and about, not only in this area, but throughout Scotland, particularly the central belt.”

David said: “Being based in Alloa, we have an incredible landscape to explore and draw on our doorstep. From the drama of the Ochil Hills, to the calm, but slightly menacing view of the munition stores at Bandeath.

“Along with other artists from Marcelle House, I am committed to getting out and working from this landscape.”

Karen continued: “I was fascinated in particular with the Kennetpans Distillery and I have included a painting based specifically on the theme of industrialisation, history and the ever-changing landscape.”

Kennetpans Distillery, located south of Clackmannan and the village of Kennet, is now a ruin and is regarded as “the ground zero of the whisky industry”.

Karen also explained that one of the challenges in plein air painting is capturing water. She said: “Water moves, obviously, and it moves at different rates depending on the wind and depending on the tide, so there is a particular challenge in painting rivers from life.

“It is very difficult to capture that movement in a painting, because it is over time, whereas with a photograph you can catch it in an instance. But that is not what the human eye sees. What we try to do is replicate the human experience of being near water over a period of time, not just being there for a split second.”

The group of five hope that the exhibition will be the start of a serious plein air art movement in the area and Suzanne highlighted that the Scottish art scene in general now seems to be quite excited about going outdoors.

Drawing by Suzanne Williams

People will also have the chance to meet the artists in Marcelle House during Forth Valley Art Beat, formerly know as Forth Valley Open Studios. The nine-day-event will see 140 artists and organisations across the central belt hosting a variety of events like open studios, installations, temporary public workshops and much more, visit forthvalleyopenstudios.com for details.

The majority of works at the exhibition will also be for sale, with Karen adding that there's plenty more paintings in the studio to replace them.