My studio art practice focuses initially on close observation of the natural world. Inspiration is currently found in the endlessly cyclical nature happening outside in the garden and local rural landscape. I see art making mainly as a process of attention and discovery and enjoy letting things transpire in exciting and unexpected ways. I have been influenced by environmental artists and writers, historical and contemporary, who philosophise that to see clearly is a way to understand something and to begin to care for it. All my artwork begins by drawing directly from life.

Currently I am also working as an artist within local community lifelong education projects. I teach practical and exploratory drawing and painting mainly taking inspiration from the natural environment and the seasons.

Artists Books
’During my MFA in 2018 I started making artists books. I wanted to make artwork that could combine images with text, and make the nuanced more visible, in order that it might add another layer to the representation of place’.


Alison Philp’s work has been displayed in galleries across Scotland. She has a BA(Hons) in Drawing and Painting from Edinburgh and an MFA in Art and Humanities from Dundee.