Fiona Strickland’s internationally renowned watercolours demonstrate acute observation of the natural world. Her curiosity for the diversity of overlooked plants drives her very personal selection process evoking a sense of discovery. Her carefully selected and distinct compositions convey plant characteristics in an unexpected way, capturing fleeting moments from her local natural environment and surprising the viewer with the beauty that exists when an unappreciated plant is elevated in scale, less than perfect or viewed from an unusual angle.
The acknowledged boundaries of scientific plant representation are of little interest to her, compared to her passion for colour within the context of her subject. Demonstrating an exceptional technical virtuosity with extraordinary precision and attention to detail, she utilises delicate overlays of subtle shifts in colour as she converses between the control of the medium and her enjoyment of the freedom of application. This takes knowledge, intuition and spirit while completely absorbed in the emerging narrative of her essential need to record a moment in time.
​
She is currently collaborating with her husband, Robert McNeill RSW, on a project exploring rich local habitats.
​
Her artistic journey began at the prestigious Edinburgh College of Art, receiving a scholarship to Hospitalfield House and a travelling scholarship to Italy and France before completing her postgraduate studies in a studio overlooking the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.
​
Fiona’s watercolours have been recognised with numerous awards; an R.H.S. Gold Medal, the Dawn Joliffe Botanical Art Bursary, the Diane Bouchier Award for Excellence in Botanical Art and Best in Show, and from the American Society of Botanical Artists, as well as multiple awards from the Society of Botanical Artists. Her most recent award at the 144th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour was the W. Gordon Smith and Mrs Jay Gordon Smith Award.
​
Passionate about teaching, Fiona has travelled extensively to teach watercolour painting. More recently, students from the UK, Europe, Asia, and the USA have attended classes with her in Scotland.
​
Fiona’s work is widely recognised and featured in numerous books and articles. Her paintings are in the collections of Dr Shirley Sherwood O.B.E., the R.H.S. Lindley Library, the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, and numerous private collections worldwide. Her work has been exhibited at prestigious venues such as The Winter Show, New York, Masterpiece Art Fair London, Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art Royal Botanical Garden, Kew, Fulham Palace, London, the Manggha Museum, Krakow, Poland, the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, the Horticultural Society of New York, and the Jonathan Cooper Gallery, London. This extensive exhibition history has undoubtedly contributed to being sought after by collectors.