Ayrshire artist's tribute to the beauty of Burns

Oct 17 2008

AN AYRSHIRE artist is finding new inspiration from the county’s most famous son.

And Graham McKean is delighted to focus his brush strokes on Robert Burns.

Graham, 46, was commissioned by an art collector to produce a new painting inspired by Burns’s lines on Handsome Nell.

Graham said: “In the painting I have portrayed Rabbie presenting Nell with a red rose while Rabbie's wee moose peers over his forearm.

“As an Ayrshire artist I am always happy to paint images inspired by Burns. His work is so descriptive that it immediately conjures up an image for me.”

This is not the first time Graham has painted Burns, as he did one for a Leith exhibition of Scottish artists.

That one was titled To A Mouse, and it was snapped up by a private buyer.

Graham added: “I have also produced another painting of Burns for a collector in America which I titled Burns Contemplating Tam o’ Shanter.”

A resurgence of interest in Burns has now raised the prospect of Graham doing a series of painting based on the Bard and his work.

Graham said: “There is considerable interest in the US, as well as at home. And there’s now a real possibility of a Burns series.”

Graham, from Troon, works from Courtyard Studios at Irvine Harbourside.