* PAM CARTER DA PAI (SCOTTISH 1952 - 2022),
GULLS, KILORAN BAY (Isle of Colonsay)
oil on canvas, signed, titled verso
image size 50cm x 60cm, overall size 69cm x 79cm
Framed and under glass.
Note 1: It was with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of Pam Carter in May after an illness which she wrote about to her database of buyers on 24th June 2021: "I feel at last I am retiring somewhat due to ill health. I am not painting very much these days as I am struggling with the daily regime of chemo tablets; it’s hard getting the balance of effective medication and quality of life".
Note 2: Pam Carter was born in Tanganyika, East Africa to an Austrian mother and Scottish father. At the age of thirteen, she came to Scotland where she schooled at Bearsden Academy. She graduated from Glasgow School of Art in the seventies. "My main inspiration as an artist is in the Scottish landscape and seascape. I enjoy using colour to define contours, structure and changing light sequences. I search out specific viewpoints. I am equally inspired by the rugged isolation of the Western Isles and the dramatic viewpoints of the Eastern coastline. I work predominantly in oil". Pam Carter was unquestionably one of Scotland's most popular and successful contemporary artists. She won numerous awards and prizes, always received significant media attention, has been the subject of many magazine features and had several tv appearances. Her work is widely exhibited but rarely appears at auction. However, in The Scottish Contemporary Art Auction of 17th April 2022 lot 38 "Luskentyre Reflections" a 46 x 51cm oil by Pam Carter sold for £2000 (hammer) and in The Scottish Contemporary Art Auction of 10th July 2022 lot 230 "Gables Geary" sold for £2600 (hammer).
Comment: Pam was a special artist and one who enjoyed wide popularity and substantial commercial success. In all our dealings with Pam over the years, she was always generous with her time and quick to provide the background to paintings we had received from private consignors and filling in gaps about locations, dates etc. Pam's work is instantly recognisable and she had that rare gift, even among the best artists, of being able to use the minimum of brushwork to create the maximum visual effect. Her "lines" were those of the natural environment but she knew exactly how to "see" them and portray them on canvas. Despite her commercial success, or perhaps even because of it, Pam's work probably hasn't yet reached the full audience that it so richly deserves. She exhibited frequently at numerous galleries in Scotland and gallery owners were inevitably in a queue to secure her work. Typically, Pam showed loyalty to those who were the first to support her when she was a relative unknown. Talented artists always wish to be remembered by their work and Pam Carter can be certain of that, but she'll also be remembered with great affection by all those who had the good fortune to meet her or know her.