Lauren’s art on show at Holyrood

STUDENT Lauren Bulter will soon be admiring her own art work at the Scottish Parliament.

Lauren, 18, from Tresta, is one of a number of young people to have their work selected for an exhibition in the building, and she, together with the other exhibitors, has been invited to an event at the parliament on Tuesday.

Lauren’s acrylic portrait of herself and her twin brother was painted while she was still a pupil at Anderson High School. The picture, part of a Higher Art project, was put forward for the exhibition, which comprises work from around 180 school pupils throughout Scotland and is an annual event.

AHS sent the picture away and a letter to say that Lauren’s work had been chosen was then forwarded to her. She said: “I was very surprised to be chosen. I got the letter from the school and had to read it six or seven times. I thought there had to be some mistake. I gave it to mum and she read it. Then I went round the house screaming.”

The A1-size picture took a couple of weeks to complete, said Lauren, now an art student at Shetland College. She spent about an hour a day working on it during school hours, painting some of it from photographs and some of it, her hands, for example, from life.

The portrait has music as its theme and depicts Lauren playing the flute and her brother Jonathan playing the piano. Both are wearing 1950s style outfits – striped suits and hats – painted in a red tint, redolent of Frank Sinatra and with a “jazzy” feel.

Lauren said: “I copied a rough sketch and just started painting. The painting hardly took any time at all. I don’t really like going slow. It was fun.”

As could be guessed from the work, music is another of Lauren’s interests. She took Higher Music but does not see it as a career, more a leisure activity. Art, however, has always been a passion – ever since she drew her first “dinosaur” at the age of two.

It is a career she would like to pursue and will be going to the open day at Edinburgh College of Art shortly with a view to applying there to study. Fine art could be area she eventually works in. Although modest about her achievements, she admitted: “People tell me I’m very good at illustration.”

Meanwhile she is looking forward to meeting the other bairns who have their work exhibited, and also the MSP. “It will be fun.”

The exhibition is in a public area of the parliament and runs until 8th November.