Laura Drever

The Studio had a bit of a facelift at the end of last month.

Space has been very tight lately so I channeled my inner construction skills from Art School and made a partition – to those who did this as part of their studio allocation/Degree Show you will know the joys! MDF boards are big and heavy, tools were limited and I was doing it on my own. In my eyes, an achievement worth sharing – maybe a totally boring, dull one, but still it feels something to be proud of. A personal achievement and something that has really enhanced my wonderful working space.

Sharing achievements is a funny old thing, it’s been a conversation that I’ve been having with myself lately. When is it too much, when do you become too much? As a creative it’s really hard not be excited by the smaller things. I wonder if it’s because we regularly think about the bigger picture, we question the world, we look closer. Sometimes we have to convince others that what we do is important – whether that is through applications to funders or potential opportunities, we often have to advocate for ourselves. We take the knock backs and rejections gracefully and learn from them, allow them to inform what is next.

During a presentation a while back, where I was invited to share elements of my practice, the discussion lead onto how many career rejections I’d had. These aren’t things we put on our CV’s – if we did, our CV’s would be pages long! I learnt very early on that just because you are rejected for that specific thing, it doesn’t make you rubbish – it just means that there is another wonderful creative who it was meant for, someone who perhaps needed it more at that exact time.

Part of the studio sort out has resulted in a few more packages of paintings being put in storage – a range of sizes, a range of walks, a bit more colour than past bodies of work, all inspired by Orkney’s beautiful landscape. Now there are a few clear studio walls to make way for more paintings over the next few months in preparation for my next solo.

If you’d like to be the first to hear about my next exhibition at the Scottish Gallery in March 2026, please subscribe to my mailing list here or send a message and I can add you. It would be lovely to share the new collection with you, when the time comes.

I will continue to celebrate and share achievements, walk, paint and love the landscape where I live – hope you can too.