Ann Davidson's collage-paintings are abstracted landscapes which are inspired by Sutherland, her native county in the far north of the Scottish Highlands, and by Iceland.

Ann Davidson grew up in Tongue and Helmsdale, then studied art in Surrey and London.  She has exhibited at Dunrobin Castle, Sutherland; The Bath Art Fair; The London Ecology Centre; Timespan Gallery, Helmsdale; and at various other places in Britain as well as in Canada and the U.S.A.

As a small child I lived surrounded by mountains and I have never lost my love of them.  Our house looked onto the four great peaks of Ben Loyal and I have not forgotten its ever-changing face: at times desolate, at times magnificent and at times brooding.   When I was older I was given a set of paints and I knew that painting was what I wanted to do with my life.  Later on, at art school, I was always drawn back to Sutherland, and I came to realise that this was what I wanted to paint.

Much of Sutherland is visually pure: great expanses with a harmonious, consistent and natural look.  And one is moved by the feeling of remoteness and by the drama, the space and the voids.  I try to convey these qualities.

I have long had a fascination for Iceland because it is more remote and more northerly than Sutherland and yet is relatively close to it.  I finally visited it in 2002 and since then have painted it too.

I have started a project called North from Sutherland in which I am trying to link Sutherland and Iceland by making and exhibiting collage-paintings which are inspired by both of them.  I am trying to reflect their differences and similarities.  The first North from Sutherland show took place in 2003 at Timespan Gallery, Helmsdale, Sutherland.

I enjoy making collage-paintings because of the play involved in juxtaposing pieces of differently coloured and textured paper.  I use a technique I've developed which allows a collage to be composed completely before any of it is glued, so the composition can be altered until one is satisfied with it.  Moreover, when the collage is glued the composition is not lost.