Caring for the Collection, Blog 21: ‘Sketchbook Studies,’ Andrew Cranston

Welcome to the twenty-first blog post from the Collection Technicians.  

Andrew Cranston is a Scottish painter who creates artworks around the themes of landscapes and interiors. He applies a similar vision and technique to both subject matters. Interiors are the landscape of our home life, and Cranston paints them with as much detail and enthusiasm as his natural landscapes, looking at how scale and subject matter interact on the canvas. His medium of choice is often Distemper paint which is an old form of interior paint made using chalk, lime and binder.  

Another unique element to Cranston’s work is that many of them are made on old hardback book covers. Cranston’s use of books began when he was working in Germany. Having run out of surfaces to paint on he grabbed an old pile of hardcover books, took the covers off and began painting on them. In an interview with artist Peter Doig, Cranston says the book covers give him somewhere to start, often the original cover helps to steer the direction of the final painting. The original book is as important in this way as the final painting. In the same interview he mentions scale, how he finds it inspiring to paint a large landscape on a small canvas andhow the juxtaposition of these two things creates an interesting conversation.  

This piece of Cranston’s which we have in our collection, titled ‘Sketchbook Studies’ Is a long thin piece of paper of sketches which Cranston made on one of his trips. These are not finished paintings individually but when placed together they become a finalised group of imagery which describe a time and a place. ‘Sketchbook Studies’ is currently on show at the Breathing Space exhibition at Park Gallery, Callendar House until the 18^th of October 2026.