05/13/2026
Artist works on nearly 60 small paintings at once out of his studio in Edinburgh, Scotland. “It helps to keep my thinking alive. I find the pieces start to talk to one another,” says the Aberdeen-born painter, who was recently elected to the , a distinction shared with only 500 of his countrymen over the institution’s 200 years. Since he was a child, McGlashan has been painting from a combination of life and imagination. The imagery in his work might come from recall, or maybe an old photograph. He especially likes the surprise and unfamiliarity that found images offer: “They feel like a memory, but the interesting thing for me is how unreliable that can be, so it frees me up to let things grow,” he says.
Read more about the work of in our latest issue— on newsstands now!
Pictured: Portland, 2021, oil on canvas; Enlightenment, 2025, oil, paper, and varnish on panel, both courtesy of
