An Aberdeen pensioner will be displaying his paintings in an exhibition this weekend to honour his late wife who encouraged him to take up the hobby.
His artwork is will be showcased from Friday, June 17 until Monday, June 20 at the FourMile House in Kingswells.
As John Gerrie prepared to retire in 2017, his wife suggested that he join a small art class in their local area of Kingwells.
The “born and bred” Aberdonian joined the club and began painting for the first time.
His background was in surveying, so he had experienced drawing and sketching during his life, but he quickly began to love his time with a paintbrush.
As years passed, he began to build a collection of paintings, mostly of historical places around Aberdeenshire. He also had a little joiner shop and was able to frame them all.
Mr Gerrie, now 74, said: “I’ve landed up with these paintings, mounted and framed. And my wife had said that they should go ahead with an exhibition sometime.
“However, my wife, passed away very suddenly of a heart attack, in December 2019, at home just after we’d got home from church, very sad.
‘I’m going to carry this on in her memory’
“So I just thought, well, I’m going to carry this on in her memory.
“We had a wonderful life together. And we were actually making plans for our golden wedding anniversary when she passed away.
“It was extremely hard and it is still. It still hurts, that’s the big thing.
“My family and friends have supported me, they’ve carried me through a very bad time.
“But I’ve picked up on a hobby that I feel that I can do well, now and I just want to make it even better. We’re coming out of the other end now and are now looking forward.
“The more painting I do the better things get.”
Once Mr Gerrie had enough paintings, he wanted to show people exactly what can be done with a paintbrush on a bit of paper.
Darren Young, the owner of the FourMile House in Kingswells where Mr Gerrie is a regular said he was “delighted” to be hosting the exhibition.
Mr Gerrie said: “He was very keen to support me and said yes, go ahead and use the conference room.
‘My favourite one is Sandend’
“My favourite one is Sandend, it’s called Sandend with Alison.
“One August afternoon in 2019, Alison and I traveled through to Sandsend because I was wanting to paint it because I have a family history with the place.
“And that was the last outing that we had before she suddenly passed away.
‘It’s a magnificent hobby’
Mr Gerrie is now encouraging others that are retiring or have a bit of time on their hands to take up painting as a hobby.
He said that paintings usually take him two to three weeks to complete, with him spending a few hours each day on them.
“It is a magnificent hobby.
“There are just far too many people nowadays who just have made no, no allowance for their time when into retirement.
“Painting is something that has to interest you. But it’s got to excite you. Once you’ve got that feeling of excitement when you start painting, and drawing and painting, then you know you’ve cracked it.
“This particular hobby that I have, will always be in Alison’s memory.”
To see more of Mr Gierres paintings, visit here.
Conversation