Artist Louise Carr opens major new exhibition at Beacon

Louise Carr, 37, has just opened her showcase 'The Bean-Nighe Legend of the Washerwoman' and it runs at the Beacon until May.

The legend goes that the creature was a woman who died in childbirth and is now doomed to haunt rivers and streams wailing, expressing grief for impending loss.

Folklore has it that she has to carry out these tasks until her natural lifespan ends.

Louise said: "The Bean-Nighe is Gaelic for washerwoman, a female spirit in Scottish folklore, regarded an an omen of death and a messenger for the other world.

"She is a type of banshee that haunts desolate streams and rivers and is seen washing bloodstained clothing or burial shrouds.

"In different folklore, she is portrayed as ugly or with physical defects and can be captured because she is so absorbed in her washing, she is then faced to reveal who is about to die and grant her abductor three wishes."

"She has been perceived as a banshee, as ugly and as a witch. Many women have been portrayed like this throughout history and I thought I would turn her into something that was beautiful.

"I have used gold in my paintings and have made her a goddess.

"I've used a Celtic design based on the Picts and have used gold to create a crown.

"I have made her the opposite of how she has been portrayed as hideous and cruel, I've made her inspiring and powerful."

As well as producing portrait images of what she might have looked like, Louise has also drawn inspiration from the river and the timber ponds at Port Glasgow with striking blue skies and deep purple shades to represent the blood flowing from the clothes.

Louise who is from the Port but now lives in Greenock, has spent a year pulling the collection together.

She said: "I started it a year ago, I got funding from Creative Scotland to do the research and half the development and then I did the second part, the exhibition, myself."

Louise has 24 paintings on display and used mostly acrylic, charcoal and mono-prints using ink.

She also uses bold, bright colours to draw in the viewer and make people want to look more closely.

Louise says she is delighted with the result.

She said: "It's the way I saw it in my head."

Louise hopes that the exhibition makes people change their minds about they think about women.

She said: "It is a message of empowerment, with the aim of challenging traditional roles of women in society and folklore and how they view themselves. I hope that it shows that women can be powerful and inspiring."

The exhibition runs until May 18.