Angus Stirling was encouraged to draw and paint, and study art, from an early age. His mother and great grandfather were artists and he has had a distinguished career in the Arts. He was Deputy Director of the Arts Council of Great Britain in the 1970s, and then Director-General of the National Trust and Chairman of the Royal Opera House.
Following his retirement in 1995, Angus returned to painting and has studied with Robin Child at the internationally acclaimed Lydgate Art Research Centre. Since 2005 he has exhibited in select group exhibitions, most recently participating in Somerset Art Weeks.

His interest in the relationship between music, dance, and painting has been stimulated by his years in opera and ballet, reflecting elements of rhythm, structure, colour, tone and counterpoint found in both genres. Using these principles, Angus aims at a personal reincarnation of landscape, human form, architecture and still life, revealing a work of imagination.

“ I usually begin by making marks on the blank canvas that bear no relation to a pre-conceived subject; the work may be suggested by a particular object, grouping or landscape, but the paint itself and the initial lay-out of marks indicate how to proceed. It is akin to a game of chess, with an opening, a middle and an end-game.”
Among the principal influences in the development of Angus’s work are Cezanne, the American Expressionists, Keith Vaughan and Ivon Hitchens.