RAINWASHED streets, church spires, tumbling rooflines and the encircling hills are just some of the motifs that recur throughout a fascinating exploration of Peebles encapsulated in Philip Hutton’s exhibition in the town’s Tweeddale Museum.

His handsome paintings of his home town, covering more than four decades, accumulate like pictures in a family album – recalling scenes at once familiar and unchanging and yet, on closer inspection, full of previously unnoticed details and half forgotten occasions.

Hutton returns repeatedly to parts of the town he knows intimately – Peebles High Street, Veitch’s Corner, Tweed Bridge – to examine them again with fresh eye and flexible technique. Several watercolours combine sharp observation with nice draughtsmanship of turrets, gable ends and street corners (West Port Corner 2, Willow by the Tweed 1, Veitch’s Corner). Others have a more impressionistic feel with washes of colour over fluid lines that create an instant sense of place (Willow by the Tweed 2, Peebles High School Grounds, Peebles from the Sware).

Many of the pictures exhibited are in oils, from more intimate small canvases to large paintings with a sense of drama. Amongst the former is an intriguing little painting of the gallery itself in 1975 (Music in Peebles – Colin Kingsley) which makes you wonder who carried the grand piano up all those stairs!

But it’s the big bold oils, well spaced around the walls, that immediately catch the eye: Green River combines light and water to striking effect; Digital Camera plays with stylised figures and digital images overlooking a shining river; and both High Street, Peebles and Up School Brae capture the characteristic melancholy of a dreich Scottish evening.

This is an exhibition for anyone interested in Peebles past and present and continues until the end of the month.

For those who live or work in the town, there are plenty of historical and contemporary references to enjoy; for new visitors it’s a perfect introduction to characterful streets, bridges, back courts and green spaces – without the risk of venturing into the rain.

Review by Caroline Adam