Broughton Gallery's 2008 Season opens with an important exhibition of work by Scottish artist, Audrey Hawthorne. Hawthorne trained at Glasgow School of Art and is known principally for her accomplished watercolours. She exhibits with the Royal Scottish Society of Artists in Watercolour and in 2001 she was elected an artist member of the Paisley Art Institute. This exhibition focuses on Hawthorne's watercolours but includes pieces of her stained glass and batik work.

Hawthorne's watercolours are botanical in subject but go beyond the confined, clinical domesticity often associated with this genre. Her subjects are defined by a fluid, sinuous, even dynamic line which is not often found in the medium of watercolour. Similarly, her colours, far from watery, are vibrant and glow with life: these are not natures mortes but natures vivantes.

Having created a work in watercolour, Hawthorne will sometimes be inspired to translate it into other media, notably stained glass and batik. Her stained glass is outstanding, retaining the dynamism and vibrancy of her watercolours, and brings to mind the work of Chagall. Her fine batik work glows with jewel-like colours.

Hawthorne's work represents a celebration of life in three different media.