The Golf Links, North Berwick

Robert Kelsey painted this bright coastal scene in 2010, showing the well loved golf links at North Berwick, a seaside town on Scotland's east coast. Broad green fairways sweep down toward the water, and out on the horizon sits the distinctive lump of Bass Rock, a volcanic island famous for its enormous gannet colony. Kelsey works with loose, assured strokes and thick blobs of paint, hinting at details rather than fussing over them, which gives the whole thing a wonderfully airy, wind blown quality.

Big skies and changing light are things Kelsey clearly enjoys, and this painting proves the point. Heavy grey clouds fill the top half of the canvas, brooding but split by bright gaps, exactly the kind of unpredictable weather familiar to anyone who has strolled along a Scottish shore. Down below, the warm yellows and sunny greens of the grass play nicely against the cooler blues overhead. Rather than showing off, the picture simply enjoys a well known patch of Scotland, and that relaxed honesty is where its appeal lies.