Inspiration for many of McLellan's paintings came from nature. She painted pictures of plants but was not a botanical artist depicting their precise structure with painstaking attention to detail; instead, in such works as Pink Sea Fan, she attempts to convey their essential character. The result is a series of brilliant images of seductive beauty. At first her works seem to be painted against a flat background of single colour, but on closer inspection one finds that the background is made up of layers of delicate brushstrokes of blues, reds, greens and other colours. 

Abigail McLellan, 1969-2009

McLellan trained at Glasgow School of Art from 1987 to 1991, and exhibited in many group and solo shows after graduating. Her paintings attracted much attention, and she won various awards, including travelling scholarships to Paris and America.
McLellan's art belongs to a long line of Scottish painting that continues through contemporary artists including Craigie Aitchison and looks back to the strong decorative traditions prominent in Glasgow at the beginning of the twentieth century and championed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Her work was also heavily influenced by Japanese art and culture; in 2000 she visited Japan. McLellan passed away in 2009, aged 40.