Meet the artist: Caroline Finlay
How it all started
Caroline graduated from Gray’s School of Art, where she specialised in enamel jewellery. Her work shows clear similarities between the two disciplines, especially in etching, use of colour, texture, and mark making. Caroline lives not far from Dunfermline, so it was a pretty natural fit for her to get involved in the local art scene. She found herself drawn to printmaking, and over time, she started looking for spaces and groups that could help her take her art further.
Getting involved
She joined Fife Dunfermline Printmakers in 2018 to revisit the printmaking techniques she’d been introduced to at art college. This turned out to be a great move—not just for the materials and equipment, but also because it meant working alongside other printmakers who share her passion. The studio isn’t far from where she lives, which makes things easy. Plus, Caroline’s a member of Printmakers of Scotland and the Society of Scottish Artists (SSA).
How she works
Caroline mostly works with etching, but she likes to mix things up with screenprints, monoprints, and drypoint. She uses all sorts of techniques—line etch, aquatint, soft ground, blind emboss—and brings colour in with chine-collé. Sometimes, she’ll even cut her plates with a jeweller’s saw to add more layers and texture. Her background in jewellery-making really comes through, and she loves how both crafts influence each other.
Conversation, etching
Most of her art is about playing with lines, shapes, textures and colours, showing the contrasts she sees in nature and reflecting her strong connection to the places she loves. Caroline’s also big on making her work as sustainable as she can, so she’s been experimenting more with collagraph and drypoint.
What inspires her
For Caroline, inspiration comes straight from the wild landscapes around her—especially the Scottish Hebrides and the remote North West. She’s moved by everything from the quality of the light and the dramatic skies to the colours, local plants, changing seasons, and even the feel of the land itself. She’s fascinated by how traces of people meet untamed wilderness, and she often looks at old ruins from above—things like harbour walls, crofts and fanks—which pop up in her prints. It’s all about feeling connected to the past, almost like she’s having a chat with her ancestors who once lived and worked there.
Where to see her work in 2026
If you want to check out what Caroline’s been up to, she’s got a gallery of her prints on her website at PRINTS | caroline-finlay-. In 2026, you’ll be able to catch her work at Pittenweem Arts Festival in August, Platform Studios Burntisland Open Studios also in August and throughout the year at Whitehouse Gallery, Kircudbright, The Gallery at Culross Pottery and Hawksby’s Gallery, Haworth, Yorkshire so keep an eye out for her work.