My sister, Diana Hope, who has died of cancer aged 78, was a Scottish painter and teacher. She was an inspirational mentor to students and colleagues. As one said: “She saw something positive in everyone’s work – she was passionate about encouraging everyone at all levels.”
Her own work explored the beauty and mystery of domestic objects, environments and landscapes, external and imagined. They often featured her collection of eccentric and revered artefacts, invested with meaning as much as charm. A trip to India in 2005 resulted in a series of paintings around secret gardens and a major exhibition at the Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh, one of nine shows of her work over the years.
Di was the second daughter of Lindsay (nee Sharp) and George Mackie, who was a member of a sprawling Aberdeenshire farming family. She was brought up on the family farm in Angus, educated at the local primary school in Kirriemuir and went on to St Leonards, a strict and somewhat Edwardian boarding school in St Andrews. She disliked it intensely.
She went to Edinburgh College of Art in 1964, graduating in 1968. That summer she married John Hope, an architect. As a student John had bought a huge house in Stockbridge, in Edinburgh’s New Town, which became home to them and their four daughters, and a creative haven for friends, students, artists and writers from around the world. Delicious food, hilarious conversations and companionship characterised Di’s domestic life.
Family life was central to everything for Di. Her daughters, Clementine, Sunnifa, Jessica and Arabella, were brought up as she combined painting with teaching in primary and secondary schools. From 1988 until 2005 she taught at Edinburgh Academy, where her art room became a place of care, hard work and imagination. She was a gust of fresh air.
An ex-pupil, the artist Joshua Sofaer, said in a Guardian article on creative mentors that she wanted people to have access to, or think about, arts practice. “Ultimately, she gave me the belief that art can make a difference.” He also noted her high standards of commitment to the making of art.
She exhibited regularly at the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Society of Women Artists, and was a past president of Visual Arts Scotland. She was a visiting fellow at the innovative Leith School of Art, and tutored summer schools in Ullapool and Fife. She was a committed Amnesty International supporter.
An avid and eclectic reader, she was a regular chair at the Edinburgh book festival. Catherine Lockerbie, a former festival director, said: “It was important that every author, whether first-time newcomer or Nobel prize winner, felt equally respected, attended to and cared for, and Di did this with apparently effortless grace.”
That grace was a hallmark of her personality - accompanied by sharp wit, fun, and generosity.
She is survived by John, her daughters and seven grandchildren, James, Georgie, Ava, Lachlan, Evie, Cleo and Cosmo, and by our sister Jeannie and me.
