Elizabeth Blackadder is one of the most popular and respected contemporary British artists, producing floral, still life and landscape paintings in the tradition of Scottish painters such as William Gillies.

Blackadder was born in Falkirk, Scotland, and studied fine art at Edinburgh University and Edinburgh College of Art where she earned an M.A. (Honours) degree in 1954. Blackadder's first solo exhibition was held in 1959 at 57 Gallery in Edinburgh. Her work has been shown in solo exhibitions almost every year since, both nationally and internationally. She was the first woman elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy (1972) and the Royal Academy of Arts (1976). Blackadder taught at Edinburgh College of Art from 1962 until her retirement in 1986.

Her work is found in numerous collections including the Tate Gallery in London, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. A book about her art, entitled Elizabeth Blackadder, was published in 1999 (by Duncan Macmillan, Ashgate Publishing). Blackadder lives and works in Edinburgh.