Tributes have been paid to the “esteemed” artist Dame Elizabeth Blackadder who has died aged 89.

The Scottish Gallery announced on Instagram that she died peacefully on Monday.

Dame Elizabeth was well known for her watercolours featuring flowers, cats and Oriental objects.

She was the first woman to be elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy.

Guy Peploe, a director at the Scottish Gallery, said: “Elizabeth was without question one of our greatest artists, as well known in London as Scotland.

“She was very important to the gallery with an exhibition history of over 60 years, and will be hugely missed by all who knew her.”

The artist was born in Falkirk in 1931 and studied at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) from 1949 until 1954, later going on to teach there.

Edinburgh College of Art tweeted: “We were saddened to learn of the death of esteemed artist Dame Elizabeth Blackadder.

“She studied Fine Art at ECA and @EdinburghUni from 1949 to 1954, and lectured here for over two decades. She will be much missed.”

Dame Elizabeth secured travelling scholarships to southern Europe and Italy and married fellow artist John Houston in 1956.

She taught at Edinburgh College of Art from 1962 until her retirement in 1986.

Her work can be seen at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, the Tate Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and has featured on a series of Royal Mail stamps.

She was appointed Her Majesty’s Painter and Limner in Scotland in 2001.

The Royal Academy tweeted: “We are saddened to hear of the death of Dame Elizabeth Blackadder RA.

“She was the first woman to be both an elected member of the Royal Academy and the Royal Scottish Academy.

“Our thoughts are with her family and friends.”

The Royal Scottish Academy tweeted that it is “deeply saddened” by the news of Dame Elizabeth’s death.