Being in Orkney in early winter storms can feel like being at sea; islanders leaning into the wind and weather as if the ground was a pitching deck.

Or, briefly, the glassy calm of winter highs all pink mist and stars, merry dancers and orcas’ breath.

Ship of Fools Gallery Christmas Show in Kirkwall, Orkney.

Winter Show, City Contemporary Art gallery in Perth.

Packing materials for a road/ferry trip is always full of dilemmas. Limit options before leaving and regret it later or carry a lot of choice and only use a fraction of what you carry. I always go for the latter.

Surprise choice of paper when I opened the box, I thought I had brought a concertina sketchbook, couldn’t understand the decision to take a landscape sketchbook until I took the staples out – ah yes!

The weather at Calgary Bay dictated a quick dash between fierce showers and graphite, charcoal and ink was all I used. Later in brilliant sunshine overlooking Loch na Keal I reduced this to ink and candle wax and one large flat brush.

Until recently I have rarely included man made elements in my paintings.
In Orkney there are poignant reminders of abandoned crofts, gable ends and dry stane dykes. In Sutherland, where my ancestors came from – shielings and blackhouse walls, field boundaries, mounds and cairns – moving evidence of hundreds of generations of labour in the Straths they were cleared from.

In Srathnaver, Sutherland, descendants of the birch trees that grew around the homes twist and regrow from amongst ancient root systems, the paths around the toonships and stepping stones across the burns remain as they were.

It is not hard to imagine the lives that might have been lived there and in abandoned Orkney crofts.

Each midsummer we have a Festival in Orkney named for St Magnus full of music and song, and lit by the summer solstice.

This year the gallery at The Captain’s House, newly named the ‘Ship of Fools Gallery’, is hosting a group show during the festival which will include some new work – smaller panels about the standing stones at Brodgar and larger seascapes on canvas.

The small panels developed out of work made during a trip to Cornwall where the quoits broke the horizon in a similar way to the stones do here in Orkney. A different palette, looking inland and up, evidence of an ancient man made environment, are themes quite in opposition to looking out to sea or along the coast.

The edge of the land, eroded cliffs creating obstacles and sheltered channels are the subject of three new large seascapes on canvas.

Transitions from one season into the next in Orkney are all about light. The drama of snow storms across dark skies, then the return of the greens and blues, long days and short nights. Farewell to the aurora and welcome to long evenings of low sunlight and the gentle grimleens.

This Spring I have paintings in City Contemporary Gallery in Perth and Eion Stewart Fine Art in Stonehaven.

This year I have two paintings hanging in their community get together in the annual Christmas show at ‘The Pier’.

Apparently there are 175 artists included – much accomplished and stunning, some powerful and thought provoking, some just sublime.

Very much worth a look around, and a look out of the windows. The views are part of the permanent collection.

Then on the way home you can see what the ancestors did with the place.

This November I am delighted to be having in a pop-up show on the 24th to 26th at

The Captain’s House in Kirkwall.

The opportunity to have paintings showing in their ‘home town’, in such a historic and well-known building, feels particularly special.

Hosted by the artist and captain Maiwenn Beadle, and architect Leslie Burgher, the collection will include some previously unseen work.

Please come in for a chat and a look around!

I’ll be there each day from 10am to 4pm.

This September I finally got to Newlyn School of Art for Anita Reynolds’ excellent short Abstract Landscape course. It was refreshing to be at a coastline with such different geology, to leave old mark making habits at home and spend a bit of time in a learner mindset being overwhelmed by a new landscape before the big shapes revealed themselves.

I intend to continue with some of the approaches to making images and the processes Anita encouraged us to try, and to build a new body of work over the next few months in which I might use a few core images to explore different processes and colour palettes. A brilliant experience, well worth the journey!

It has been a while since I painted with the west coast in mind, so I was pleased to be able to show the two big sky paintings of Arisaig and Achnahaird so perfectly framed by Camserney framing, at City Contemporary Art gallery in Perth, alongside the large cradled panels ‘ Green Isle of the Great Deep’ and ‘Seal Skerries’.

This year’s course taught by Eleanor K White at the brilliant Bridge House Art, was all about size and scale, near and far and looking at the detail. A really good change of focus for me – both the horizon and the foreground packed with differences to home. In the distance the imposing, muscular mountains and in the foreground delicate flowers suspended in the kind of air that rarely exists in Orkney. Now and then I explore ways of drawing the botanical elements into the landscape, so this was a chance to consider ways of achieving that again and adding to the repertoire of ideas to try back in the studio.

Of course a week at Bridge House Art is also a social event so meeting up with old and new students, talking about our art journeys and responses to the course tasks was, as ever, hugely valuable and rewarding.