Inner Hebrides: Sketch and Sail – October 2024

I’m just back from an invigorating week on “Sketch and Sail”with fellow artist Alice Angus and a group of guests, all sketching and learning. We were hosted by the marvellous crew of the Lady of Avenel, who managed the ship and provided all our meals. Our voyage was around the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides, see maps below. We had amazing fun, laughed a lot, got wet, got dry again, got blown about, and enthusiastically sketched the experience. Everyone was very productive: lots of pictures were made, sketchbooks were filled, postcards were painted and sent.

Alice and I ran workshops on brushstrokes, rapid sketching, outline drawing, sketching kit, painting sea and sky and many other exercises. We all shared thoughts and ideas on tools and techniques, and everyone learned a lot, including me. We also did an experimental workshop on sketching in the dark.

Here is a map of where we went.

Maps showing our route [map (c) Open Street Map contributors]

On this post is a selection of my work from this voyage. For more about the ship, and future plans, see the Lady of Avenel website.

I travelled North on the Caledonian Sleeper, and did some sketching on the train.

Scottish highlands, sketched in the sleeping cabin on the train.

The guests came on board in Oban, and we set off in the evening for the week’s voyage.

Leaving Oban, 6th October 2024. There was fine rain, some of which landed on the picture.

Here is a selection of my sketches from the voyage.

At Sanna Bay there is a large sandy beach, and a settlement of a dozen or so cottages. Here is a sketch made as we approached Sanna Bay:

I walked into that scene, through the sand-dunes, in search of a post box. Against all expectations, I found one.

Here is the post box at Sanna Bay. Collections 9am Monday to Friday, and 7am on Saturday.

At Eigg there was a spectacular sunrise.

Sunrise over the Isle of Eigg, watercolour and collage.

With a strong wind in our sails we reached 8 knots on the journey south from Eigg to Iona.

The sails are full on the journey from Eigg to Iona.

On the island of Iona, I sketched a boat on the beach.

On the way back to Oban from Iona we landed at a vast sandy beach called Tràigh Gheal. There were showers of rain.

Here’s a photo, showing the Lady of Avenel at the anchorage at Tràigh Gheal. We reached the beach by rubber dinghy.

I used a JP Purcell sketchbook. Here’s a quick flick-through:

Sketchbook flick-through

All of this was powered by a strong North Westerly wind, and Tom’s cooking. Tom continued cooking even as the North Westerly gusted Force 7, and produced a hot meal for hungry sailors every evening, soup for lunch and cooked breakfasts. He made the sour dough bread every day in the ship’s galley. I found this hugely impressive.