I love boats, and the sea, and I draw pictures. So I found myself in the company of an enthusiastic group of artist-sailors, on board the Lady of Avenel, in Lerwick in Shetland, about to set off for a week’s sketching and sailing.
Shetland, for those who are a bit hazy about it, is a group of islands 100 miles or so off the North coast of Scotland. It is part of the UK. Our voyage took us to the most Northerly part of the UK, and I swam at the most northerly beach. But that was later. We set off from Lerwick, which is about half way up the biggest island of the Shetland group.
Our voyage took us up the east side of the islands, between the islands of Whalsay, Yell and Unst, and up to the most Northerly lighthouse, Muckle Flugga.
We had a full professional crew: Charles the skipper, Nessie the mate, Tom the cook, and Lyn the second mate.
Alice and I were leading the art workshops. We did colour mixing, painting sea and sky, brushmarks, colour layering, distance, and all sorts of exercises and experiments with techniques appropriate for the landscape.
It was a lot of fun, and everyone was very productive. The cook Tom was inspired to produce art too in his special medium. He produced amazing “pancake art” in addition to all the other meals and cakes. His cooking was an outstanding creative production.
If you also are inspired (by the sketching, the sailing …or the cake…) and would like to join such a voyage, have a look at the “Lady of Avenel” site: https://www.ladyofavenel.com/sketchandsail
I filled a sketchbook with drawings. Here’s a quick video:
On the very first day, our skipper steered us up to the cliffs of the island of Noss, so we could have a go at sketching the seabirds.
On some days there was fog. It’s possible to paint in the fog. It produces amazing atmospheric effects.
This is a particular Shetland phenomenon: when you look horizontally you see fog, but the light from above is still bright, and seems to make the fog glow. Here’s another fog painting.
The wind soon blew the fog away. Shetland is famous for its wind, and we were on a sailing boat.
There are a lot of ropes to control those sails. I couldn’t get them all in. It’s a challenge to do these sketches on a moving boat – and of course the crew are trimming those sails all the time and shifting them about, and liable to take one of them down altogether, or put another one up. So you have to be quick. Perhaps a little accuracy is lost.
Alice ran a great workshop on speed sketching, which was just as well.
At the northern point of our voyage is the lighthouse at Muckle Flugga. Charles the skipper accepted our request to sail round in small circles so that we could have a good chance to sketch it.
Even further north than Muckle Flugga is a little island: Out Stack.
Here is what that furthest north point of the UK looks like:
We landed at some magical remote beaches.
We made big pictures as well as sketches in sketchbooks.
And not only pictures. Sam was making baskets using discarded rope waste found at the beach. (https://www.instagram.com/baskets_by_sam/
Everyone was sketching.
A wonderful voyage!
With thanks to:
- The owners and crew of Lady of Avenel: https://www.ladyofavenel.com/
- The inspirational artist Alice Angus: https://aliceeangus.net/
- The amazing cook Tom Jobling: https://www.instagram.com/goblin_jobling/
…and all the participants in the 2026 Shetland Sketch and Sail. Thank you for your enthusiasm, your inventiveness, and your companionship on the journey.
Jane Sketching 