Tag: Oban

Inner Hebrides: Sketch and Sail – October 2024

On board Lady of Avenel, 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.
Waiting for the bus from Fort William to Oban
Quick sketch in a café in Oban
Sketching on the journey to Oban

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.
Sketch map

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.
Here is the card I posted, which reached London in two days.

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.

Lady of Avenel at Tràigh Gheal

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.

Tom’s cooking on the ship: cake for hungry sailing sketchers: and sourdough!

In case you are curious, here are night sketches. The lights are done using wax crayon.

Here are some snapshots from the voyage.

The art gallery on Gometra
Approaching Staffa, Fingal’s Cave
The abbey on Iona
Lady of Avenel off Sanna Bay
Workshops done and crossed off the list!

We’ll be running Sketch and Sail twice in 2025.

  • Trip 1: 25th of May to the 31st of May 2025, and
  • Trip 2: 31st August to the 6th of September 2025.

If you are interested or would like more information, please contact me or register your interest via the Lady of Avenel Website.

Postcards from Oban, Western Scotland

A5 Amatruda watercolour paper

Here’s a view from the ship”Lady of Avenel”. She which was at the Dunstaffnage Marina, Oban, at the time. This is a quick sketch done on thin “Amatruda” watercolour paper, sent as a postcard. It is the view looking north, towards Fort William. See the rain clouds coming!

Oban is on the West Coast of Scotlan
Lady of Avenel was at Dunstaffnage Marina

Here’s a quick sketch of the marina.

Quick sketch on a 6″ x 4″ postcard

Later I visited the lovely island of Kerrera.

A5 Amatruda watercolour paper.

These landscapes are so inspiring! I’ll be leading a “Sketch and Sail” adventure on the Lady of Avenel in October 2024, together with Alice Angus. We’ll start and finish in Oban. Would you like to join us? Have a look at this page and get in touch!

Lady of Avenel delivery passage, October 2022, Caledonian Canal

The Lady of Avenel is an 102ft square rigged brigantine. She was on the East coast of Scotland, and needed to be on the West Coast. So a group of us assembled to take her through the Caledonian Canal, from the North Sea to the Atlantic. This whole journey was about 190km or 120miles.

Route of The Lady of Avenel: Inverness to Oban, via Tobermory. 1st Oct to 8th Oct 2022

I joined the boat at Inverness. Travel to Scotland was disrupted by rail strikes. To be sure of arriving on time I arrived a day early. This gave me a chance to look around Inverness. There’s a huge river, the River Ness, and a castle and an Art Gallery. I stayed in a lovely hotel, Fraser House, on the river: recommended.

In the Art Gallery, Bronze Sculpture by Gerald Laing 1978 “An American Girl” – his wife Galina.
View from my room in Fraser House
Inverness Castle From the other side of the river.
Sketching inverness Castle
Sketching in Inverness

The Lady of Avenel was on the Canal at Seaport. The first Locks were Muirtown Locks, taking us uphill from the North Sea.

Lady of Avenel
Inside Muirtown Locks
Seaport, and Muirtown Locks

Here is the view as we entered Loch Ness:

Entering Loch Ness

I was making these sketches very quickly. The boat kept moving, the light kept changing, and then it rained.

The sketchbook I was using was a Seawhite A5 Travel journal.

The patterns on some of the drawings were made before the trip. They are relief prints, using the corrugated paper from a coffee cup, corrugated cardboard, bubblewrap, and the net from some oranges. Sometimes these prints really enhanced the drawing, sometimes not. Here’s one where it worked:

Duart castle, printed background from a takeaway coffee cup

I also made sketches on small pieces of watercolour paper, which I sent as postcards.

Sketching Inverness Castle
Postcards from the voyage

It’s a challenge to draw the rigging.

Rigging sketches

We had some shore leave.

From the Community Arts Centre, An Tobar, in Tobermory
Tobermory, from the Lady of Avenel
Urquhart Castle
Sketching at Urquhart Castle
Sketching on shore leave

The scenery of the Highlands, seen from the boat, was stunning. I tried to capture the light. All these sketches were made from the boat, which was moving, even when anchored.

Loch Linnhe, near Fort WIlliam. Ben Nevis in cloud on the left.
Urquart Bay, Loch Ness, 9am
Duart Bay, returning to Oban
Pine trees on a promontery, Duart Bay, Isle of Mull
Port An Eathair, Duart Bay, Isle of Mull
Loch Linnhe, 6pm
Views of the Highlands

It was an adventure.

Me sketching on board. Picture Credit: Andy
Custom stamp by “stampit.co.uk”

I’ve sketched before on the Lady of Avenel, in the Outer Hebrides in 2016, and again in 2017, in Oban on a refit, and in Heybridge. I also made a series of postcards for the boat: