There’s a walk up to the Verda Stane. From up there you can see for miles, a vast undulating landscape. On the walk back down there’s a track. On the track I found an abandoned car, Escudo.
It has become a bit more decrepit. There is more rust. The radiator has fallen off. But it is still there, complete with number plate. This time I saw its name: “Escudo”, on the back door.
Rain was coming.
I managed to complete the sketch, glad to be there. And then I walked back to the road, and along the road, in the fine rain.
I sketched some of the characteristic houses on the West side of Shetland.
Houses at Greenland Burraland, Shetland West side. July 2025Sketching by the side of the road. The houses I am sketching are in the centre distance.
The houses above in Greenland Burraland are working farms and family homes.
Some of the croft houses are abandoned, and starting to fall down. Here is a ruined croft house near the standing stone at Vesquoy, Shetland West side.
House by the standing stone, July 2025
I sketched it from the hill above.
Sketching the house by the standing stone.
I used heavily granulating colours to show the walls.
This is Daniel Smith Hematite Genuine: a mineral watercolour which breaks into gritty particles when you put it on the paper with lots of water.
Then I walked down to have a look.
Looking up towards the hill where I was sketchingPatchwork barnThe variety of colours in the walls
On the same day, here I am looking up at a string of dwellings and barns on the brow of another hill.
Burrastow Lodge, July 2025
At the beginning of July I did this sketch (below) of some buildings in Walls.
Walls, across the Voe, July 2025
I was sitting on an uncomfortable stone ledge next to the Regatta Clubhouse. I was wondering, for the umpteenth time, whether it is worth the effort to carry a seat around with me.
Sketching in Walls
Despite that blue sky, it was cold, and very windy. Note the gloves. I had just done some grocery shopping at the Walls Shop and here I was, resting, before the long walk back up the hill, up several hills.
One of the reasons I sketch is to imprint moments in my mind. This sketch brings back to me the sensation of the clear moving air. My eyes were watering from the cold and wind, so the view became unfocussed. My eyes were watering from the bright light also. I had only recently arrived from London and my eyes were still acclimatising to the brightness. I put on sunglasses. It was an effort to see, and an effort to continue, and the picture came out somewhat…..approximate. But I keep it as a reminder of that moment of arrival, that determination.
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Skerries of Easter Paill, see Foula in the distanceRocks of the Seal LagoonPoint of the HusFootabroughBeach near the Seal Lagoon, from the high cairn.Where fulmars nestSandness
These pictures make it all look calm. It’s not calm. Shetland is a very windy place. While I am sketching, unseen forces turn the pages, move the paint palette around and tip my water over.
Sketching location: brushes, palette, water, …
It is also damp. Paint takes a while to dry. So I do several paintings at once: I put the first wash on, and while that dries, I start another picture.
Multiple drawings on the go. Dragon Beach: 3 sketchbooks and a postcardMultiple Sketchbooks: Littlure.
In the picture above you see my basic equipment. The paintbox is brass, which makes it heavy so it doesn’t blow away. The paintboxes I use are described here. The brushes are from Rosemary Brushes. The big one on the water pot is one of their Evergreen Short Flat brushes, size 12. It’s about an inch across, very handy for drawing quickly.
The sketchbooks are, from top to bottom:
JP Purcell 190gsm watercolour sketchbook A5
Hahnemühle Toned Watercolour book A6
JP Purcell cartridge paper sketchbook A5 – Stockwell Cartridge 130gsm
Here are the twelve colours in the paintbox. They are all Daniel Smith except the Ultramarine Blue, which is Schmincke Horadam.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
In my next post I will show sketches of Shetland croft houses.
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Glorious Shetland! I make postcards when I am there, to communicate what I see.
Here are small sketches of the landscapes on the West side of Shetland.
They are A5 size or smaller, on watercolour paper.
The smaller postcards are 6″x 4″. The birds are done using masking tape.
Here is work in progress on the “reflections” postcard.
The A5 postcard is fastened to the backing board with masking tape. The backing board is cardboard: the back of a pad of paper. On the left is a strip of watercolour paper to try out the colours and the brush strokes before I put them on the card.
Then when the drawing is finished I remove the masking tape, which leaves a neat edge.
Colours are Daniel Smith watercolours, on Arches Aquarelle 300gsm paper. All whites are the white of the paper.
NEXT YEAR, 2026 – “Sketch and Sail” is going to Shetland! I will be on board the sailing vessel “Lady of Avenel” with a group of fellow artists. Would you like to join us? We’ll be living on board for a week, sailing round the coast of Shetland. It will be a marvellous opportunity to see the magnificent cliffs from below, and the land from afar. No experience of sailing or sketching necessary. Sunday 31st of May to Saturday 6th June 2026. See this page for more information, or contact me.
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It was foggy, cold and wet outside. I made pigments.
I collected earth from round about. I know from previous attempts that it works best if you have fine earth. So I went up the road in the rain and scooped up the fine silt running off a track. I dried it indoors, and then crushed it to what I hoped was a fine powder.
As you see I had an excellent beach stone for this purpose.
Then to grind it finer I had a pestle and mortar. This is a beautiful home-made item.
Now I have earth pigment. To make watercolour I add Schmincke Watercolour Binder in the ration of 2 parts binder to 1 part pigment. Mix and put in a limpet shell. It’s ready to use immediately as a paste, or it dries and can be rewetted like normal pan watercolours. Here are the paints drying:
Pigment mixes in limpet shells, drying on eggs cups (to keep them level).
Above you see paints made of earth from different places. At the front is a paint made from yellow lichen. The lichen was bright yellow on the stone wall. I couldn’t find a way to separate out the bright yellow surface from the grey underneath, so the pigment is a grey/yellow mix.
Here is a selection of pigment experiments, to show how they look when painted:
Making the charcoal pigment was not so effective as I thought it would be. I found a small chunk of black charcoal from the grate and proceeded to crush it. This produced skittering fragments and airborne dust which settled everywhere. It did not produce a fine powder in my pestle and mortar. It produced hard, flaky, bits. As you see above, the paint it produced was granular and not very black.
Trying to grind the charcoalGround charcoal: bitsCharcoal paint
Here is a picture painted entirely with home-made pigments:
Coastal scene: painted with home-made pigments.
Here is a picture painted with home-made pigments and shop-bought watercolours:
“Promontory”. Painted with home-made watercolours with shop-bought watercolour (blue).
This is the binder I used:
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I don’t want to give the impression that Shetland is littered with abandoned cars. It’s not. But there are certain hidden areas I’ve discovered which are car graveyards, and I now go there deliberately. I find something vaguely poetic, evocative, about an abandoned car in a wide pristine landscape. It’s as though the landscape frames it: puts a picture frame around it and says look! This twisted metal is art.
“look! this twisted metal is art.”
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It was foggy and cold. I practised drawing clouds.
Islands in clouds
I went for a walk.
In the distance on the left is the island of Vaila. Here is Vaila in the fog.
Vaila in the fog
The speckled effect is the result of fine rain on watercolour.
When the sun shines in Shetland, it is magical. Part of the magic is that you know it is ephemeral. When the sun shines in Shetland, you have to get out there, right now. The clouds come quickly. But while the sun shines, enjoy it.
Footabrough, from the path to the Virda Stane, Shetland West sideWesterwickSketching at Meal Beach, West Burra
Minn beach
The sun shone on a visit to Hamnavoe. There is a nearby beach called “Minn Beach”. The water is clear and the sand is white.
The light was dazzling. The water was cold: just over 10 degrees C. Swimming, I could see the grains of sand on the sea bed, perfectly clearly. As I swam on the surface of the water, it was as if I was flying over the sand. Except for the cold.
Minn Beach is on West Burra. See map below.
Further south is St Ninians, an island at the end of a long sand tombolo (sand bridge).
photograph looking towards St Ninians. To get an idea of distances, click to enlarge and find the people at the far end of the sand tombolo.
From the island, sheltering from the wind in the lee of a wall, I sketched Fitful Head.
Fitful Head from St Ninians.Fitful Head from St Ninians, detail.
Even though the wind shifts the pages and disrupts my lines, even when the rain speckles my colours and blurs the clean edges I drew, even though the view changes by the minute and I find it impossible to catch the glory of the light and the magnificent shape of the land, even though my sketchbook is small and my skills are limited, despite all those things, I think it’s always worth having a go at drawing. The pictures I draw remind me of being there. Of the wind, the rain, the changing clouds, the glorious light and the vast, curving headland.
On St Ninians isle
Paint palette by Classic Paintboxes
Colours by Daniel Smith and Schmincke
Paintbrushes by Rosemary brushes and Seawhite
Watercolour sketchbook by JP Purcell (190gsm, A5, cold-pressed)
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Foula is a small island 20 miles off the west coast of mainland Shetland. Shetland is a group of islands about 200 miles north of Scotland.
300 miles from Aberdeen to ShetlandFoula is 20 miles off the West coast of ShetlandFoula: an island 3 miles by 2 miles. Arrow shows where I stayed.
I had seen Foula, from a distance, on previous visits to Shetland. It floats on the horizon, mysterious.
Foula, seen from Mainland Shetland
So I had to visit. What is it like there?
Here is a Foula scene:
Foula: sketched at Da Punds, between the Wind Turbines and the Airstrip.
I sketched this sitting on one of the stones, on a bit of flat and marshy land towards the south of the island. The road is in front of me, at the foot of those hills.
I had to sketch this in a bit of a rush, because, as I rapidly discovered, this particular area is the province of the Skua. There are Great Skua and Artic Skua: large birds, who do not like sketchers sitting on stones in their neighbourhood. They make their irritation known by aggressive fly-pasts. I could hear the wind in their feathers: it sounded like a chain saw. So I quickly took the hint and made for the road. Locals later told me I should “carry a stick above my head”, to distract the skua. That’s all very well, but finding a stick on Foula is about as likely as finding a branch of Pret. There are no trees atall on this part of the island, so no handy lengths of wood.
Other inhabitants of Foula were more welcoming, including the friendly people. The sheep are unafraid, and came towards me as I walked. The horses too seemed pleased to see me. I met the person who is one of the breeders of these horses on the island. “Pat them, talk to them, but don’t feed them!” she instructed me. Feeding them in the wrong order disrupts their established hierarchy and causes fights, she explained. “And,” she added, with emphasis, “make sure you close the gate!!”. There followed stories of visitors leaving gates open, and the subsequent escapades of the stallion, who visited mares he was not supposed to visit….
Foula is an industrious place, I discovered. As well as horse breeding, and sheep breeding, there is spinning to produce special Foula Wool, peat cutting, and a lot of horticulture. Also there is a school, a lighthouse, a ferry and an airstrip. The air strip needs a fire crew, as well as pilots. The school has a teacher. There are wind turbines and a very effective 5G mobile signal mast, with big dishes directed at mainland Shetland. This is a lot of activity for a place of only 35 inhabitants, especially as six of those inhabitants are primary school children.
The plane and the fire truck on the airstrip at Foula
Horticulture takes place in polytunnels and inside abandoned cars. As on mainland Shetland, vegetables and flowers will grow, so long as you can shelter them from the wind. I was given local raspberries from a polytunnel at the school.
It was rather foggy when I visited, so I opted for lowland routes and did not climb the formidable mountains shown in the picture above. Had I done so, I would have seen the famous 1000ft sea cliff. But I was wary. I did not want to stumble across the famous cliff in the fog.
Sketching in the fog
I was staying at “Ristie self-catering”, in the North of the island. Here is the scenery round there.
The edge of the world.
Foula on the horizon
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Here is a postcard which I made at the end of a long hot walk. It shows the houses in Walls, on Shetland West Side.
Houses by the water, Walls, Shetland. Postcard sketch A5, 8th July 2023
Here is Burrastow House and Burrastow Cottage, an evening view. I sketched this on top of a sky view I’d sketched earlier, but which had been spotted by rain, as you see.
Burrastow House and cottage, evening view. A5 postcard.
This is a restaurant in Lerwick: “C’est la vie”.
“C’est la vie” French restaurant, Lerwick, postcard sketch A5, August 3rd 2023
The flags are to welcome the “Tall Ships” which came to Lerwick earlier in the week. The restaurant was closed, I was waiting to see if it opened. Then the rain started. Then the restaurant opened and I finished the sketch inside. Then I walked to the Ferry Terminal.
On the ferry, I made quick sketch of people at breakfast.
On board MV Hrossey, approaching Aberdeen. Breakfasters in the lounge. August 4th 2023. Vintage paper company sketchbook, A5
Here is my final sketch of the expedition. On the train at Aberdeen, I looked out of the window.
Sketch: from the train, Aberdeen, Aug 4th 2023Photo: view from the window.
I have a sketchbook full of images. Here’s a quick flip through showing random glimpses of the visit: (19 second silent video)
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Jane Sketching 