Tag: Shetland

Sketches in Fair Isle 2023

Fair Isle is a small island some 28 miles south of Shetland, between Orkney and Shetland. It is 3 miles long and 1 mile wide.

Map (c) Open Street Map contributors
Fair Isle: 3 miles long and 1 mile wide
Map (c) Open Street Map contributors

I travelled there by the boat “Good Shepherd IV”.

The ferry leaves from the pier at Grutness which is close to Sumburgh airport at the southern tip of Shetland mainland.

I wait at Grutness, in the fog
The Good Shepherd arrives at the Grutness Pier
The Good Shepherd unloads at the pier.
Fair Isle emerges from the clouds

Fair Isle has two lighthouses: the North Lighthouse and the South Lighthouse. I sketched the South Lighthouse:

The postmaster at the Fair Isle Post Office kindly put their special postmark on my sketch for me.

Both lighthouses were designed by David A Stevenson and built in 1892. Both are still functional, now automated. The South Lighthouse light is “Fl (4) W 30 seconds” : a group of 4 flashes of white light every 30 seconds. The North Lighthouse flashes white twice every 30 seconds.

Here is a view of the cliffs called Mathers Head. It’s the view from the same spot where sketched the South Lighthouse, but looking out towards the west.

I was staying at “The Auld Haa” which is just a few hundred yards from the lighthouse. When I returned from drawing this scene, Tommy, who runs the guest house, called out, “Come and choose a fish!”. There was me and two other women staying at the guest house at that point. Bemused, we all made our way round the side of the house to find a cheerful fisherman standing by his car trailer on the small road. The trailer was laden with fish. The fish were in buckets. There were cod about two feet long, and mackerel, and a whole bucket of lobsters. The fisherman was Stephen, who I recognised as one of the ferry crew.

With suggestions and promptings from his three guests, Tommy made his selections. I was keen on the mackerel. Others opted for white fish. Tommy carried the bucket back to the house.

After this excitement I was resting on the bench outside the house when Tommy called out to me, “Would you like to do a painting of the mackerel?”.

Yes, I would like to do a painting of the mackerel, even though I was tired, even though it was evening, even though I’d already done a long walk, a dip in a rockpool, and several paintings of headlands. How often do you get invited to paint a mackerel? Seize the moment. Tommy brought out the mackerel on a plate, and I settled down to drew, while the hens scraped around on the grass, and small birds scuttled in the hedge.

On another day I sketched the huge headland called “Sheep Rock”.

Postcard drawing of the Sheep Rock.
Drawing in the sketchbook.
Sketching location. This wasn’t such a great place to sketch: my paintbrush rolled down in amongst those planks and I retrieved it only with difficulty.
Blue arrow shows the sightline of the sketch. Circle shows where I was standing. I sketched a postcard and also did same view in my sketchbook: working on two drawings at once.

Here is the spectacular rock arch on South Beach, which is near the Auld Haa.

I was only on Fair Isle for three days. It’s an extraordinary place. Here was my final view of the island as I left on the tiny plane. The small square is the North Lighthouse, high up on its cliff.

View from the window of the plane: North Lighthouse.

Shetland collage postcard

Here is a collage postcard I made, inspired by the work of Martin Hicklin.

As you see, it shows a seabird, probably a fulmar, soaring over the coast, with the green hills beyond, and a characteristic Shetland fence. The fine blue sky is made from rope waste found on the beach.

I managed to arrange for the seabird to move, sliding along a fine thread, and hover above the background.

This went through the international post. I don’t yet know if it arrived…..

Here are some other collage postcards I have made over the years. It’s good fun!

Insects Collage

I made a postcard for friends in Basel. It shows the insect life in Crete. Here are some details, and the work under construction.     The idea was that the flies…

The Guardian of the Vines

Another collage postcard. I posted this one in London 18th May. It looks a bit crinkled because the cardboard was damp with PVA glue, and then dried. The white shape on the…

Connection to friends in another city

Here is a postcard collage I sent to my friends in another city. It is inspired by the website: sendmeapostcart.com, and shows the connections we make, the lines which bind us, the…

The Cuttlefish

I made a collage postcard inspired by “the Blue Planet” series on BBC2. This is the cuttlefish. The sea bed is made of breakfast cereal, and the seaweed is strands of unraveled…

The journey to the chapel of St Antonis

Here is a collage made for friends in Switzerland. I posted it at the Post Office in Kalami on 8th May. The official there did not seem to be concentrating very hard.…

Collage/postcard: a corner of the flat

Here is a postcard from indoors: It shows a corner of the flat. You see the sun outside, and birds, and the city. You see parks, rivers and the great outdoors. But…

Collage Postcards: archive

Here are some of the collage postcards I have made. The constraints I set myself are: the postcard must go in the post by itself: no envelope it is made of found…

Sketching in Shetland 2023 – Seal lagoon and swan loch

While I was drawing this picture, I was startled by a loud sneeze. Since I was totally alone on the hillside, it was uncanny. Then I realised that the sneeze came from across the water, from the seal colony at the base of the dark rocks.

Across the seal lagoon, Littlure

Soon several seals were in the water, swimming over to see what I was doing. They stayed a little offshore, bobbing about. Seals look into your eyes, as dogs do, and seem to want to communicate. They said “who are you?” and “come and play!”. They seemed disappointed when I walked off, without having accepted their invitation to swim with them in their chilly waters.

There are also seals on the beach where a stream from the Loch of Quinnigeo arrives at the sea. Nettles grow, sheltered from the wind by the deep ravine, and watered by the freshwater stream. I’ve swum there, and sketched the cliffs.

Nettle beach cliffs, July 2023

The loch of Quinnigeo is surrounded by smooth hills.

I’ve seen swans on the loch (off the picture to the right). They are not the ordinary urban type of swans I’ve seen in parks, which are called mute swans. Mute swans have pink beaks and these ones had yellow beaks. They drifted calmly in the middle of the loch with their cygnet, honking in a conversational kind of a way. Whooper swans or Bewicks? I couldn’t distinguish at that distance.

Here is another attempt to show the solid landscape round the loch and the way the hill casts darkness onto the still water.

Loch of Quinnigeo, Littlure, near Walls, Shetland

Sketching in Shetland 2023

Here is my Shetland sketchbook:

A5 sketchbook from the Vintage Paper Company

This sketchbook was brilliant because it could fold back onto itself, and I could hold it with one hand.

I often worked on two sketches at once. I worked on a drawing on a sheet, alongside the drawing in the sketchbook. One drawing dried while I worked on the other one. Work does not dry quickly in Shetland: there’s a dampness in the air.

Working on two drawings at once. Top left: a drawing on a single sheet of A5, fastened to a card. Bottom left: Sketchbook. Bottom right: Palette by David Cooper, Classic Paintboxes.

Here are drawings in Aberdeen:

From Aberdeen I take the overnight ferry to Lerwick in Shetland Mainland. Shetland is 100 miles off the north coast of Scotland.

The ferry from Aberdeen takes about 12 hours and travels 200 miles.

I stay on the West side of Shetland. There are smooth hills, few trees and usually a view of water.

Here is a magical place: high up on cliffs near the sea at Littlure is the Barni Loch. My drawing is inspired by the work of Peter Davis an artist based in the Shetland Islands.

Barni Loch, Littlure, 25th July 2023, A5 in sketchbook.

A bit further on is Footabrough.

Footabrough, in the style of Peter Davis. A5 on watercolour paper.

During this walk, the island of Foula floats on the horizon, sometimes visible, sometimes not.

Foula is 20 miles away from the Shetland Mainland.

I was staying at Burrastow. There is a table by the beach.

Burrastow House, Walls Shetland, view from the beach

Here is the view from the Beach Table

I’ve drawn Burrastow House on previous visits.

On this visit I drew landscapes. I’ll make a new post to show you those, and also to show pictures from my visit to Fair Isle.

Shetland 2022 – Birds

The oystercatchers dig up worms from the grass. I watched them from the window.

Oystercatchers at Burrastow, parent and chick, July 2022

When I walk along the roads, I see curlew.

Curlew 30 June 2022

Shetland 2022 – Burrastow

Here is a drawing I made after breakfast:

After Breakfast, Burrastow, 9th July 2022

I drew some pictures indoors:

Burrastow – interiors, July 2022

A glass of wine:

A glass of wine – 12 July 2022

An evening on the terrace….

An evening on the terrace, Burrastow, July 2022

Shetland landscapes 2022

Sketching on the beach out of the wind, I am fascinated by the regular angles in which the rock cleaves.

Beach on the West Side, 27th June 2022, 1pm

The angle of the distant cliffs echoes the slope of the nearby rocks.

The forms of cliffs and rocks

Sketching in the hills, islands and hills are of the same form.

From the hill above Burrastow
The Footabrough Valley
Sketching on the way to the Virda Stane
Sketching the Footabrough Valley, 5th July 2022 (note the gloves!)

Here’s a sketch in my small sketchbook. The green overlaid pattern is a print, made in advance.

Hills near Footabrough, 3 July 2022

Burrastow and the bay

Here’s a view of Burrastow House, Walls, Shetland, as you enter the drive.

Burrastow and the bay, Picture 1, July 7th 2021

There was a lively wind. Those clouds looked like that, and kept changing. The small island on the right is the Holm of Burrastow. The hills behind it are the island of Vaila. Here is work in progress.

Then I drew another view, from higher up, on a mound above the road.

Burrastow and the bay, Picture 2, July 8th 2021 [SOLD]

Here is work in progress and a view of my sketching location for picture 2: a chair perched on a hill.

  • Pen-and-ink stage
  • Sketching location
  • Sketching location
  • Preliminary sketch
  • Checking the perspective
Burrastow and the bay, Picture 2, work in progress

Both pictures on a block of Saunders Waterford 300gsm watercolour paper, “hot pressed”, 12 inches by 9inches. The yellow edging you see on the work-in-progress is masking tape. I put it round the edges for several reasons:

  • It enables me to hold the picture safely without leaving thumb-marks
  • I can write annotation on it, specifically “eye-line” and the heights of things.
  • When the picture is complete, I peel it off and it leaves a nice white border, which makes the picture easier to frame.

To see the comparison between the pen-and-ink and the colour, use the slider in the image below:

Compare the “before” and “after” on Picture 1

Lerwick Lodberries

Here is a view of houses in Lerwick known as “lodberries”. They are built into the sea. Lerwick is one of the few capital cities in the world that has a beach. The other I know is Sydney Australia. The beach in Lerwick is somewhat smaller than Bondi beach, and is over the wall to the right of my picture.

I drew this picture sitting on a bench next to the aptly named “Water Lane”. I was just thinking how peaceful it was, how few people, and how unlike London, when a car came and parked directly in my line of sight, blocking my view of the part I had yet to draw. A small family emerged out of the car. Children ran around with buckets and spades, a woman corralled them down the steps and onto the beach. A man got out of the driver’s seat and saw me. He smiled. It was a sunny day. I smiled a mixed smile. Suddenly he saw that I was drawing. “Oh!” he said, “Shall I move the car?” I said yes, that would be very kind. Without any hesitation he jumped back into the driver’s seat, fired up the engine and parked in a space up the road. He waved to me as he walked to join his family down on the beach. I waved back.

Commercial Street, Lerwick. Lodberries. July 24th 2021, in Sketchbook P1 double spread: 14″ x 10″ approx. 1½ hours on location

Here is work in progress:

Here are some maps to show the location. I have also included maps showing where Shetland is, since people have asked. It is about 100 miles off the north coast of Scotland. From Aberdeen it is some 250 miles (400km) and takes 13 hours by ferry. Shetland is at a more Northerly latitude than Oslo and Stavanger, nearer Bergen than Aberdeen and nearer Copenhagen (590 miles) than London (600 miles).

Here is a view of the North Sea approaching Aberdeen. See the wind turbines.

Abandoned Car, Shetland

Abandoned cars are a feature of the landscape in Shetland. This one is in the initial stages of decay.

Abandoned car, off the Vesquoy road, Walls, Shetland. 23rd July 2021, 5:30pm

Here is another abandoned car:

Shetland: vehicles in space

There’s a lot of empty space in Shetland. As I walked around, sometimes I encountered abandoned vehicles. Here is one. This was the last of a sequence of such car wrecks on a track.…

Read more