Category: Photography

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Plein-air Painting in Sandend

It’s nearly seven years to the day since I was last in Sandend (Sanine), during my east coast holiday in 2019. I don’t know why I haven’t been since I moved off Skye, but having seen it again I know I need to go again soon. Just on a day it’s not so hot; 26°C is sweltering to me after being in the north of Scotland for so long.

I parked and walked along to the harbour. So many paintable possibilities.

Could certainly do a series on the cottages, and probably one based on laundry.

Multiple benches to sit on at the harbour.

The viewpoint of the end of the harbour wall with the line of rock to the left appealed.

I’d brought one of Seawhite’s Octopus sketchbooks, which has eight foldout pages. I had been looking at some others I have that are dedicated to individual locations and had thought I should get back into this as it’s fun paging through them. Art materials were a dip fude pen and Payne’s grey acrylic ink, plus my watercolour set.

I suspect this bench may become a new favourite spot.

A few details that caught my eye:

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Drawing at Tarlair Outdoor Pool

The old outdoor pool at Macduff, Tarlair, is a location full of paintable possibilities. The building has been renovated and hopefully the plans for the pool will happen too. It’s been a while since I have been here, so I wandered around a bit looking at lines and shapes, before sitting down to draw.

So what did I decide to draw? Well, none of the pool but rather the spectacular stone arch nearby. Called Needle’s Eye according to the map.

Water-soluble ink on half a sheet of A2 watercolour paper.
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A Vertical Landscape Drawing

Vertical landscape drawing at the old outdoor pool at Portsoy.

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to do it, but I turned my sheet of paper 90 degrees and created a tall drawing rather than wide. Art habits can be hard to break. I was sitting overlooking the old outdoor pool at Portsoy at high tide, looking west*, with waves battering in.

High tide in winter at the old outdoor pool at Portsoy.
If you look closely you’ll see the walls of the old outdoor pool. There’s a group working towards restoring the pool (support POP).
Holding my drawing still enough to take a photo when its open to its full length risks the wind grabbing it and sending it to the sea gods.
Vertical landscape drawing at the old outdoor pool at Portsoy.
Water-soluble blue-black ink in a fude-nib fountain pen, plus a waterbrush, on 350gsm watercolour paper.

The colours of the sea made me wish I’d brought paint. Instead I had to be satisfied with thinking what combination I would use as my starting point mix. I think phthalo turquoise and cadmium orange, with lots of titanium white. And then lemon yellow for the grass.

There be dragons over the horizon breathing fire, turning the sea to steam, and hiding the blue sky.

(*My brain is slow to remember that the sea is to the north of Portsoy and the coastline here runs east-west not north-south as most of the east coast of Scotland does. Given how after all these years living in the northern hemisphere it still reads the sun as north not south, it may never be instinctual orientation.)

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Photos: Portsoy in the Snow (and the breach of the old harbour)

Snow hides the colours of the land and snow-bearing clouds transform the colours of the sea.

Not sitting on my favourite bench today!
How’s this for a photo showing the difference in sea colour when the there’s a snow shower or clear sky?

On Friday dawn revealed the heartbreaking news that the storm had breached the wall of the old harbour. It’s surreal seeing the wall stones strewn like pebbles.

According to a post on a local Facebook group the last time this happened was in 1968.

I’ve wondered about the different sections of stones, the unknown stories of building, repair, change behind them. When the harbour gets repaired, I’ll know the story of this bit, the Hogmanay storm of January 2026.
Update: Aberdeenshire Council/Harbours have started work to protect the harbour. The statement on Facebook includes the info that the vertical blocks are vertical “Telford” pattern.

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Photos: High Tide at the Old Harbour, Portsoy

Extra high tide at Portsoy old harbour. Usually you can see the stones with measurements carved into it on this wall.

One of the walls at the old harbour in Portsoy has stones with measurements carved in them. They were beneath the water this high tide.

Extra high tide at Portsoy old harbour. Usually you can see the stones with measurements carved into it on this wall.

The nearest Met Office beach forecast had said four metres for Sandend.

Extra high tide at Portsoy old harbour. The forecast was 4m.

No prizes for guessing what the rainfall forecast was.

Small fishing boat in a vast sea, heading towards Portsoy harbour. The dolphin statue and ruin wall with the window are visible on the right
The dolphin statue and ruin wall with the window at Portsoy, seen from a little way up the coast
Sign reads: this is not here. Hand painted on an old slate roof tile
Broken sash window, with big and small traffic cones on pavement
Fear not, this window has now been fixed.
A few houses in Portsoy with a rusted corrugated iron one tucked in-between. Top right is the glass triangular top of a modern house.
Ginger cat sitting looking out of an open house window
Spot the cat.
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My Dad’s Photos of Hiroshima

One of my Dad’s photo albums contained glimpses into the time of his life he rarely talked about to me, the time before he met my Ma. Turning the pages I knew I would get to the three pages that were so compulsive and frightening: his photos of Hiroshima.

The little I know is that it was about six months after the atomic bomb was dropped and that he was an engineer seconded onto a hospital ship repatriating prisoners of war between India and Japan. He had been due to be drafted as a driver in the British army in Germany, but knew a girl in the P&O office who slipped his application to the top of the pile and joined the merchant navy instead. He told me he went to Hiroshima because he wanted to see it, but no more.

Asking my Ma about the photos this week, she told me the small khaki linen bag for the billy can, such a part of the hiking and camping of my childhood, had been one of the comfort bags given to POWs. I had always thought she’d sewn it.

A few years ago I shared these photos with a friend in the USA when we were talking about Hiroshima. What L said next was so unexpected: “My mother told me the story of how she and her father believed her younger brother was in Hiroshima during the bombing, and how they set out by foot to find him. I feel as if your photos were taken straight out of her journey because much of what she described is depicted in your father’s images.“

We grew up on different continents, far away from Japan, yet there’s this unlikely connection.

Today it is 80 years since the American government decided to drop an atomic bomb on a city, and then again three days later. Fast forward to all the unthinkable things that have happened in the USA since the last president was voted in. Time to join CND?

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The White Wall at Portsoy (Part 2)

Walking down to sea level and around to the harbour the white sea wall keeps tantalising me with possibilities for paintings (see White Wall Part 1).

It’s been painted recently so it’s a glowing white line.

I miss those colourful rust stains though. I’ll have to watch and see how long they take to reappear.

Yesterday I had the patience to sit and sketch a couple of ideas.

A small achievement that I wish I could tell the in-house art critic about. He’d have listened as I tried to explain the what and why that aren’t yet clear to me, making encouraging noises. I told the studio cats instead; they made noises encouraging me to give them treats.

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Photos: At Findochty Harbour (#2)

Under a clear blue sky at Findochty harbour, I found myself intrigued by a single creel with orange rope. How it would add a pop of colour to a painting composition that is full of concrete grey and black rope. Also, whether to include the bench or not, part or all of it?

Other things that caught my eye:

A wider angle photo for context; the orange-rope creel is behind me:

You’re not imagining it, there are pleinair painters in this photo.
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Painting-in-Progress: The White Wall at Portsoy

Since moving to Portsoy last month, I’ve been enjoying a circular walk that takes me past many paintable possibilities, including ropes and creels, the new and old harbours, the rocky shores. At different times of day, and thus the light varies. (Not quite as much as the average Scottish spring though, as the weather systems are stuck on “dry and sunny”.)

I’ve begun to be obsessed by the curve of white-topped wall and railing between the old and new harbours.

There’s a fair bit going on in the background, that patchwork of buildings and chimneys, which would test my patience to paint in detail. But it not being the element that’s of interest I decided stop worrying about it and simply have a go at the wall.

I started with pencil, then Payne’s grey acrylic ink and acrylic paint, on a 30x30cm wood panel. Colours were the usual suspects: Prussian blue, oranges, white. The photo collage below shows the painting’s development.

(The lighter colours in the last photo are because it was taken the next day in a different spot, not because I suddenly lightened the tones of the whole painting.)
“The White Wall, Portsoy”, 30x30cm (12×12″), acrylic on wood panel.

I initially thought I would continue working on the painting after leaving it overnight, but have decided to rather do another. There are parts I really like (especially the rust stain on the white wall), and parts I would do differently (such as straighten the railing uprights so it doesn’t look like it’s been hit by one big wave too many). Comments from people I shared the painting with made me realise the fudged buildings in the background were an issue only for me. I had several people say they really liked the colours, whereas I’d been wondering if it was too muted (there’s no bright pop of orange or magenta). I’ll try out those thoughts and doubts in another painting at some point.

Since doing this painting, I have spent time pondering the wall from different viewpoints. I might need to acquire a couple of traffic cones before I try to pleinair paint some of these though.