Category: Scotland

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Photos: Banff Beach at Low Tide

It was six minutes off low tide when I got to Banff. I can be this precise because I checked the tide times before walking along the stretch of white sand that’s hidden at high tide.

First I had to resist some pebbles to get onto the sand.

The sand stretches almost all the way to the harbour, along with a robust wall that suggests the sea can get wild at times.

There’s a set of concrete stairs towards the other end of the sand, and a few precarious-looking vertical metal ladders up the wall further on.

A section of the harbour is being rebuilt, and the water pumped over the wall.

Parts of the harbour are the very old vertical block construction I first saw at Portsoy, which is a bit further north. It’s a pattern that so wants to be painted!

But then so do many other bits. This morning’s walk was just about looking, enjoying, absorbing. I did meet one of the two people I knew in Aberdeenshire before we moved here, walking his dog on the beach, so there was some chatting too.

Back along the road, sandy beach, over the pebbles, and home.

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Photos: In Edinburgh

A chance to visit a small exhibition of Joan Eardley‘s paintings and catch up with friends, how could I resist?

  • Having a sinking feeling…
  • “Everything is going to be alright”
  • By Paolozzi
  • From a bridge walking up to the Modern Art galleries
  • Especially for my friend Connie
  • The new hotel is known as “The Jobbie”.
  • Curves vs straight lines
  • Couldn’t decide if the artificial grass made things better or worse
  • Edinburgh-style Hobbit door
  • Just what you want to think about while you enjoy a cuppa
  • Not much of the joy left at Joys
  • Cat cafe
  • Where to go the next time you doubt yourself
  • Old fashioned social distancing
  • Happiness is…
  • Note to self: go to bookshop last, not first
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Trying to Get My Ducks in a Row

Sometimes real life feels like I’m walking through a metaphor. In this instance, about getting my ducks in a row.

Try as I might, there’s invariably a duck that’s not co-operating.

But occasionally it does happen…

And just as I think I have, the moment passes.

I saw these ducks (shelducks) at Skateraw, a little south of Dunbar in the Scottish Borders, last week, along with oystercatchers, a heron, and a skylark.

Here’s a quick look around Skateraw, with some of the birdsong, and wind (video link).

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Photos: At Skateraw

I’m in the Scottish Borders for a few days, and have been looking forward to seeing the rock slabs at Skateraw on a really low tide. My two painting friends weren’t entirely convinced by the joys of plein-air painting in a nippy wind off the North Sea, but I have been looking forward to this for weeks so was determined to get out my oil paints and tucked myself in behind a rock shelf.

This is as far as I got with my oil painting before I gave up because I was too cold, and walked over to the other side of the headland which was more sheltered from the wind. There’s an enticing layered bit with a tumble of rocks beneath.

And a bit further to the right the concrete rectangles of a nuclear power station. The brutal lines of this building have a beauty of a very different kind to me.

I have also done two ink sketches in my new Octopus sketchbook, which has fold-out pages, adding colour later in the warmth of indoors.

  • Pick a favourite pebble
  • (I did not make this stack)
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Photos: She Sees Seaside

With the announcement of lockdown in England happening again, on Sunday I quickly rearranged my plans to deliver a commission painting (“Here Comes the Sun“), arranging to meet them near the border. We had been due to meet on my way to my Higham Hall workshop; fingers crossed next March’s will be able to happen. I’m telling you this to explain why I’ve been on the lower part of Scotland’s east coast. Lots of paintable sites, white beaches for long walks, rocky shore and cliffs, plus pebbles and more pebbles. And two firsts for me: ducks drifting along the shore and swans eating in low-tide rock pools. These are some things that caught my eye:

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Photos: Colours of Autumn

A stroll down the road to the postbox this morning became a stroll in the colours of autumn, of greens giving way to yellows and browns, of moss clinging to fenceposts and dead branches, and reflections in the surface water on the road. Steps taken amidst small joys.

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A Miniature Surprise

In the library of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, there are drawers you can pull out to see some exquisite miniature portraits. Amongst the historical portraits there’s this modern one, which felt like a reward for being curious enough to open the drawers:

That’s if you ever get past the central mural (tip: go up the stairs for a less neck-twisting, closer look).