Birnam Bridge over the River Tay. Watercolour and Ink on a watercolour Moleskine. This stone bridge was built by Thomas Telford in 1809. It links the villages of Dunkeld and Birnam. Birnam was made famous by Shakespeare – Macbeth, witches et all.

Stirling University – Where children go to bankrupt their parents. Ink and watercolour wash on a watercolour Moleskine.
This is one on the “newer universities” in Scotland. It was established in 1967 and offers a huge range of subjects but is probably best known for its contribution to health and sports education.

Pilgrims about to enter paradise at journey’s end – Watercolour wash and ink on a watercolour Moleskine.

This was inspired both by the scene at the end of Walt Disney’s “Fantasia”, which I watched recently, and by a poem by Addison which was based on the 23rd psalm

The Lord My Pasture Shall Prepare
………………..
Though in a bare and rugged way,
Through devious lonely wilds, I stray,
Thy bounty shall my pains beguile;
The barren wilderness shall smile,
With sudden greens and herbage crowned,
And streams shall murmur all around.

Joseph Addison (1672 -1719)

Giant Redwood Trees (Sequoiadendron giganteum) – Ink on a Watercolour Moleskine.
I’ve always been fascinated by this type of tree but never have managed to see them in their native country, so this effort, which is copied from a photo my son Andrew took, will have to do. We do have redwood specimens in Scotland, the following link shows the ones at The Younger Botanical Gardens, Benmore by Cowall, Argyll & Bute. These trees are much smaller than the ones on the west coast of North America.

The Old Head of Kinsale, Co Cork, Ireland
Ink on a watercolour Moleskine

It was in these waters that the liner, RMS Lusitania, was torpedoed and sunk in 1915. There was great loss of life and much controversy raged about whether the ship was carrying munitions or not. There is a striking memorial to the dead in the town of Cobh (formely Queenstown) just along the coast, where many of the victims were taken and buiried.

Girl on a bus.
Ink with watercolour wash on a watercolour Moleskine.

This is from my early attempts to match paintings and poems, only this time the painting came first. As I waited for a bus I was aware of this girl standing behind me. When the bus arrived, and being mindful of my manners, I stood back to allow her to board first. I was totally amazed, when she turned around, as she reminded me of someone I knew many, many years ago. I must have stared too long for I was suddenly embarrassed but she smiled, laughed then thanked me. I’ve painted this both from past memories and this encounter but my drawing does her her no favours at all. (This is my first attempt at portrait painting – I had six shots at it) She was not “glamorous” or “sexy”, whatever, only very, very pretty. For a while I felt quite young again.

The poem to complement the scene ……

“She Was a Phantom of Delight”

She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely Apparition, sent
To be a moment’s ornament…………….

Wiliiam Wordsworth

Sea Fever.

Ink on a watercolour Moleskine

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by………………

from Sea Fever by John Masefield

This was the first sketch, copied from my very first Moleskine where I attempted to dovetail poems with sketches. I decsribed my attempts in one of the first “forum” entries on this site and have just realised that I have another source of drawings to bore you all with.

Lamlash, Isle of Arran. Done in watercolour, in a Moleskine watercolour book, with some ink added. The “blueness” is caused by my attempts to manipulate my scanner to try to tone down the black outline around the shop on the left which I felt too dominating. Not too sure if this has worked. Anyway, visit Arran sometime. Its a great place and is not called “Scotland in minature” for nothing.

Pentland Hills in winter, south of Balerno near Edinburgh. This was done on a watercolour Moleskine with three colours of ink (Black, blue and red) following a suggestion by sjguild October 16, 2008. Thanks sjguild for the idea of allowing ink to flood into a wet background, separating into different “base” colours. This seems to have worked for my clouds and I am grateful for the opportunity to try something new. Shame about the spine of the Moleskine being so prominent. It looks as if we Scots go about planting glass poles in the countryside.

This is probably the worst effort yet but is in a request from cmetzart October 16, 2008 as I had compared his effort with a similar attempt at “heavenly art” by me. It was done on a “travel/city Moleskine” ,which is about 6″ x 5″, at 30,000ft.