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.
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.
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.
Dunkeld Cathedral. This is a fantastic place to visit. Part of the church is still used for worship despite other areas being in ruins. The grounds boast magnificent trees, such as Yew and Larch, some of which are hundreds of years old. This attempt is on a watercolour Moleskine outined in black and grey ink and rendered with watercolour washes.
Edinburgh Castle viewed from Castle Terrace. Most people are familiar with the castle viewed from Princes Street which is at right angles to the left of this page. This, in my opinion, is a far better view. Hope I’ve done it justice. Watercolour with coloured inks on watercolour Moleskine.
Larch trees near Selkirk, Scottish Borders. Captured on a trip last July. Line and watercolour wash on watercolour Moleskine
Black ink and coloured pencils on a small Moleskine. A quick view of Portree on the Isle of skye.
An experiment using acrylic ink with some watercolour wash applied with brush and mapping pen. This is meant to be the QE2 during her last visit to Scottish waters on Tuesday 7th October. I watched her sailing down the Firth of Forth into the distance. She was nearing the end of her final cruise and will soon be off to Dubai to function as a floating hotel. A bit sad as she represents the finest of our, long gone shipbuilding industry. I am old enough to remember her being lauched in the 1960s.
This is Wilkies Basin, on the Union Canal, West Lothian. I painted this from a rough sketch made on a cold, frosty day, earlier this year. Most of the water was frozen (so was I). The broader space – the basin, in the distance, is used to allow narrowboats or barges to turn around. The canal is becoming more frequently used after years of neglect which is great considering the effort taken to dig it, manually, a couple of hundred years ago. The painting is mainly watercolour washes on top of pencil and ink.
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