The Lights That Never Go Out – Ayrshire to The Mull of Galloway

Mull of Galloway lighthouse
Mull of Galloway, Scotland’s southernmost lighthouse

Last week I spent a fantastic 4 days travelling down to The Mull of Galloway via every lighthouse I could find en route. The sun was blazing and the sunsets were magnificent all the way! I also visited the towns of Girvan, Turnberry and lovely Portpatrick, and had a wander round Culzean Castle too.

In a snug wee Portpatrick pub last Friday evening, I had the very good fortune to find myself sitting next to a chap called Rab and his wife Kate. Rab just so happens to be the son of a lighthouse keeper, so we spent the whole evening getting acquainted over beer and whiskey and chatting about the various lighthouses he’d grown up in, including Corsewall Head which I’d spent that very afternoon visiting; as well as Tod Head and Kinnaird Head which I’d been at only the week before. His father also spent 5 years 12 miles out in the North Sea off Arbroath on one of the most famous and notorious reefs on the planet (and my own home lighthouse) The Bell Rock. It turned out to be one of those very serendipitous evenings. Rab now runs an engineering company that is contracted by the Northern Lighthouse Board to maintain some of Scotland’s more remote lighthouses, and he kindly offered me the chance some day to go along with him for the ride on one of his jobs. I will have to earn my keep though, maybe even getting a chance to fling some paint at a ‘real’ lighthouse instead of just at a painting of one!

So here are a few of the best photos from the many hundreds I took. It’s not all about lighthouses though. I got some shots of boats, harbours and birds too.

I will be attempting to translate some of these and the many others I’ve been taking into artworks for an exhibition at the end of this year. But, unfortunately, I won’t be doing any of that this week since I sprained my painting hand whilst attempting to show my daughter how not to use her new skateboard!

So today I’ll be heading north again to get my campervan’s gearbox fixed in Stonehaven. I might even have time to visit Scurdie Ness lighthouse near Ferryden, which just so happens to be up for sale (if you happen to have a spare £360K in your back pocket and always dreamed of owning your own lighthouse!).

If you’re interested, check it out here: Scurdie Ness Lighthouse

 

Ailsa Craig and Dredger
Sunset, Ailsa Craig
Turnberry Lighthouse and Arran from The Hotel
Turnberry Lighthouse and The Isle of Arran
Portpatrick Lighthouse at dusk
Portpatrick Harbour at Dusk
Killintringan Lighthouse 7
The Sun Sets beyond Killintringan Lighthouse and Northern Ireland

 

Corsewall Lighthouse 4 (b)
Corsewall Head Lighthouse
This beach ain't big enough for the 2 of us!
This beach ain’t big enough for the both of us!
Dazzling Cormorant
Dazzling Cormorant

Fife Council grant acknowledgement pic

 

 

 

 

More mini paintings on the way!

I’ve been working on a smaller scale these past few weeks, partly as a way into painting again after a long period of etching in monotone and also for an exhibition of small works at Morningside Gallery in Edinburgh. I’ve really loved working in watercolours again, which is how I started way back when.

Here’s the latest little picture I’ve just finished of Jeffrey Street from North Bridge, Edinburgh, which will be winging it’s way through to Edinburgh later this afternoon. This one has ended up in Marchmont Gallery along with a few other pieces. I went in on spec this afternoon and the manager, Karen, wouldn’t let me leave with it! Delighted to be represnted by another lovely gallery in Edinburgh!

Jeffrey Street from North Bridge, Edinburgh
Jeffrey Street from North Bridge, Edinburgh