Tag: edinburgh new town

An Artistic Journey with the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB)

Getting ready to step inside 84 George Street to discuss a potential commission with the NLB Commissioners.
A Commission from the Commissioners

Back in early 2024, I slipped a simple flyer through the doors of the Northern Lighthouse Board’s Edinburgh headquarters, affectionately known as 84 George Street by those who work there. It was an invitation to a talk for my upcoming solo exhibition, Northern Lights — a collection celebrating the beauty, history, and resilience of Scotland’s lighthouses.

I had no idea that this small act would lead to one of the most meaningful commissions of my career.

A few weeks later, CEO Mike Bullock and Heritage Trust chair Alastair Beveridge attended my gallery talk. During the event, I shared the story of an earlier architectural commission for Strathberry Ltd. When I unrolled a full-size print of that painting, it caught their eye. Alastair even bought the print on the spot!

Not long after, they invited me to discuss creating a bespoke painting of their George Street headquarters — a building steeped in history and purpose.

The Strathberry HQ painting that caught the attention of the NLB team during my talk.
Stepping Inside 84 George Street

Walking into the NLB’s HQ is like stepping into a hidden world. From the elegant Georgian exterior, you’d never guess just how vast and intricate the interior is. Room after room tells a story, many filled with antique furniture and commissioned artworks that span more than 250 years of maritime history.

It’s not just a building — it’s the operational nerve centre for every lighthouse in Scotland and the Isle of Man, a place where history and innovation coexist.

A hidden world inside — where heritage and innovation meet to keep Scotland’s lighthouses shining.
Bringing the Vision to Life

For a building and commission like this, getting the perspective right was crucial. Using my drone, I captured images from multiple angles, ensuring I could represent everything — from the roofline to the subtle details of the lower levels — without distortion.

Finished pen-and-ink outline ready for approval before painting began.

Some of my favourite touches include the subtle flash of the Bell Rock lighthouse decoration, glowing in the night sky, and the gold leaf accents used to portray the brass door furnishings. The deep blue evening sky contrasts beautifully with the warm sienna tones of the stonework. And then there were the flags — trickier to paint than they look — which needed to be clear and recognisable while still looking as though they were naturally blowing in the wind.

The Bell Rock lighthouse detail above the doorway — in my painting, it flashes every five seconds, just like the real thing.
The Finished Painting
The completed painting, with warm sienna tones and deep evening blues capturing the atmosphere of the building at night.

It took about four weeks to complete the painting, with a few much-needed sanity breaks along the way! Getting the geometry of the paving slabs right was also a challenge, but a rainy day in Edinburgh gave me great reference photos — the wet stones reflected the light perfectly, adding depth and richness to the foreground of the piece.

The final painting captures what I hoped for: a sense of atmosphere and purpose, where architectural beauty meets the vital work of the NLB in guiding mariners safely home.

Handover day — Alastair Beveridge (left), me, and Mike Bullock (right) outside the NLB headquarters.
A Personal Milestone Achieved on Handover

This commission wasn’t just another art project; it was the fulfilment of a lifelong ambition to work with the Northern Lighthouse Board.

As someone who grew up in Arbroath, watching the Bell Rock lighthouse flash every night from my bedroom window, and who has long been fascinated by Scotland’s lighthouses — thanks in part to Bella Bathurst’s The Lighthouse Stevensons — this collaboration felt like everything coming full circle.

Handing the painting over to Mike and Alastair was a proud and humbling moment. I’m delighted with how the painting turned out, and even happier that the team at the NLB felt the same when I delivered it personally to 84 George Street.

A Proud Moment

I recently returned to NLB HQ and was genuinely moved to see my painting hanging just inside the main entrance. It’s a little surreal to know that my work has now become part of the building’s story.

My painting hanging proudly just inside the entrance at 84 George Street.

The moment was topped off when I opened the Summer 2025 edition of the NLB Journal and spotted a feature about the painting and its handover. Several staff members have since ordered prints — some to be given as retirement gifts for NLB staff — a gesture that feels like the highest compliment an artist can receive.

The Summer 2025 edition of the NLB Journal featuring my painting and its handover.
Prints Now Available

If you’re as obsessed with lighthouses as I am and would like to have a beautiful Giclee print of the Northern Lighthouse Board’s Edinburgh HQ, just send me an email at: cliveramage@gmail.com and we can arrange for one to be sent out to you.

Next Up

I’ll be sharing another post soon, showing the step-by-step process of how this painting came to life — from initial sketches to the final framed piece — so keep an eye out for that update.

Strathberry Commission

Just in time for Christmas and after several months in the making, I am delighted to share some very exciting news about recent work I have been doing for top Scottish luxury leather goods brand Strathberry.

 

Strathberry HQ Christmas animation

For those of you who don’t know, Strathberry is based in Edinburgh’s West End and has a retail outlet in the city’s Multrees Walk, along with 3 stunning boutiques in London’s Covent Garden, Kings Road and Burlington Arcade.

They are internationally renowned for producing high quality, beautifully hand-crafted handbags and are the go-to brand for the likes of Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle according to Marie Claire.

The Princess of Wales loves Strathberry

It was just over a year ago that I was approached by Amber, Chief Marketing Officer at Strathberry, in a particularly serendipitous twist of fate. The company was about to celebrate its 10th anniversary and wished to use their stunning 4 storey Georgian townhouse, in Edinburgh’s Melville Street, as the new face of the brand. She had googled ‘Edinburgh artist’ and, as a result of that search, came across a previous blog post of mine where I had detailed the various stages towards completion of a commission I had recently done of a similar townhouse in the city’s Rutland Square (see that image below and click here to read that post).

 

Rutland Square Commission

Impressed by the end results of that project and looking for something similar but uniquely ‘Strathberry’, they commissioned me to produce a detailed ink drawing of their HQ. The brief was not only to create something that was representative but something that could also be utilised in a variety of novel ways going forward: for example, an image that might be flexible enough to appear on packaging, tissue paper and product care booklets, as well as being featured in a variety of media online and in print.

Strathberry HQ Final Drawing

With all of that in mind, I created the image above – deceptively simple in design and finish, but far from simple to produce. In order to fit the whole building into the frame (including the roof and chimneys as well as the basement) I had to somehow show it from mid height (I used a drone to get a variety of photos at different heights for this purpose). However, this created its own problems in that a bird’s eye perspective had the effect of warping the entire image, revealing too much basement  and moving the focal point away from what I hoped would be a welcoming doorway that would lead the viewers into the building – so to speak.

In the end, and after a couple of time consuming false starts, I managed to compose an image which shows the entire building without warping the perspective at all, while giving equal prominence to every storey (roof and basement too) but maintaining the entrance way as the main focal point. I submitted my final ink drawing in April and, thankfully, Strathberry owners Guy and Leanne were delighted with the result.

Now it was time to paint the townhouse (see below)!

The Strathberry Townhouse

Again, I wanted to keep the painting as simple but effective as possible, while showing the Strathberry townhouse at its very best. 34 Melville Street, Edinburgh is not only the company HQ, but it’s also the place where products are designed and marketed (as shown to great effect in the magical Christmas animation above). It also happens to house a sumptuous showroom on the ground floor. All in all, Strathberry HQ is an extremely elegant Edinburgh townhouse – sophisticated, yet warm and welcoming – and I hope to have created something that reflects those qualities with these images.

Commissions are never straight forward or relaxed affairs but, much to my relief, Guy and Leanne were again delighted with the final painting, which I delivered in June (see handover picture below).

I’ll post a more detailed account of the whole procedure in a future blog piece, including a stage by stage breakdown of the creative process involved. But for now I just wanted to show the final images produced for this prestigious commission and give a little more information about how Strathberry have been using my images to help celebrate their 10th anniversary and also to showcase their stunning World Heritage listed HQ.

A detail of the painting pops up when hovering over Strathberry Stories on the company website
The beautifully animated version has been on show on window display screens in every Strathberry boutique in the land

And and how’s this for a bit of unashamed name dropping … ? I was recently informed that ex US president Bill Clinton, while on a shopping trip to London, was entranced by the animation while walking through the Burlington Arcade store. So much so that after watching the whole clip he was enticed into the store and purchased 4 handbags for Hilary and Chelsea!

Strathberry have also used an inverted version of the ink drawing on menus for a recent press event at the Kimpton Hotel in Edinburgh.

Menus featuring an inverted version of the image

The Strathberry story will continue to develop over coming years and I am very excited to see how the image I created for the company will be utilised in exciting new ways going forward.

In the meantime, I hope to do more of this kind of work in future. So if you are looking for a similar (but different!) picture of your own elegant townhouse, or anywhere else for that matter, and would like to discuss how to make that happen, then please do not hesitate to get in touch via the contact page or by emailing me at: cliveramage@gmail.com

Proud and delighted to see my work being used in such a wonderfully creative way this Christmas!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous and Happy New Year!

Rutland Square, Edinburgh – A Commission

Commissions are not something I’ve done a lot of in the past. It’s not that I haven’t been asked, but more that I’ve felt the burden of meeting a client’s expectations a little overwhelming. I think I really just convinced myself over the years that I prefer to do my own thing, which really translates as wishing to remain steadfastly in my comfort zone of doing what I like for myself because … well, there’s no good reason at all!

So when I was asked if I’d be interested in producing a painting of a rather nice block of flats in Edinburgh’s Rutland Square I deliberated for a moment, before deciding it was time to bite the bullet and take up the challenge.

Stage 1.

Initial pencil drawing on Saunders Waterford 425 gsm rough watercolour paper.

It’s always great to hear how new clients come to find my work and it transpired that this time it came down to a good old Google search for “Edinburgh art”. Quite a few of my paintings came up and that was enough to persuade the client to get in touch.

Stage 2.

I then drew over the main pencil lines in permanent ink.

Of course, I do like to draw and paint subjects that interest me and, happily, I liked the building in question and was delighted to have been asked. It’s a lovely compliment, after all, to be commissioned to provide a present for a very special person who will hopefully be able to cherish it for years to come! And it goes without saying that the payment is always most welcome too!

So here are the rest of the stages towards completion …

Stage 3.

Initial watercolour washes. The paper was still wet when I took this photo, hence the slightly wobbly look. 425 gsm paper is very thick and doesn’t really need to be stretched. It will ruckle up a little bit with the application of water, but then dry perfectly flat again.

Stage 4.

More washes added to the building and the window panes blocked in. It’s starting to take shape.

Stage 5

Feeling quite happy with the results so far, but knowing there’s still a lot of work to be done on the details front. I’m not sure why there’s a large puddle of bright orange in my palette as it’s not a colour I used in this picture.

Stage 6.

The finished piece. I have to admit that I really enjoyed working on this over the past few days and, having overcome my reluctance to take on commissions, I very much look forward to doing more of them.

If you like what you see here and wish to commission something personal for yourself (or someone very special) then please feel free to get in touch and we can hopefully make it happen!