Old Man of Hoy

Finally finished a rather challenging seascape of a distant view of the Old Man of Hoy from Mainland Orkney. It was a tangerine sky under deeply bruised skies and the Old Man was perfectly silhouetted, set apart from the cliffs of Hoy. My vantage point was from the aptly named Cauldrus across agitated seas. This was view that inspired my Orkney Stories 5 video poem.

Good news also is my poem form the same Orkney series - Stenness Stones - was awarded commended in the Scottish Federation of Writers Vernal Equinox Competition

Safe Haven

Trying to capture the anxiety that sailors must feel when needing to find safety when weather conditions turn - especially when the closest is already a crowded space jostling with other boats. Anxiety can continue if its only an anchor hold and through the night they are the mercy of that slim thread.

Orkney Stories 8 - The Earl's Palace, Kirkwall

The final in this Orkney Series after my visit the autumn of 2020. In the heart of Viking medieval Kirkwall is the Earl's Palace with a dark and grim history. The remains are set within a serene woodland square but still permeates a sense of this brooding story.

Postcard Conversations

Inspired by the a work in the private collection of artist Beverley Ann Hicks. It charts the conversations between two old friends by postcards, poems and artworks. As time goes on they drift apart but one chooses to frame her memories and their history as part of her own gallery so that connection is not lost.

Orkney Stories 7 - The Pier Art Centre

The combination of artworks from Orkney to St Ives in this extraordinary collection at the Pier Art Centre, Stromness inspired my 7th Orkney poem in this video series. All housed in this dramatic location at a crossing point of seas and a starting point for arctic explorations.

Awakening

This year the arrival of spring seemed interminable and I recorded the slow progress of the beech woodland leaves opening and lifting. It was long awaited and felt like an awakening.

Orkney Stories 6 Stones of Stenness

This is the sixth of my series on Orkney visited last year for the first time in over 10 years. The sense of time and our relationship with the world is deeply felt at these Neolithic standing stones. Even the presence of absence of those stones that are missing.

Light Glitches - Between Here and There

Inspired the work of Lesley Hicks from her Icelandic series where she painstakingly recreates the grainy interrupted static of digital traffic camera images across an unforgiving landscape. I work by abstracting information from my painting series of the River Add Estuary in Argyll to give the sense of transience that this landscape offers.

Orkney Stories 5 - Towards Hoy

Continuing my series from my visit to Orkney in October 2020. The ever present brooding skyline of Hoy is a dramatic contrast to the soft rolling emerald hills of the mainland agricultural land. Chambered cairns are numerous and in their own way the ancient equivalent of the burial ground of traditional farming practices.

Orkney Stories 4 Loch of Skaill

This is the fourth of my Orkney Stories video. Looking at the soft green landscape its hard to believe millions of years ago it was a sandstone desert and was located near the equator. I'm also delighted to announce that the first three Orkney Story videos have been accepted for Earth lines

Two Tides

Once again I am drawn to the River Add estuary with its extensive sandbanks that stretch out into Crinan Bay. Watching the tide return from two different directions creates a sense that messages and stories are being transmitted as the ripples collide before reaching the end of their journey.

Kingfisher

Spring seems a long time arriving. The sighting of a Kingfisher in Argyll transported be to all the exotic places its brilliant plumage reminded me of and for a moment the world seemed brighter.

Seeking

A video poem inspired by the work of Emily Learmont entitled Sixteen Seascapes. Her work is dream like and of another world which prompted me to write this piece based on a seascape painting I had created a few years ago looking towards Danna Island in Argyll. Each is a vignette from the original but added to with items borrowed from my other art and photographic work such as boats, moonscapes and patterns of natural forms. The sixteenth image is the final painting.

Orkney Stories 3 - Cauldrus to Old Man of Hoy

When I first visited Orkney I cycled across Hoy to experience the famous sea stack The Old Man of Hoy. As I approached this giant toothy rock created by coastal erosion a helicopter landed on its summit for a brief few seconds and flew off. This to me, along with its ascent by climbers, epitomised the stacks slow, steady decline. Its still a wonder to see and others will replace it.

Echo

One of those moments where you catch out of the corner of your eye the space once occupied by an otter - almost imaginary, but that absence intensifies its past presence - as if hearing an echo in the water.

At the end of a lane

A photographic piece inspired by the Yorkshire artist , Peter Hicks, painting series The Entrance to a Lane, which in turn was inspired by the abstract impressionist artist Graham Sutherlands series of the same name. The work moves from winter to spring and aims to capture my curiosity and inspiration in the seasons.

Orkney Stories 2 Skara Brae

This is the second of nine Orkney Stories after my revisit to Orkney mainland in October last year following a ten year absence. Nowhere is the island's ancient self more more powerfully felt than at it's neolithic sites. This is about the 5000 year old village of Skara Brae located at the Bay of Skaill and only discovered in 1850 after a great storm uncovered it from the sand dunes. It is older than the Great Pyramids and that sense of time is powerful.

Blue Tears Fall

Dedicated to my pal Mary O'Toole ( always an inspiration) on her birthday. A video poem about climate change which will affect communities around the world. This is about vulnerable communities on the islands of the west coast of Scotland.

Orkney Series

I was delighted to revisit Orkney in October last year after a ten year absence. Its ancient self connected with its landscape struck me powerfully again and I decided to a do a series based on my reflections. This is my first one about a beautiful yet distinctly separate island.

The space between words

There is always a sense of the slowing down of time when mist emerges and rolls across water. This is enhanced when accompanied by silence. I caught this perfect scene at Scotnish in Agyll and formed the poem as I was recording.