People

I’ve been playing recently with painting people. I’m enjoying abstracting the form and introducing high saturation colours.

Highland Sailing

The gentle breeze moves through the sails of the boat as it glides effortlessly through the water. What a wonderful way to spend a warm summer afternoon.

Evening walk

I’ve been enjoying this particular colour combination recently and abstraction of happy outdoor scenes. These paintings always take me back to beach walks in the NW Highlands of Scotland. The warm summer breeze and the gentle sound of the water lapping on the shore.

Parent and child at beach

I enjoyed the colours and structure of a smaller version of this painting that I did last week so I thought I would scale it up a bit. This is 23x16 inches which is as big as I’ve ever painted before. I enjoyed the way the paint works at this scale and the loose strokes. Hopefully you enjoy it too!.

Father and daughter at the beach

Nothing compares with these moments. When your little girl looks into your eyes lovingly smiling.

Beach walk

One of the most wonderful things about the beaches of Scotland is that they are often so empty. A Sunday walk is often such a peaceful and relaxing thing here. On a warm summer day when the gentle breeze is warm, nothing beats the feeling of looking out to sea as the kids play.

Dunbar fisherman baiting lines

I was digging around online today for old images of Dunbar and I found this lovely image of Dunbar fishermen baiting their lines from the Tour Scotland website.

So I thought it might be fun to paint it.  I have gone for a more relaxed style in this painting.  I’ll leave you to decide if it’s worked or not.

Young family at Belhaven Beach

Another positive image to bring some light hearted joy to your day during this lockdown.  This is Belhaven Beach which is just down the road from us here in Dunbar.

Playing on the beach

When I was a child I used to go to the south of France.  I remember well the atmosphere on the delightful beaches of the Côte d'Azur.  The smell of clean sea air mixed with dry foliage.  The sound of crickets chirping and the warm sun bathing the beach goers.  Not exactly a Sorella, but maybe something positive for you at this strangest of times.

The Race

I’ve always loved the intensity of a dinghy race and although I’ve never competed I’ve spent a bit of time sailing and loved it.  My late father was obsessed with sailing as a youth, so maybe it’s in my genetics.  Anyway, I thought that this picture of Anne, Princess Royal captured the scene beautifully as a photograph, so here it is as a painting.

Santorini

A few years ago I went on a lovely solo trip to Santorini.  I was actually there to take photographs, but it is also a wonderful place to paint.  For those who don’t already know, Santorini seems to be is picture postcard Greece.  Stunning white buildings set high on the cliffs of a submerged volcanic rim.

This view looks over the was from Oia to the western island of Thirasia.  A lovely couple of days was spent there too by the way.  Thirasia is much less populous and if you want a bit of peace and quiet then it makes a fantastic couple of days exploring deserted villages and walking.

Sailing

Well we can’t go out (Coronavirus) so I thought I may as well paint!  The concept of this image is to take us all back to summer and freedom.  Maybe it will be a little light relief in these strange times.

Flower

It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to paint, but a quiet day in gave me an oportunity today. I thought I’d keep things simple.

Highlands Barn

Sometimes I like to just paint from my imagination.  This image is inspired by the early morning mist that we get in the Highlands and the way it hugs the ground and masks the distant elements of the landscape. 

I've always loved the Silver Birch trees that line the roadsides and hug the base of the hills.  In autumn they actually look fluffy and soft.  I’ve also always enjoyed the corrugated iron painted barn roofs that we get here.

So I thought I’d combine them in this imagined image just for a bit of fun.

Apple

Wow it’s been a busy start to the year here, so I’ve not had a chance to paint a great deal. So I thought I’d get my eye in a bit again today with this simple little painting.