The Artistic Curmudgeon or the Grumpy Old Painter

I've ventured into the realms of maritime history with this recently-completed painting of the last minutes of the Peterhead steam drifter "Ugiebrae".  She was sunk by gunfire after the German submarine (probably the U38) had cut away her fleet...

Here's a couple of seascape oil paintings, both featuring pelagic fishing vessels, but from completely different stages of development of this fishery.  Both pictures were commissions completed within the last few months.The first is of the Gamr...

I'll allow you to contemplate on the enigmatic title to this post, which briefly describes my trip "sooth" last weekend.  My Northlink discount travel vouchers for 2013/14 were about to lose their validity, so it was perhaps a form of notional t...

Before my mother moved into the Overtonlea Care Centre on 30th April 2012, I'd scarcely been down the road through Levenwick since my youth (and that's a long time ago!).  I have vague childhood memories of family picnics on the sandy beach belo...

The first "Earl of Zetland" was launched on the Clyde in 1877.  At only 186 grt, she wasn't big, but she provided a lifeline service for the next 60 years, ferrying passengers, cargo and livestock between Lerwick and the north isles of Shetland.

Osteoporosis?  Cervical Spondylosis?  Osteo-arthritis?  Something else equally horrible?  I don't know what the medical term for it might be - all I know is that it is a pain in the neck, and I've had it since last summer!  I...

The Fraserburgh dual-purpose boat "Girl Olive" (FR369), rigged for drift-net fishing, leaves her home port to look for the herring shoals.   She holds the record for the fastest build ever of this class of 70-foot vessel. From the laying of her...