Rose the boat - Quidnish - Harris - 117cm x 76. Mixed media on canvas

Part of the ‘à làimh Shomhairle’ Exhibition at Tolbooth, Stirling. All artwork is fully insured and will be available for collection in January 2023

https://www.somhairle.co.uk/exhibition

Available to Buy on December 2nd 2022

This painting is intense and meaningful. Although this painting looks dark it becomes absolutely illuminated in direct sunlight and is highly textured so casts it’s own shadows. Whilst varnishing this thing I noticed what looks like a rose in one corner… Now, the house that I’ve painted (in Cuidhnis, East Harris) had a rowing boat called Rose, tucked in behind the gable end and protected with a fishing net. The Rose that has appeared in my painting was not made by me; it was made by eroding layers of paint with masonry brushes, bed sheets and knives. It appeared supernaturally, of its own accord. Random happenstance created it but it came from another plane and I must say that I’m pretty spooked by that.

Truth be told, this house still haunts me. I saw plates in the preas, kettle still on the stove, Sunday-best shoes laid neatly by the bed and a-top it, a packed, brown leather travel case. Throughout my visit I was entirely calm, if somewhat awestruck. I felt welcome. The house was peaceful and I felt respectful of the people who had once lived there. However, when driving back up the west coast road, I was struck by a sharp, brutal pain in my right foot, as if I’d stood on a nail and not noticed. I stopped to check twice, at one point convinced that blood was pooling in my welly. It was as if the house was calling me back. There are two schools of thought on why folk left all their belongings behind in such a meticulous way; one suggests a sense of pride in leaving behind the remnants of a life well-kept whereas the other espouses that your belongings be left as an offering to the land which helped raise you.

My experience at this house was quite the trip and it has a staring role in a music video I made for James Lindsay to accompany his 10-minute Gaelic/metal/folk/jazz odyssey Lewisian complex. You should look it up on YouTube because it’s one of the best things I have ever made.