This is another example of this virtual view of the exhibition in the Mallaig Heritage Centre being able to show more than can be seen for real ... this is the front and reverse of one of the sheets of portrait sketches. ink, crayon and pastel on A4 paper. #mallaigharbour #mallaigheritagecentre
09.05.2025 08:28 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
The drawing on the reverse side of the sheet I posted yesterday ... drawing on show in the Mallaig Heritage Centre until the end of the year ... ink, pastel and crayon on A4 paper #mallaig #mallaigharbour #mallaigheritagecentre #resipolestudios #inkportrait #portraitdrawing
05.05.2025 08:46 β π 3 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Mending a light on one of the vessels in Mallaig harbour ... another of the drawings from the exhibition in Mallaig Heritage Centre that is on until the end of the year ... ink, pastel and crayon on a sheet of A4 paper ... #mallaig #mallaigharbour #mallaiheritagecentre #resipolestudios #inkportrait
04.05.2025 09:14 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Cleaning down one of the boats in Mallaig harbour ... a further sketch from the exhibition in Mallaig Heritage Centre which is open for the rest of the year. ink, crayon and pastel on paper #mallaig #mallaigharbour #mallaigheritagecentre #resipolestudios #inkdrawing #inkportrait #portrait
01.05.2025 09:23 β π 4 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Fisherman clearing the deck of his boat and throwing fish to one of the seals which virtually live in the harbour ... this drawn last summer while lurking in a crowd of tourists who were ecstatic at seeing a seal!!! From the exhibition on until the end of the year in Mallaig Heritage Centre
30.04.2025 09:04 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
I think this is the final drawing in the Mallaig Heritage Centre exhibition on the old batch of off white paper ... once again two of the crew on the "Western Isles" Knoydart ferry remarkably difficult things to portray ... this is ... as usual ... in ink crayon and pastel and is around A4 in size.
29.04.2025 08:52 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
I am trying to post these drawings from the exhibition of portraits made of folk who work on the Mallaig piers that is on in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π (which lasts until the end of the year) in rough chronological order however this is done by trying to recognise the paper used! ... ink and crayon
28.04.2025 09:11 β π 3 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
This drawing is from my exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π which is on until the end of the year. Ink, and crayon on a sheet of A4 paper
27.04.2025 09:37 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
It is extraordinary how Mallaig has changed in the time I have known it ... from being a place with virtually no tourist infrastructure it has sadly become a place which relies on visitors.
These sketches of a lad painting a mast were done when the boatyard still existed ... ink and crayon on paper
Although my intention is to remain as unobtrusive as possible when drawing portraits of the folk who work on or around the piers in Mallaig sometimes I am, as in this case , seen. π . this is ink, pastel and crayon on an A4 sheet of paper
26.04.2025 09:02 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
This is one of the Calmac lads watching a colleague booking in vehicles for the next crossing to Armadale on Skye on the pier in Mallaig ... ink, crayon and pastel on A4 paper ... the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π of some of these sketβ¦ See more
24.04.2025 08:38 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Two gentlemen getting the craic on the Mallaig pier ... yet another of my portrait drawings of folk who work on or around the piers in Mallaig from the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π which is on until the end of the year.
23.04.2025 08:47 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Another of my portrait drawings of folk who work on or around the piers in Mallaig from the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π which is on until the end of the year.
22.04.2025 08:31 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
In the half century that I have been drawing folk working on the pier in Mallaig I have never been around when the lifeboat has been launched in an emergency. This was the nearest I have managed a practice "shout" ... from the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π open until the end of the year.
21.04.2025 09:05 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Mending nets. Another of my portrait drawings of folk who work on or around the piers in Mallaig from the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π which is on until the end of the year.
20.04.2025 09:09 β π 4 π 2 π¬ 0 π 0
Another of the drawings in the Mallaig Heritage Centre exhibition.In all honesty in this case I think the perennial problem of how to depict hi viz jackets rather took over from the portrait ... as we shall see as we delve ever deeper into this collection it is a problem I have never really solved!
19.04.2025 09:36 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
One of the fun aspects of drawing portraits of folk who work on or around the piers in Mallaig, and of doing it for so long is unintentionally discovering that I have sketches of more than one generation. I have sketches of this gentleman's father and his daughter was at school with mine ... she is now working on her Dad's boat. I asked her if she would pose for me so that the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π (which is on until the end of the year) would contain the three generations. She happily agreed but said that she would far rather have a sketch of her working alongside the others on the boat ... we have not managed this yet and it is quite a weird feeling being a man my age "stalking" an attractive young woman even with her permission πππ€£ .... we will get there ... watch this space! ink, crayon and pastel on a sheet of A4 paper
Yet another of my portrait drawings of folk who work on or around the piers in Mallaig .... from the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π which is on until the end of the year.
ink, crayon and pastel on a sheet of A4 paper
Another of my portrait drawings of folk who work on or around the piers in Mallaig from the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π which is on until the end of the year.
ink, crayon and pastel on a sheet of A4 paper
Reversing the "Western Isles" into the pier after one of its ferry runs to Inverie. Another of my portrait drawings of folk who work on the piers in Mallaig from the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π until the end of the year. Ink, pastel and crayon on A4 paper
16.04.2025 08:46 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Another of my portrait drawings of folk who work on the piers in Mallaig from the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π until the end of the year.
ink and crayon on a sheet of A4 paper
Maybe my favourite (so far) of the portrait sketches of folk who work on the piers in Mallaig taken from the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π on show until the end of the year. ink and crayon on A4 paper.
14.04.2025 08:55 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Another of my portrait drawings of folk who work on the piers in Mallaig from the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π until the end of the year.
ink and crayon on a sheet of A4 paper
Yet another of the portrait drawings of folk who work on the piers in Mallaig that is on show in the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π at the moment.
As with the majority this is ink and crayon on a sheet of A4 paper.
I had probably been sketching people working on the Mallaig piers for several years before it dawned on me that my interest was that my subjects were actually working and the realisation that such a portrait is inherently different to a posed portrait. (ink and black crayon on a sheet of A4 paper)
11.04.2025 09:09 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Another of the portrait drawings of folk who work on the piers in Mallaig that is on show in the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π at the moment. It is on the same paper as the drawing I posted yesterday so must be from around the same time ... A4 in size, ink wash and crayon.
10.04.2025 08:54 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
The ideal way of posting the portrait drawings of folk who work on the piers in Mallaig in the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π would be to put them in chronological order however sadly this is difficult. Those who have seen my work before will know that in the 90's quick portraits were always in Burnt Siena watercolour but towards the end of the century I became aware of the fact that this was becoming bland and facile ... something I could do without thinking so I forcibly changed. Firstly to pencil (of which few survive and of which none are in the exhibition) and then to crayon and then ink and crayon and recently ink, crayon and pastel. Dating these is hard (I should have recorded it) and at this distance can really only be done by the paper that is used. This is reasonably early as there is little evidence of ink being used and it is on an off white paper which I ran out of years ago ... they entire (growing) collection are all about A4 in size.
One of the portraits of folk who work on the Mallaig piers from the exhibition in the πππ₯π₯ππ’π πππ«π’πππ π πππ§ππ«π ... ink and crayon on a sheet of A4 paper.
09.04.2025 08:27 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
From the exhibition of portraits in the Mallaig Heritage Centre.
It is one of the very few in the exhibition where the identity of the "sitter" is known ... he was Alex MacKenzie who sadly lost his life when his vessel "The Silvery Sea" was lost in June 1998. (watercolour, approx 29cm x 20cm)
I have earned my living as a professional artist ever since I left Edinburgh College of Art β¦ nearly exactly 50 years ago. While it has been great fun (though challenging at times) there are several strands to the profession which I loathe. I hate exhibiting in any form but actually try and avoid juried or mixed exhibitions completely. I am terrified by βPrivate Viewsβ and I really do not like pricing my work β¦ always leaving it to any gallery director involved. These have been few and far between βcos (probably stupidly) I try and only show with one gallery. In 50 years I have only had three dealers, The Henderson Gallery and The Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh β¦ and I changed between them when their director moved from one to the other, and Resipole Studios. In many ways therefore the exhibition which opens today in Mallaig Heritage Centre should be my ideal show β¦ It is a one man show, hung and organised by Resipole Studios with no preview and nothing for sale! However it has a problem because none of the work was ever intended to be exhibited! I have for a long time been impressed by colleagues Toni Cogdell and David Surman and how they use social media posting almost daily the progress of new work. I enjoy this but my studio work progresses at a glacial rate so I can not join in β¦ however I have been sketching folk working on or around the piers in Mallaig since 1968. For many years these slight quick sketches, if they were not in sketchbooks. just got chucked out, it did not occur to me that they were a growing social document β¦ However, on this being pointed out to me scraping around I found several from the late 1990βs and with the continuing practice had something that I could post daily. They were (and are) kind of peripheral to my real work but did garner interest locally and this interest has led to this exhibition.
Exhibition of drawings in Mallaig Heritage Centre drawn on Mallaig pier between around 1970 and the present day .... open daily ...
07.04.2025 12:52 β π 11 π 4 π¬ 0 π 0