Thursdays are a special day to me in Ullapool. It means my Son-in-law's father comes round to tea. Dick Lindsay is an artist second to none - he has his own unique way of translating the world he sees with thousands of tiny lines and dots that make up an almost photographic image of any scene or portrait he applies his mind to. This is his drawing of the house John and I are staying in at the moment. The angle looks strange because I have tilted the camera to take out the glare of the light bulb.
After the obligatory discussion on health and family news we talked about the theme for his next piece of work and the drives that motivate him to keep drawing. He confessed he may have peaked and that his line is a little more fragile this year. He is 93 years old - I think a little fragility is allowed.
As the afternoon passed sitting in the kitchen drinking tea and eating fruitcake we watched the Stornaway ferry come into the harbour as it does
every afternoon give or take the odd storm.
Never was the heat of the Aga more comforting as we watched the cloud roll down the mountain and stop about five feet above the loch. Highland rain has to be seen to be believed it darkens the world like an eclipse and just keeps going.
My Ullapool motif never deserts me, walking along the shoreline yesterday, gazing into the turquoise water at the jewel like pebbles and grit, getting tangled in the writhing heaps of kelp I return to the same imagery time and time again.
The mountains at the back of the lock are also a challenge to capture when the light keeps changing every minute.This collage of painted watercolour papers was done on a very bright and cold day last winter. The same mountains look like a forbidding monochromatic presence today.
I will return to the Guild Exhibition photo's in tomorrows blog.
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