The Edge of the World, Eshaness

My day started at 4:30 am when the moon was blasting across the water into The Booth.

This day was to bring many spectacular things starting with the crazy big moonlight, I then saw my first sun bathing seal in the Scalloway Bay. It is not uncommon to see seals in the water, I see them almost everyday and it does feel quite special but the images of a seal head popping out of the water is fairly anti-climactic to the extraordinary animals they are.

To get to the edge of the world you have to pass through the most narrow part of the Shetland Island called the Mavis Grind. (pronounced like Grin with a d) The Atlantic ocean is on one side and the North Sea on the other.

It's a spectacle that I didn't photograph well but if you click on the link you can get a more narrative sort of image of the ocean and the sea at the same time.

We had the most beautiful calm and bright day to see this northern part of the Mainland of Shetland. I also had the extreme privilege of being accompanied by a local, Nat Hall who guided us through her beloved home. Her enthusiasm for this place is easy to understand on a day like this, in a place like this.

This road foreshadows the breathtaking edge we approach as we head to Eshaness. Glacial lakes, extreme blue skies filled with cloud islands and blinding sun that makes the land masses black and the sun an impossible white glare.

The photographs are only a small fraction of the experience. They fail in so many ways to describe the place you can feel with all your senses. The texture of the light, the freshness of the air, the vertigo from height, depth and bigness of the sky. A place carved from volcanic activity and glacial movements formed over millions of years. You feel all that standing in this place.

I was so fortunate to have such a beautiful day to see the unbelievable landscape.

Extreme in all ways. The booth, Shetland

In this place you need to shelter from the wind, rain, cold and sun. When the sun is shining brightly it reflects off the water in a blinding way. It took me by surprise. It's wonderful to be in a place that is so different from my daily life.

Here is my little work station that I use to write and draw.It's just my style to be able to have everything to hand. 

This is how my day goes, a little writing and drawing, dog walking and then back to rest and process the scenery.

I could write more but the landscape says it all, almost. There is a lot of space to look and be silent. It's a nice choice.

The Booth, Scalloway, Shetland

The Booth is the purple building with the pink shutters. The Scalloway castle is poking up from behind on the left.

I have had this trip planned for two years, booked in advance because that's how busy it is!  Traveling here was epic, it's so far north it shares an altitude line with Norway. It was an overnight ferry from Aberdeen, Scotland.

This place is not what I expected it to be. I have travelled to remote parts of Scotland before, but as I am here for a longer stay I have time to take it in over the month I am here. The Booth itself is a one room building that sits right on the water.

This is the spectacular view from my front window. I occasionally see a seal or two swimming over to the peer just to the left when the fishing boat comes in to the fish factory. This particular day has been one of sun and showers alternating between the two quite quickly. There is no "right" moment to be outdoors because they change so quickly. The majority of the time it is windy. It was a first to see the water so calm after nine days of being here.

The views are stunning, the place is water, land and sky, it is a beautiful and treacherous place. As I look in the distance I can see the horizon, where land, sea and sky meet but as I stand on the shore I feel the land stretch below the water and I feel the sky blowing the waves toward the shore. I think of these  elements  as seperate things but they are touching at all times, moving and co-exsisting as I trollop along in my very insignificant way.

These two pictures are from Paple beach and coast line. A short car journey slightly southwest of Scalloway. I take Mu on walks usually twice a day. We are getting out a lot.

I came to this residency to draw, write and experience the remoteness of this place. It is quiet and I can not escape myself. I try to be at ease with my daily routine of writing, walking the dog, eating, drawing and looking forward to my next meal shortly after the one I just had.

In the last year Adam and I moved from Glasgow, Scotland to Aspley Guise, England which was a massive transition for us both. It is much more a remote living situation for me as I no longer belong to an artist community. Coming to this Shetland breaks the routine and adds incredible drama as well as that element of confronting my own sense of being.

I came across this animal shelter made from an old boat. It is a portal to another world. I've walked into that unknown darkness and I am trying to hush the voice in my mind about doing and being by resisting accomplishing loads of tasks and and seeing everything there is to see. Exploring was part of the to do list but trying to quiet the images and voices of expectation is also part of the plan. It is such an intense solitude, the sounds are of waves, squaks from birds, the occasional boat and plane overhead.

I am enjoying exploring the island and will continue to go new places. I am drawing and I am writing. For now here are a few vistas for your viewing pleasure. I make pluck up the courage to add a few drawings but they are all new to me and I'm trying to see what they are.

Not to worry, we've made friends with the locals and they don't bite!