The title of this piece refers to the name given by Shetlanders to the north Mainland of Shetland (Mainland being the name of the largest island of the archipelago). Where exactly "nort trow" begins probably depends on whom you ask. To someone from Voe, it probably starts at the Mavis Grind isthmus, whereas to folk, like me, from Lerwick and the central and south of the island, it most probably begins at Voe or Brae. It is universally agreed that it ends at the Point of Fethaland, the most northerly point.
Wherever it begins, it was hither that my old school pal Robin Barclay and I hied on the morning of Tuesday 27th March. We had arranged to go for a run in Robin's 4 x 4, accompanied by our cameras, and the weather turned out exceptionally fine for our excursion. Robin is one of the old classmates who made up the hanging party for the ill-fated Catterline exhibition last November. As it turned out, the hanging was the only good part of it, but I couldn't have reasonably foreseen that at the time.
Last Tuesday we called first at Weisdale's Bonhoga Gallery to see what was on display there. We then continued on our way to Voe, where we gave our cameras their first exercise around the pier area. Lower Voe is one of the most attractive locations in Shetland, strongly evocative of Norwegian west coast villages with the maroon-painted wooden buildings clinging to the steep hillsides around the voe-head. We had an excellent bar lunch at the Pierhead Bar and Restaurant there.
At upper Voe, the main road splits into two, the right fork taking the traveller past Dales Lees to Firth, Mossbank and the north isles ferry terminal at Toft. We took the left turning, from which the road skirts Olna Firth, and then Busta Voe on its way through Brae. My intention had been to steer my old schoolmate in the direction of Muckle Roe, a place I had not visited since my last call there with the Bank of Scotland mobile unit around 1970. It turned out that Robin had never been there before, so we duly crossed the bridge and took the left turning which led us along the Busta Voe side of what used to be an island, access to which was gained by stepping stones (use of which must have been a hazardous undertaking in inclement weather!) until a footbridge was built in 1904, upgraded to take vehicular traffic after WWII. Judging by the fair number of new houses along the couple of miles of winding road between the bridge and the Little Ayre, Muckle Roe is now within easy daily commuting distance of the oil terminal and other mainland workplaces.
I have unfinished photographic business in Muckle Roe. I'd known it was a mistake to have that coffee after my meal at Voe, and my bladder was at bursting point by the time we got back to the bridge. Since no toilet facilities were evident, I had to employ the 4 x 4, on the mainland side, to shield myself from the eyes of the populace, as I pumped the bilges en plein air, so to speak. Duly relieved, it didn't seem appropriate to cross over again, so I got a few photographs of the bridge area, before we continued our run northwards. The weather was still beautiful, and it was only the grey colour of the ground which reminded us that March was not yet out.
We headed for Hillswick, and called at the craft shop, which was closed until May. We carried on west as far as Braewick, and I can't recall when I was last in this part of Shetland - probably never in better weather. Robin wanted to go to Ronas Voe, so it was back to Urafirth to get back on the road north. We ended up down on a "taing", known as the Blade (I found that out from an OS map afterwards) at Heylor, looking across at the red granite mass of Shetland's highest natural feature, Ronas Hill. A "skarf" was diving around the mussel ropes in the cobalt blue waters of the voe, and I found this place completely enchanting. As far as I can remember, I've never been at this lovely spot in my life before.
We toyed with the idea of heading even farther up to North Roe, but Robin reckoned there wasn't enough time left, as he had to be back in Sandwick around 5pm. We did call along Ollaberry on the way back south to Lerwick. The breeze had been gentle, the sunshine warm, and the day perfect. Sometimes I feel ashamed at how little I've seen of my native islands, and cross-country hiking will never be an option for me nowadays. However, it's amazing how much beautiful scenery can be enjoyed from close to the road. I'm looking forward to making more use of my camera, next time I'm "nort trow".
Now, as yesterday's snow is still clearing from the shady sides of the "hill-daeks", I recall the balmy conditions of a week ago, and ponder on the fickle nature of the Shetland weather. Fine days are not to be wasted here, and I'm glad I took full advantage of last Tuesday's sunshine. I hope we get some decent weather this summer, but I'm not holding my breath!
The Grumpy Old Artist
Would YOU pose for this man???
Exhibition Poster
Catterline Event, 2011
Oil Painting by Jim Tait
Helford River, Cornwall
Oil Painting by Jim Tait
Full-riggers "Georg Stage" and "Danmark"
Other Recent Works
Fordyce Castle and Village
Hay's Dock, Lerwick
Shetland-model Boats at Burravoe, Yell
Tall Ships Seascape
The Tour Boat "Dunter III", with Gannets, off Noss
The "Karen Ann II" entering Fraserburgh harbour
Summer Evening, Boyndie Bay
1930s Lerwick Harbour
Johnshaven Harbour
"Seabourn Legend"
Greeting Cards!
Now Available in Packs of Five or in Assorted Sets of Four
Showing posts with label Shetland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shetland. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Sunday, 18 March 2012
LET'S MAKE A DATE!
Scotland's glorious leader, King Alex 1, is fond of his dates. I don't mean the brown sticky things that used to come in long-shaped tins and which I decided, at a very tender age, were never going to be part of my staple diet. I mean significant dates in Scottish history, such as that of the battle of Bannockburn, on the 700th anniversary of which he plans to hold the "independence" referendum. On that momentous day (the 24th June 2014 - I looked it up!), he hopes, Scotland will become a nation again.
I've got news for him - Scotland will never be a sovereign state as long as it is subject to the tyrannous rule of the European Union. To be a sovereign state, one has to have complete freedom of legislature, executive and judiciary, the constitutional elements in which the independence of a nation is enshrined. But King Ted sold all three of them down the river Rhine on January 1st 1973 (there's another good date for King Alex). Since then, the UK can only legislate as far as the lords and masters of Brussels and Strassbourg will graciously allow, the executive (civil service) is similarly constrained in its actions, and our judiciary (of which Scotland could once be justly proud) is now subject to whatever overturning edicts might emanate from that august, weird and wonderful institution known as the European Court of Human Rights (whatever that consists of). When I hear politicians talking about British sovereignty, I wonder who they think they're kidding!
Now the winds of change are blowing through Europe (to misquote Harold Macmillan out of context!). The financial systems of weaker member "states" are destined for meltdown, one by one, unable to adjust to the strength of the euro, and ending up in hock to the more robust systems, led by that of Germany, which will succeed in doing financially what Hitler failed to do militarily, and completely control the rest of Europe. Once again, the UK will survive, after a fashion, not having signed up to the euro. Perhaps King Alex has been smarter, in his intended adherence to the pound, than I have been giving him credit for.
All that is some distance down the rocky road. In the meantime, King Alex will only reign over a satellite European province, attached geographically to a slightly bigger UK satellite, and his government will have no more power than a provincial administration. He's very Scottish, King Alex. The trouble is I feel no Scottish blood coursing through my veins, and I shudder to think what will happen to my beloved Shetland Islands, when and if Scotland votes "aye" to "independence" (which is what most aye-voters are being led to think they are voting for!). Shetland stood practically alone in voting "nein" to European integration back in the 1970s, and I confidently predict that it will vote "nah" to Scottish "independence" too. Not that this will make much difference - Shetland will be dragged to whatever grisly fate awaits Scotland in the years to come, and our islands now have a big part to play in King Alex's plans!
I've got another date for King Alex - well, it's only a year, actually, as, to the best of my knowledge, the day and month are not a matter of record. It is 2018, when it will be 550 years since Shetland and Orkney were pledged to Scotland by a cash-strapped King of Denmark, who was obliged to provide a dowry for his daughter Margaret's marriage to James III of Scotland in 1468. It was only a pledge, redeemable on production of 20 florins of the Rhine, which the Danish monarch didn't have handy at the time. Somehow it was never redeemed, and the northern isles have remained politically attached to Scotland ever since. And for some time after the wedding, Shetland had a pretty bad hangover under the yoke of the Stewart kings' cousins, who were in charge of administration of the newly-acquired territory.
Now Shetland has something that King Alex badly wants - a rather lucrative arrangement with the companies which are producing most of "Scotland's oil" around our far-flung islands. The fields such as the Forties, Claymore and Tartan complexes off Aberdeen are past their peak production, and Scotland needs revenue from the northern North Sea and the new Continental Shelf exploration areas, because without it he hasn't got enough funds to fuel the projects which the SNP were rashly promising prospective voters at their recent party conference. The trouble is, who is going to do the negotiations for the islands this time around? I think that King Alex may just have the edge over us this time.
There are difficult times ahead for my beloved Shetland Islands. The fishing industry, which was once Shetland's biggest employer, is under more and more pressure from insane legislation emanating from a completely unsympathetic European Union, which, in turn, takes the advice of a multitudinous arraignment of conservation lobbyists and wildlife pressure groups (who gain most of their support from ill-informed and emotionally charged city dwellers), who would have the whole of the sea around our shores designated as a protected area for tourists to gawp at predatory species of marine mammals and seabirds. Most fishermen (the most endangered of all species!) have now left the industry to work in the aquaculture and oil industries, and the few remaining Shetland boats are frequently crewed by eastern Europeans, Filipinos and Africans. To compound the problem, other European member states do not feel obliged to be constrained by European fisheries legislation, and countries outside the EU are awarding themselves vastly inflated quotas for their fleets, further applying pressure to finite fish stocks.
Our other indigenous occupations, such as crofting and knitwear manufacture, are also in decline, and our own oil terminal is seeing its throughput steadily decreasing. According to some folk involved in the industry, Shetland is pricing itself out of the forthcoming oil installation decommissioning work. Vociferous organisations of nimbies, who see Shetland as somehow sustainable as a guano-covered rock in the ocean (perhaps they see fertiliser production as a new industry!) are doing their level best to prevent renewable energy projects from getting established. Tourism is vastly overrated as a source of income for anyone who doesn't provide accommodation or passenger transport. Just ask anyone who runs a small retail outlet how much he/she makes from tourists, and I can pretty much guarantee that the answer will be somewhere in the "not a lot" category.
In fact, I predict that the main occupations of Shetland residents during the reign of King Alex I of Scotland will be drug dealing and the inevitable consequences thereof. The increased workload of the Shetland Islands Council's Social Work Department and the NHS will no doubt provide employment for some.
On the glorious 14th June 2014, King Alex I hopes that Scotland will vote "Aye!" and start building the polytunnels which will help sustain it during its future as an oil-fired banana republic. There isn't anything else - most Scottish indigenous industry has either disappeared or is in the process of vanishing. But what the heck! Scotland will be a nation again - well, sort of! If it could negotiate independence from Europe, it might achieve independent nation status, for what that's worth. But that isn't part of King Alex's plan, is it? Unfortunately, Shetland IS part of it, and I wish, with all my heart, that my beloved islands had a plan B.
I've got news for him - Scotland will never be a sovereign state as long as it is subject to the tyrannous rule of the European Union. To be a sovereign state, one has to have complete freedom of legislature, executive and judiciary, the constitutional elements in which the independence of a nation is enshrined. But King Ted sold all three of them down the river Rhine on January 1st 1973 (there's another good date for King Alex). Since then, the UK can only legislate as far as the lords and masters of Brussels and Strassbourg will graciously allow, the executive (civil service) is similarly constrained in its actions, and our judiciary (of which Scotland could once be justly proud) is now subject to whatever overturning edicts might emanate from that august, weird and wonderful institution known as the European Court of Human Rights (whatever that consists of). When I hear politicians talking about British sovereignty, I wonder who they think they're kidding!
Now the winds of change are blowing through Europe (to misquote Harold Macmillan out of context!). The financial systems of weaker member "states" are destined for meltdown, one by one, unable to adjust to the strength of the euro, and ending up in hock to the more robust systems, led by that of Germany, which will succeed in doing financially what Hitler failed to do militarily, and completely control the rest of Europe. Once again, the UK will survive, after a fashion, not having signed up to the euro. Perhaps King Alex has been smarter, in his intended adherence to the pound, than I have been giving him credit for.
All that is some distance down the rocky road. In the meantime, King Alex will only reign over a satellite European province, attached geographically to a slightly bigger UK satellite, and his government will have no more power than a provincial administration. He's very Scottish, King Alex. The trouble is I feel no Scottish blood coursing through my veins, and I shudder to think what will happen to my beloved Shetland Islands, when and if Scotland votes "aye" to "independence" (which is what most aye-voters are being led to think they are voting for!). Shetland stood practically alone in voting "nein" to European integration back in the 1970s, and I confidently predict that it will vote "nah" to Scottish "independence" too. Not that this will make much difference - Shetland will be dragged to whatever grisly fate awaits Scotland in the years to come, and our islands now have a big part to play in King Alex's plans!
I've got another date for King Alex - well, it's only a year, actually, as, to the best of my knowledge, the day and month are not a matter of record. It is 2018, when it will be 550 years since Shetland and Orkney were pledged to Scotland by a cash-strapped King of Denmark, who was obliged to provide a dowry for his daughter Margaret's marriage to James III of Scotland in 1468. It was only a pledge, redeemable on production of 20 florins of the Rhine, which the Danish monarch didn't have handy at the time. Somehow it was never redeemed, and the northern isles have remained politically attached to Scotland ever since. And for some time after the wedding, Shetland had a pretty bad hangover under the yoke of the Stewart kings' cousins, who were in charge of administration of the newly-acquired territory.
Now Shetland has something that King Alex badly wants - a rather lucrative arrangement with the companies which are producing most of "Scotland's oil" around our far-flung islands. The fields such as the Forties, Claymore and Tartan complexes off Aberdeen are past their peak production, and Scotland needs revenue from the northern North Sea and the new Continental Shelf exploration areas, because without it he hasn't got enough funds to fuel the projects which the SNP were rashly promising prospective voters at their recent party conference. The trouble is, who is going to do the negotiations for the islands this time around? I think that King Alex may just have the edge over us this time.
There are difficult times ahead for my beloved Shetland Islands. The fishing industry, which was once Shetland's biggest employer, is under more and more pressure from insane legislation emanating from a completely unsympathetic European Union, which, in turn, takes the advice of a multitudinous arraignment of conservation lobbyists and wildlife pressure groups (who gain most of their support from ill-informed and emotionally charged city dwellers), who would have the whole of the sea around our shores designated as a protected area for tourists to gawp at predatory species of marine mammals and seabirds. Most fishermen (the most endangered of all species!) have now left the industry to work in the aquaculture and oil industries, and the few remaining Shetland boats are frequently crewed by eastern Europeans, Filipinos and Africans. To compound the problem, other European member states do not feel obliged to be constrained by European fisheries legislation, and countries outside the EU are awarding themselves vastly inflated quotas for their fleets, further applying pressure to finite fish stocks.
Our other indigenous occupations, such as crofting and knitwear manufacture, are also in decline, and our own oil terminal is seeing its throughput steadily decreasing. According to some folk involved in the industry, Shetland is pricing itself out of the forthcoming oil installation decommissioning work. Vociferous organisations of nimbies, who see Shetland as somehow sustainable as a guano-covered rock in the ocean (perhaps they see fertiliser production as a new industry!) are doing their level best to prevent renewable energy projects from getting established. Tourism is vastly overrated as a source of income for anyone who doesn't provide accommodation or passenger transport. Just ask anyone who runs a small retail outlet how much he/she makes from tourists, and I can pretty much guarantee that the answer will be somewhere in the "not a lot" category.
In fact, I predict that the main occupations of Shetland residents during the reign of King Alex I of Scotland will be drug dealing and the inevitable consequences thereof. The increased workload of the Shetland Islands Council's Social Work Department and the NHS will no doubt provide employment for some.
On the glorious 14th June 2014, King Alex I hopes that Scotland will vote "Aye!" and start building the polytunnels which will help sustain it during its future as an oil-fired banana republic. There isn't anything else - most Scottish indigenous industry has either disappeared or is in the process of vanishing. But what the heck! Scotland will be a nation again - well, sort of! If it could negotiate independence from Europe, it might achieve independent nation status, for what that's worth. But that isn't part of King Alex's plan, is it? Unfortunately, Shetland IS part of it, and I wish, with all my heart, that my beloved islands had a plan B.
Sunday, 23 January 2011
"THULE ROCK" AND "REAPER"
A bit later than promised, here is the latest commissioned painting. It features two historical Shetland fishing boats, the steam drifter "Thule Rock" and the motorised (and substantially rebuilt) fifie lugger "Reaper".
The "Thule Rock" was built at Stromness, Orkney in 1917, the only steam drifter to have been built there. At some point, probably in the 1930s, she was sold from Shetland to Lowestoft, being renamed "Lord Howard" (LT212). She was requisitioned by the Admiralty on the outbreak of the second world war, and was lost at Dunkirk in 1940. I have no record as to loss of life.
The "Reaper" is still afloat today as a completely restored fifie sailing lugger, which is how she began her career in 1901. Built at Sandhaven , she sailed out of nearby Fraserburgh until 1908, when she was bought by Shetland owners. At some point, she was converted into a motor vessel, as many of this type of boat were, and in the late 1930s, she underwent an even more extensive refit. Her stem was lengthened, an extra board was fitted around the gunwale, a new wheelhouse casing added, and there may have been other alterations too, for instance in the engine room (I'm not sure about this). She fished successfully until the 1950s, when she was bought by the islands council and used as a cargo vessel until around 1970. Eventually she was bought by the Anstruther Fisheries Museum, and restored to her original hull and rig, under which she sails as a training vessel.
I am at an advanced stage with two more paintings, and I hope to have one or both of these ready for next week's post. Enjoy your week!
Sunday, 27 June 2010
DONNER UND BLITZEN!
Early this morning, I awoke to the sound of thunder and torrential rain. My first thought was one of satisfaction that the plug plants, which I had set into my mother's front border last week, wouldn't need watering for a few days. Two weeks ago, any such horticultural thoughts would never have entered my head. By the time I had come out of my bath at about seven o'clock, the sun was attempting to break through the low cloud, and the kerbstones on the street outside were beginning to dry up.
I had decided on a walk to the Co-op again this morning, to take the air, stretch the legs and lay in a few of life's essentials. I was passing the nearby Morrison Dock, when I was amused to see the German flag flying from the foremast of one of the local whitefish trawlers, no doubt in response to the English one draped from one of the windows of the "Bibby Blockofbedsits" at the other side of the dock. Nothing like a good wind-up, eh? At the Co-op, several people asked me if I'd be watching the match this afternoon, to which I responded, in each case, in the negative. My lack of interest in the "beautiful game" must be the cause of great disappointment to so many people for whom it appears to be so important. In fact, the only World Cup fitba' I have seen has been on the pub tellies on the three occasions when I have been in such establishments since the tournament started. One of these visits was on Wednesday, in response to a phone call from an old friend who had come up for the Hamefarin. I had more than my usual quota of lager on that occasion, and I wasn't feeling too clever on Thursday morning.
It's been an odd couple of weeks really. I have had a power cut (while my computer and tumble dryer were both in operation - fortunately with no visibly adverse effects), a leaky boiler (which had to be replaced), a few raised glasses, and a few art sales too. And, on Tuesday, my sister Thelma took me on a tour of the south mainland of Shetland, an area of my native islands with which I am only partly familiar. I was at the Voe, Quendale Mill and the now ruinous Quendale farmhouse, Garths Ness (where the "Braer" was lost in 1993), Vanlop and Ireland (sic!), where I was up at a chapel I didn't know existed until a couple of weeks ago. I had never been to any of these places before, and there were many others that I had not been to for many a long year. One of these was the Sumburgh Hotel, where we had an excellent bar lunch and met a few more old Hamefarin friends. I had a lot of photographs to save onto my hard drive that evening.
And the artwork? It's been progressing steadily throughout. I have a new commission of a cruise ship, I'm in negotiations about another fishing boat painting, and work has continued apace on the others. I now feel the need to make more haste with the large 50 x 40 inch sailing ship work, as I promised to have this completed by early August, although I lost three weeks at the start of this project to a canvas supply problem, and I know my client would rather wait a little longer than have the quality of the work compromised.
I have been considering, since last Christmas, getting greeting cards printed, and I have spent a bit of recent time looking into possibilities with regard to this. My two new cardboard display units for these arrived this week. Guess what? - they're self-assembly, something at which I do NOT excel. At least I've got until November to get them finished!
Have a happy and successful week!
I had decided on a walk to the Co-op again this morning, to take the air, stretch the legs and lay in a few of life's essentials. I was passing the nearby Morrison Dock, when I was amused to see the German flag flying from the foremast of one of the local whitefish trawlers, no doubt in response to the English one draped from one of the windows of the "Bibby Blockofbedsits" at the other side of the dock. Nothing like a good wind-up, eh? At the Co-op, several people asked me if I'd be watching the match this afternoon, to which I responded, in each case, in the negative. My lack of interest in the "beautiful game" must be the cause of great disappointment to so many people for whom it appears to be so important. In fact, the only World Cup fitba' I have seen has been on the pub tellies on the three occasions when I have been in such establishments since the tournament started. One of these visits was on Wednesday, in response to a phone call from an old friend who had come up for the Hamefarin. I had more than my usual quota of lager on that occasion, and I wasn't feeling too clever on Thursday morning.
It's been an odd couple of weeks really. I have had a power cut (while my computer and tumble dryer were both in operation - fortunately with no visibly adverse effects), a leaky boiler (which had to be replaced), a few raised glasses, and a few art sales too. And, on Tuesday, my sister Thelma took me on a tour of the south mainland of Shetland, an area of my native islands with which I am only partly familiar. I was at the Voe, Quendale Mill and the now ruinous Quendale farmhouse, Garths Ness (where the "Braer" was lost in 1993), Vanlop and Ireland (sic!), where I was up at a chapel I didn't know existed until a couple of weeks ago. I had never been to any of these places before, and there were many others that I had not been to for many a long year. One of these was the Sumburgh Hotel, where we had an excellent bar lunch and met a few more old Hamefarin friends. I had a lot of photographs to save onto my hard drive that evening.
And the artwork? It's been progressing steadily throughout. I have a new commission of a cruise ship, I'm in negotiations about another fishing boat painting, and work has continued apace on the others. I now feel the need to make more haste with the large 50 x 40 inch sailing ship work, as I promised to have this completed by early August, although I lost three weeks at the start of this project to a canvas supply problem, and I know my client would rather wait a little longer than have the quality of the work compromised.
I have been considering, since last Christmas, getting greeting cards printed, and I have spent a bit of recent time looking into possibilities with regard to this. My two new cardboard display units for these arrived this week. Guess what? - they're self-assembly, something at which I do NOT excel. At least I've got until November to get them finished!
Have a happy and successful week!
Sunday, 28 March 2010
ARTWORK, WEBSITE WORK AND A TRIP AWAY
It's nice to be able to have new paintings to show you (above). One is a commissioned work of the tour boat "Dunter III" at one of her regular destinations, the cliffs of Noss, which is one of the largest seabird colonies in Britain. It was featured in the recent BBC production of "Simon King in Shetland". The other painting is a "stock" work which I've entitled "Tall Ships Seascape", which features, strange to relate, tall ships at sea! A second completed commission, of Lerwick's south end, slipped through the net as regards getting it photographed for representation here. My clients seemed well satisfied with my efforts - you'll have to take my word for it!
Two more commissions came my way this week, so I'll be starting on these shortly. In the meantime, I've been putting more work into another stock work featuring tall ships - I hope to have this as a feature on this blog within the next fortnight.
In view of the fact that I have no mainland exhibitions booked for this year, and, taking into account that I have concession travel vouchers to use from April onwards, I have decided to take a trip to the mainland at the end of next month. So I made the necessary bookings, including a night's stay at one of Aberdeen's Premier Inns. This is a totally unnecessary extravagance, and will be a new experience for me, as I've never stayed in one of these establishments before. Watch this space at the end of April for a Michelin Guide-style report on it! I was pleasantly surprised when I heard how much my ferry fares were costing - being over 60 definitely has its compensations!
My friend, business adviser and web designer, Igor Mournly, paid me one of his regular visits on Monday afternoon, and quickly dispelled any illusions which I may have harboured about life getting easier in the near future. The website upgrade is going to take an awful lot more work over the coming weeks and months. He was showing me how to go about creating a proper archive page to contain images of previously sold works and fulfilled commissions, and I was frantically taking notes on the procedures involved. These involve large images AND thumbnails, along with internal links between them, and I am not a little proud to say that I have since completed the "Commissions" archive, which is now "live", largely by accident - I just forgot to "hide" it. After further consultation, we decided to leave it as it was. It can be seen at
http://www.tait-gallery.co.uk/Commissions.aspx
Your opinion, as always in such matters, would be valuable - let me know what you think. You can click on each image on the main page to get larger images. Now I have another archive to create, this time of other non-commissioned "sold" works - and it's bigger than than the "Commissions" one. I'm really looking forward to a time when all this - the product database, "basket" and "checkout" functions, and narrative sections, as well as the parts already described - is ready to "go public".
A north-easterly gale is sweeping the islands as I work towards getting this post done. Altogether, it has been a fairly satisfactory week from the point of view of productiveness. My family are keeping well, which is even more important to me, and I hope for more of the same in both categories during the seven days to come. I hope it's the same for you!
Two more commissions came my way this week, so I'll be starting on these shortly. In the meantime, I've been putting more work into another stock work featuring tall ships - I hope to have this as a feature on this blog within the next fortnight.
In view of the fact that I have no mainland exhibitions booked for this year, and, taking into account that I have concession travel vouchers to use from April onwards, I have decided to take a trip to the mainland at the end of next month. So I made the necessary bookings, including a night's stay at one of Aberdeen's Premier Inns. This is a totally unnecessary extravagance, and will be a new experience for me, as I've never stayed in one of these establishments before. Watch this space at the end of April for a Michelin Guide-style report on it! I was pleasantly surprised when I heard how much my ferry fares were costing - being over 60 definitely has its compensations!
My friend, business adviser and web designer, Igor Mournly, paid me one of his regular visits on Monday afternoon, and quickly dispelled any illusions which I may have harboured about life getting easier in the near future. The website upgrade is going to take an awful lot more work over the coming weeks and months. He was showing me how to go about creating a proper archive page to contain images of previously sold works and fulfilled commissions, and I was frantically taking notes on the procedures involved. These involve large images AND thumbnails, along with internal links between them, and I am not a little proud to say that I have since completed the "Commissions" archive, which is now "live", largely by accident - I just forgot to "hide" it. After further consultation, we decided to leave it as it was. It can be seen at
http://www.tait-gallery.co.uk/Commissions.aspx
Your opinion, as always in such matters, would be valuable - let me know what you think. You can click on each image on the main page to get larger images. Now I have another archive to create, this time of other non-commissioned "sold" works - and it's bigger than than the "Commissions" one. I'm really looking forward to a time when all this - the product database, "basket" and "checkout" functions, and narrative sections, as well as the parts already described - is ready to "go public".
A north-easterly gale is sweeping the islands as I work towards getting this post done. Altogether, it has been a fairly satisfactory week from the point of view of productiveness. My family are keeping well, which is even more important to me, and I hope for more of the same in both categories during the seven days to come. I hope it's the same for you!
Sunday, 4 October 2009
WIND!
Just a minute - aaah, that's better! It's amazing how a bit of wind release can benefit one's heart, body and frame of mind, isn't it? There's certainly been a lot of wind, of one kind and another, generated in these islands of late, along with quite a lot of heat and slightly less light, much of it in connection with the proposed Viking Energy windfarm which, if constructed, would affect the skyline of much of the central mainland of Shetland.
It appears that a considerable majority of the Shetland population is opposed to it, and I, in my usual curmudgeonly manner, am swimming against a strong tide of public opinion in my conviction that the proposed development should take place, and that these islands will live to regret its rejection. I have several reasons for holding this belief.
Shetland's economy is fragile. The oil industry, which has served Shetland so well as an employer of islanders, is not going to last forever - oil and gas are finite resources (unlike wind!). Even taking into account the new fields in the Atlantic, which have extended the life of the Sullom Voe Terminal far beyond its original projected lifespan, the well of employment generated by the oil industry will dry up, as far as these islands are concerned. The future of other major employers, such as the fishing and fish farming industries, is equally uncertain. The former is under attack from the very body which should be supporting it, the EU, as well as the effects of climate change and fleet effort on stocks. The latter is subject to infectious diseases and uncertain markets, and many businesses engaged in this activity have already gone under. This leaves small indigenous traditional industries such as knitwear, croft-based electronic ventures, crofting itself and tourism (Lord help us!). We need a new source of income and employment which, if managed properly at the Shetland end, can keep these islands in the manner to which we have become accustomed over the past few decades. Wind is a natural resource of which Shetland has never been in short supply, and it is all wonderfully renewable! The abundance of this commodity has been the main feature of Shetland's meteorology over the centuries, to the extent that it has cost hundreds of lives, chiefly, but not exclusively, at sea. Having had it operating for so long against us, why not have it working for us, for a change?
The Shetland Islands Council organised several public meetings, at various locations throughout the Shetland mainland, during the past week, for the purpose of having the views of the population aired on the subject of the proposed development. At each of these meetings, none of which I am ashamed to say I attended, a vote was taken which, without exception, was firmly against the windfarm. Many of the objections were (perversely, in my opinion) on environmental grounds. The turbines, if built, would be situated on the hilly ridges which run the length of much of the mainland of Shetland. The surface of these hills is comprised almost entirely of varying depths of peat, and this, it is true, provides a habitat for a large variety of waders and other ground-nesting birds. But peatland is not exactly in short supply in these islands. My back develops a psychosomatic ache whenever I think of the hours spent toiling in the stuff during my formative late springs and summers at the south mainland parish of Sandwick.
Please forgive me for beginning to beat my drum against "colonial incomers" here again. One woman, who spoke at one of last week's meetings, stated that the one reason she settled here was to look at the unspoilt views of the place, and, if the windfarm development was to go ahead in its present form, she'd leave. Well, if she only came here to gawp at the scenery, please don't let me detain her! The representatives of other single-interest groups uttered their objections too. One speaker mentioned the possible failure of breeding populations of birds, not caring to mention his lack of concern for the economic wellbeing of the next generation of Shetlanders. If all human enterprise is to be sacrificed on the altar of ornithological interests, the prospects are poor for the working communities of Shetland. The dictatorial "scientific"and wildlife organisations, whose lobbies (drawing most of their support from the urban areas of Britain) are much more powerful than those of Shetlanders working at traditional (and new) industries, would be quite happy to see Shetland reduced to a kind of hippy colony (it's how many see us anyway!), in which the only people earning a decent living are social workers and drug dealers.
Many of the objections raised to the windfarm development are financial. It is going to cost an awful lot of money, let's face it, to build this scheme, but the benefits must surely outweigh the large initial outlay, and it is down to our negotiators to get a good deal for the Shetland power-consumer at the outset, so that he or she will be able to go to his or her cheaply-powered warm bed at night, with a clear conscience as to the source of his or her comfort, which, in turn, is having little negative effect on the global environment. And will these hilltop turbines be such an awful blot on the landscape?
It appears that a considerable majority of the Shetland population is opposed to it, and I, in my usual curmudgeonly manner, am swimming against a strong tide of public opinion in my conviction that the proposed development should take place, and that these islands will live to regret its rejection. I have several reasons for holding this belief.
Shetland's economy is fragile. The oil industry, which has served Shetland so well as an employer of islanders, is not going to last forever - oil and gas are finite resources (unlike wind!). Even taking into account the new fields in the Atlantic, which have extended the life of the Sullom Voe Terminal far beyond its original projected lifespan, the well of employment generated by the oil industry will dry up, as far as these islands are concerned. The future of other major employers, such as the fishing and fish farming industries, is equally uncertain. The former is under attack from the very body which should be supporting it, the EU, as well as the effects of climate change and fleet effort on stocks. The latter is subject to infectious diseases and uncertain markets, and many businesses engaged in this activity have already gone under. This leaves small indigenous traditional industries such as knitwear, croft-based electronic ventures, crofting itself and tourism (Lord help us!). We need a new source of income and employment which, if managed properly at the Shetland end, can keep these islands in the manner to which we have become accustomed over the past few decades. Wind is a natural resource of which Shetland has never been in short supply, and it is all wonderfully renewable! The abundance of this commodity has been the main feature of Shetland's meteorology over the centuries, to the extent that it has cost hundreds of lives, chiefly, but not exclusively, at sea. Having had it operating for so long against us, why not have it working for us, for a change?
The Shetland Islands Council organised several public meetings, at various locations throughout the Shetland mainland, during the past week, for the purpose of having the views of the population aired on the subject of the proposed development. At each of these meetings, none of which I am ashamed to say I attended, a vote was taken which, without exception, was firmly against the windfarm. Many of the objections were (perversely, in my opinion) on environmental grounds. The turbines, if built, would be situated on the hilly ridges which run the length of much of the mainland of Shetland. The surface of these hills is comprised almost entirely of varying depths of peat, and this, it is true, provides a habitat for a large variety of waders and other ground-nesting birds. But peatland is not exactly in short supply in these islands. My back develops a psychosomatic ache whenever I think of the hours spent toiling in the stuff during my formative late springs and summers at the south mainland parish of Sandwick.
Please forgive me for beginning to beat my drum against "colonial incomers" here again. One woman, who spoke at one of last week's meetings, stated that the one reason she settled here was to look at the unspoilt views of the place, and, if the windfarm development was to go ahead in its present form, she'd leave. Well, if she only came here to gawp at the scenery, please don't let me detain her! The representatives of other single-interest groups uttered their objections too. One speaker mentioned the possible failure of breeding populations of birds, not caring to mention his lack of concern for the economic wellbeing of the next generation of Shetlanders. If all human enterprise is to be sacrificed on the altar of ornithological interests, the prospects are poor for the working communities of Shetland. The dictatorial "scientific"and wildlife organisations, whose lobbies (drawing most of their support from the urban areas of Britain) are much more powerful than those of Shetlanders working at traditional (and new) industries, would be quite happy to see Shetland reduced to a kind of hippy colony (it's how many see us anyway!), in which the only people earning a decent living are social workers and drug dealers.
Many of the objections raised to the windfarm development are financial. It is going to cost an awful lot of money, let's face it, to build this scheme, but the benefits must surely outweigh the large initial outlay, and it is down to our negotiators to get a good deal for the Shetland power-consumer at the outset, so that he or she will be able to go to his or her cheaply-powered warm bed at night, with a clear conscience as to the source of his or her comfort, which, in turn, is having little negative effect on the global environment. And will these hilltop turbines be such an awful blot on the landscape?
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