RIPPLES IN THE POND

Strange, isn't it, how one thing can lead to another, rather like the well-worn analogy between one's actions and throwing a pebble into a pond, with the ensuing ripples spreading outwards therefrom. So it was with the picture I painted, a couple of months ago, of the motor boat "Laerling", which was used, up until about ten years ago, as a transport for sightseeing and diving excursions around Shetland. One of her former skippers had commissioned the work and, as usual, I uploaded a JPEG of it to the Tait Gallery website. The boat was sold from Lerwick to Danish owners, and it was they who got in touch, requesting A4 prints of the painting. In a previous existence, I would have provided a negative response to this request, but this time I decided to see if I could accomplish the task they had set me. It involved borrowing the original artwork back from its owner (which I did last Sunday), taking it along to local graphics firm Tay-CAD Ltd (which I did on Monday) to scan it and produce said prints from the scanning. I haven't got the painting or the prints back yet, but I hope to have them soon. I'm making very little profit on this venture, and times have changed to make me go to this amount of trouble for a client. The Tait Gallery now has a can-do attitude - it's official!