THE END OF A LONG AND WINDING ROAD

Calm down, dear!  This is not a painting (yet!).  This house stands at the end of a long, winding and bumpy road, and I took this photograph yesterday, after my sister Mary and I had navigated this vergeless, barrier-less, and mostly tarred highway to the hamlet of Nibon, in Shetland's north mainland,  in unbroken sunshine yesterday.   There are only three dwelling houses, along with two holiday chalets, in this isolated and beautiful spot and, as far as I can remember, I have never been here before.

On the way to Nibon, we passed the end of the side-road which leads downhill to the isolated croft of Gunnister, which stands near the head of the voe of the same name, while on the other side of the valley is the other hamlet of Ennisfirth, access to which is by another side-road leading from a more northerly turn-off from the main road north.  Perhaps the most remarkable thing I noticed about this area is the complete lack of new buildings (apart from the holiday chalets), which have been springing up aplenty in other parts of the islands over the last few decades.  And another thing - that road must be the devil's own to negotiate in wintry conditions!

The trip north was the result of my contract to supply the St Magnus Bay Hotel with a series of paintings on the theme of the North of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland Steam Navigation Company's relationship with this area (and former ownership of the hotel).  I had consulted my OS map and, according to that, the best vantage point  for getting a photograph of the Ness of Hillswick (which the ships would have had to pass on their way to and from the anchorage in the bay opposite the hotel) would be the end of the Nibon road.  I bribed my sister with the promise of a meal in the hotel's restaurant (which does an excellent carvery on Sundays), booked our table, and off we set yesterday.  The photographic part of the mission was reasonably successful, the meal was excellent, and we delivered the five paintings which represent the first completed works in a series of many for this impressive establishment.  We took the paintings to the first-floor drawing room, which is a spacious and grand affair, and I feel good about having an association with this splendid and historically significant building.  I wish the new owners every success in their venture.

The commission is also a long and winding road, of which the end is yet nowhere near in sight, and I have somehow to fulfil this along with my Catterline exhibition.  As far as I know, I still have to produce the latter for sometime around the beginning of November, although I have yet to hear anything from them about actual dates.  I hope to get these soon.  More on the St. Magnus Bay Hotel commission, and the two historical incidents which are connected to this place, and which I have been asked to portray on canvas, in the near future.  Enjoy your week!

CRUISE SHIPS AND RELATED THINGS

The accommodation barge, for the workers on the imminent Sullom Voe Terminal gas plant refurbishment, arrived in Lerwick harbour today. The "Bibby Bigmodularcubething" is, I believe, to be moored at the same place as a similar edifice was, the last time a similar job was undertaken "up nort" a few years back. When the services have been plumbed in, it will provide digs for about a hundred and fifty artisans, and a few security and skivvy jobs for locals, no doubt some of them students, who will welcome the cash boost which long shifts will produce for them.

The presence of this sizeable waterborne structure means that the berth which is normally used for medium-sized cruise ships will be unavailable for this purpose for the whole summer. This will make little practical difference to me, as, in my opinion, cruise ships are a complete waste of time and harbour space. I have yet to sell as much as an A4 print to a cruise-ship passenger, and most local retailers consider these visitors as equally non-contributory to their sales totals. These big white monstrosities may as well be shunted out to the SBS base, or the Dales Voe terminal, which has sat unused, reeking faintly of mothballs and white elephant ordure, for the last ten years (could this not have been a better location for the accommodation barge?).

Or the ships could be anchored in the inner harbour, along with the vessels which are too large to be berthed. From there, their shell-shocked passengers can be punted ashore in the ships' lifeboats, before being corralled onto tour buses which take them to all the Shetland tourist destinations which are on the "favoured" list. Those venues which charge an entrance fee to cover some of their running costs are deliberately shunned, as a matter of the port authority and Visit Shetland's cosa nostra policy. Tours organised through Northlink Ferries have the same bias. Visit Shetland only will assist local producers who have paid their extortionate membership fees. I was told, on asking them to display a few leaflets in their premises at Lerwick's Market Cross, that they would only do so if I became a member, which cost £150! Surely a scale of service charges would be a more sensible policy.

Apart from a few "iconic" items, such as knitwear, along with goods which are passed off as Shetland products by unscupulous traders to gullible visitors, little is bought from local retailers by cruise ship passengers. They have excellent food provided on board as part of their tariff, so, apart from a few confections, little by way of foodstuffs is bought ashore. I have heard that some of the cruise ship operators actually discourage their clients from buying items from shore-based retailers, as they would much rather that they would spend their limited spare cash on merchandise from their own onboard shops.

The benefit to the local economy from visiting cruise ships is therefore very limited, and much overstated by Visit Shetland and the Lerwick Port Authority. The latter no doubt benefits (from the harbour dues for these vessels), along with local bus operators, a few knitwear manufacturers, and producers of Shetland pate a foie gras, products whose Shetland identity and provenance are based on their creators' residence alone. The umbrella organisations for the local tourist "industry" have found themselves in the position of large piscatorial beings in small aqueous volumes everywhere - they have far more power than they know how to handle properly.

So whenever a large cruise ship appears off the Bressay Light, I regard it with mixed feelings. I enjoy seeing the big ships simply because of my maritime interests, but not because of any financial benefit which might come my way from their presence. The "Bibby Bigboxything" offers more by way of sales prospects for local merchants - her residents will require locally-sourced food and other products. One of them might even want to buy one of my prints to send home to a loved one - who knows?

DEFINING MOMENTS

In what was an unplanned closing ceremony for a beautiful summer, the last two cruise ships of the 2009 season arrived almost together off the Bressay Lighthouse at 7 o'clock on the morning of the 24th September. The ships were the lovely "Marco Polo", Clyde-built in the late 1960s as the "Alexander Pushkin" for Russian owners, and the more modern and much less aesthetically pleasing "Silver Cloud". The "Marco Polo" was making possibly her last visit to Lerwick, as she is soon to head for the breakers' yard. I'm having difficulty dealing with the thought of anything so lovely being destroyed.

Also on the 24th, I completed another artwork, my first finished painting for some time, due to the colossal amount of detail I included in the scene. I wrapped and posted it to my client in Provence yesterday. Meanwhile, I've started work on a new picture of Boyndie Bay (next to Banff), hoping that I can reconstruct an evening in late June, and going against all my principles of not trying to recreate moments in time in the process. I've also been continuing work on the Fordyce village landscape and the commissioned work of the Whalsay seine-netter "Orion" in Lerwick harbour. I should have the last-named finished over the next week or so.

The end of September means that my web-hosting bill for the year falls due for payment, so I duly stumped up yesterday, leaving it till the eleventh hour as usual. My web designer is promising me a major e-commerce update to the site, which is going to greatly enhance its selling capabilities. Anything which improves my chances of selling artwork is much to be welcomed, as my prints haven't exactly been flying off the shelves these last few years. I'll believe it when I see it! Please feel free to visit the website http://www.tait-gallery.co.uk/. Your comments would be most welcome at jim@tait-gallery.co.uk. Have a nice week!