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Coll and Colonsay — April 2024
I spent a week on each of the islands of Coll and Colonsay at the end of April. I was not there specifically to draw, but managed to grab a few quick sketches, which, unfortunately, do little to convey the character and magic of these two islands.
If I had to say what defines these islands, it would be the landscape and seascape rather than the wildlife. There is something essentially Hebridean about the clarity of light, colour of the sea, big skies, beautiful beaches and coastal dunes. The wildlife is great too, of course! Here are a couple of views to start:
In the morning, at low tide, Hogh Bay was all blue sky and extraordinary calm transparent sea. Late in the afternoon, the wind had got up and the scene was very different. There were still plenty of Greylag Geese on the island, but they seemed to be made restless by the change in weather, and a few skeins set off north.
The sketches are a bit wishy washy, so I tried a couple of bolder pictures back home to make a stronger statement about the light and colour. Here's Balnahard Bay again.
Most beaches had a resident pair of Ringed Plover and Oystercatchers. There were plenty of seals on both islands too. They always make good subjects — I especially enjoy drawing the common seals, which I don't see in Cornwall.
One of the best mammal encounters was a with a mother otter and her two well grown kits. Here are a couple of drawings and an acrylic done later as an exploration of colours and marks.
A few more sketches
Otters: pencil sketches from the sketchbook.
And finally, some more Common Seals.
