Blog Feed: The artwork, humour, gripes, moans, confused mutterings and ridiculous notions of seascape oil painter Jim Tait.
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IT'S A BIG ONE!
Published on 2012-05-15 15:48:00
Since this photograph was taken, I have had my hair cut. > read more
"NORT TROW"
Published on 2012-04-04 10:26:00
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). > read more
DISABILITY
Published on 2012-03-25 10:54:00
Yesterday, as Shetland was shrouded in thick fog, which is still persisting as I write this, my sister Mary and I joined the rest of the mourners at the funeral of our first cousin Jeemie Nicolson. > read more
LET'S MAKE A DATE!
Published on 2012-03-18 07:01:00
Scotland's glorious leader, King Alex 1, is fond of his dates. > read more
THE "HARVEST HOPE"
Published on 2012-02-12 14:07:00
My family moved to Sandwick, in Shetland's south Mainland, from Baltasound in the north isles, around Christmas-time in 1954, when I was 6 years old. Our nearest neighbour was George John Stove, one of the crewmen on the "Harvest Hope", depicted above. The painting was commissioned by Colin, the son of George John, and my earliest memories of life in the new parish were what seemed to be endless sunny days of fun with Colin and the other children of the district. Colin is now an eminent phys [..] > read more
WOOF!
Published on 2012-01-29 14:47:00
Now and then I get a different kind of project to work on, and this is one of these. At various stages of a long, varied (and mostly mis-spent!) career, I've done cats, dogs, horses (for the window of Lerwick bookies'), children and even the odd reclining female nude human figure. Being an artist, one is expected to take on whatever genre prospective patrons might shove one's way, and be grateful for their confidence and the challenge to one's skills. It makes a change from the usual seascape [..] > read more
THE TEMPEST
Published on 2012-01-11 15:03:00
A happy new year! If I made a resolution (which I haven't for at least a decade - they're a waste of time for weak-willed people like me!) it should have been to post more regularly to this blog. I'll do my best, but my good intentions are too often thwarted by events happening around me.While most of Britain was mopping up and compiling statistics for insurance claims after the new year storms, Shetland was basking in a relatively quiet spell of weather, with winds not reaching much more than [..] > read more
STEAM DRIFTER "STEPHENS" FROM INVERALLOCHY
Published on 2012-01-08 15:05:00
This painting was commissioned by the great-grandson of the owner of the steam drifter "Stephens". She is depicted leaving Fraserburgh harbour on a summer's evening, for another night's drift-net fishing for herring, during the boom years of this fishery in the 1930s.At 87 feet in length, the steel-built vessel was built in 1911 by A Hall & Co., Aberdeen, as the Inverness-registered "Vale o' Moray". A long and varied career followed, which saw her requisitioned for Admiralty service in two wor [..] > read more
WINTER BLUES
Published on 2011-12-18 14:56:00
It's hard to explain, to you faithful few followers of this blog, why I haven't posted to it in a month. I suppose the reason is that I had nothing I wanted to tell anyone about. How can I explain how I feel, after all the elation and hopeful anticipation of a month ago, about the fact that not a single painting has been sold from the Catterline exhibition? It's difficult to satisfactorily explain, even to myself, how, after eighteen months of producing my best work, and about £2000 of expen [..] > read more
CATTERLINE HANGING PARTY AND REUNION!
Published on 2011-11-13 16:24:00
The last time I hung an exhibition in the Creel Inn at Catterline, it was in the new year of 2008. I held out no high hopes for sales success, as this was the "graveyard shift", a term I use to describe that time of year when people's spare cash balance is at its lowest after the festive season. Nevertheless the event sold well, and I was anxious to see how another show at the back end of a year would fare (although we are now in an economic recession). In 2011 I received my opportunity to do [..] > read more
THE LION, THE SWAN AND THE GIFT OF YOUTH
Published on 2011-10-30 14:48:00
The title of this post might sound a bit C S Lewis-ish, but it stems from a rough English translation of the names of the three ships featured in this week's featured painting. This is the last of the new works I've managed to complete for this year's Catterline exhibition (I hope it's completed!). I still have a bit to do on tarting up one of my old tall ship paintings, and I hope to get this done tomorrow. If I don't manage it, this one will probably not be making the journey south, as I wo [..] > read more
FAIR STOOD THE WIND FOR......CATTERLINE?
Published on 2011-10-16 05:59:00
The last two paintings for the Catterline exhibition are of sailing vessels, and this is the first of these. It features three of the windjammers which took part in this year's Tall Ships Race. From left to right, these are the Dutch brig "Morgenster", the barque "Europa" (also Netherlands-registered) and the Norwegian gaff-rigged ketch "Liv". The painting, on canvas, measures 30" x 20" (as you see, I've never been decimalised!).Now ALL I have to do is finish the final painting (a 24" x 24" c [..] > read more
THE "RANDOM HARVEST II"
Published on 2011-10-09 14:01:00
I finished work on this painting last week. It is of the Arbroath-registered seiner/trawler "Random Harvest II" rolling along in a freshening south-easterly as she approaches the lee of Lerwick harbour. She was built by Gerrard Bros. of Arbroath in 1958, was 68 feet long and 50 tons gross and net. She was owned by a partnership headed by skipper David Teviotdale of Arbroath.I hope to complete two more paintings, both of tall ships, for the Catterline exhibition, which opens on 8th November at [..] > read more
CHOPPY SEAS
Published on 2011-10-02 05:22:00
I know I promised to display this painting here three weeks ago, and this only serves to demonstrate the fragile nature of such undertakings. My excuses seem feeble in the extreme now, as I reflect on what has happened over the period - family matters, a "chest cold" which has been doing the rounds of my native islands and made my life a misery for a fortnight, and, at the same time, trying to keep some kind of painting workrate going, as the Catterline exhibition is being hung five weeks tomor [..] > read more
THE ABERDEEN TRAWLER "VIGILANCE"
Published on 2011-07-03 15:35:00
The latest oil painting from my curmudgeonly artistic brush is this portrayal of the Aberdeen trawler "Vigilance" (reg. no. A204) approaching her home port in choppy weather. Part of the long stretch of sandy beach, which extends northwards > read more
TALL SHIPS CARDS AND GICLEES!
Published on 2011-07-03 06:51:00
Take a look at www.tait-gallery.co.uk/Product-Page-1.aspx and you will find there is a new range of four A6 greeting cards featuring my oil paintings of tall ships. These, and many other products, will be on sale at my stall at the Toll Cloc > read more
PARTS AND PLACES - A RANT!
Published on 2011-06-12 14:34:00
The comprehensive education system is now well into letting down its second generation of scholars. Amongst the better-documented failings of this regime, there lies one which has probably escaped the notice of many commentators. It appea > read more
IT'S AN ILL WIND......
Published on 2011-06-05 09:40:00
Wednesday June 1st dawned wet and windy, and it got wetter and windier as the day went on. At morning coffe-break time, I looked out through the gloom over Breiwick Bay, and I could just make out the massive receding form of the 93,000 grt crui > read more
FETTERCAIRN
Published on 2011-06-05 09:05:00
Well, here it is - my version, in oils, of the village of Fettercairn. It is one of the results of many trips around the Mearns area of north-east Scotland, with my brother in his car. I've portrayed the scene as it would be in March > read more
EARLY FLOWERINGS AND LATE PAINTINGS
Published on 2011-05-29 13:35:00
While most of nature seems to be ahead of schedule here, I am far behind where I ought to be in terms of finished works for the forthcoming Catterline exhibition. As far as I know, I am still due to exhibit at the Creel Inn in November and Dece > read more
MORE ON DRIP STRIP!
Published on 2011-05-29 10:18:00
Further to my posting of Wednesday 16th February, I feel I must extol further the excellent practical properties of drip strip from an artist's point of view. This spongy stuff, which people used to soak up water caused by condensation in inter > read more
OCEAN-GOING TALL SHIPS
Published on 2011-05-15 06:23:00
When I held my last exhibition at the Creel Inn, Catterline, in early 2008, the success of it was due, in no small measure, to the efforts of my nephew Kenneth Halcrow. He provided the transport, he devised and executed the system for hanging t > read more
THEY'RE BACK!
Published on 2011-05-08 04:04:00
Yesterday morning, I went for my quarterly (roughly!) appointment at the hairdresser's in Mounthooly Street, Lerwick. Duly shorn of my "mooskit" locks, I took my predetermined walk home by the "scenic route", calling along the Spar shop in Thor > read more
THE END OF A LONG AND WINDING ROAD
Published on 2011-05-02 15:53:00
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 > read more
WHERE WAS ONE WHEN......?
Published on 2011-04-28 16:07:00
People can usually remember where they were at certain defining moments in history. On November 22nd, 1963, aged 15, I was in a classroom at Sandwick J S School when someone (I forget who - it may have been my father, who was headmaster at that > read more
THOUGHTS ON INSPIRATION
Published on 2011-04-17 14:11:00
The lofty word "ispiration" is sometimes coined to define the process by which we visual artists arrive at our creations. I have never used this word to describe the sources, whether mental, spiritual, physical or digital, for my artistic outpourings > read more
BULLERS O' BUCHAN
Published on 2011-04-03 08:29:00
Early last Sunday morning, having remembered to adjust my watch to BST, and having established that it was now 6am, I went to the bathroom of room 57 at the Premier Inn (West Central, Aberdeen) and eyed the facilities suspiciously. As I thought, the > read more
HOWE O' THE MEARNS
Published on 2011-04-03 04:15:00
I hope you like my landscape painting of a springtime scene in Howe o' the Mearns. This area has some of Scotland's richest farmland, where newly-ploughed fields are defined by others yellow with daffodil crops, bordered by rows of hawthorn bushes. F > read more
CATCHING COLDS
Published on 2011-03-20 09:25:00
When I catch a cold, it normally runs the same course - four days of shivering sneezing misery followed by four weeks of getting rid of the gunk which clogged up my tubes (sorry to those of a sensitive disposition!). So it has been with me this last > read more
HAZARDS OF SEAFARING
Published on 2011-03-07 14:28:00
This is my version, in oils on canvas, of the Shetland fishing boat "Kildonan", passing the Bressay lighthouse as she approached Lerwick harbour. She would have done this many times in her short career. She was a 50-odd foot "zulu", built originally > read more
THE FIFTH AMENDMENT!
Published on 2011-02-27 14:18:00
I reckon that's the number of times that I've made alterations to this painting over the six years since I first produced what I thought was a good representation of the MV "St. Clair". She was completed in 1960 by the long-since-closed Hall Russell' > read more
MORE TERMINOLOGICAL INEXACTITUDES!
Published on 2011-02-16 02:27:00
Yet more obsequious hand-wringing after the manner of Charles Dickens' character Uriah Heep (as illustrated by my drawing of my impersonation of the revolting chap!) is required. I just keep making mistakes and, unlike most of today's politicians, I' > read more
GOURDON HARBOUR, DRAUGHT EXCLUDER AND MR MUSCLE
Published on 2011-02-08 15:33:00
Here's the latest work to become part of the "stock" at the Tait Gallery. It depicts workboats and pleasure craft at their moorings in the inner harbour at Gourdon, on the east coast of Scotland just south of Inverbervie. This painting took a long ti > read more
SITTING AND WAITING
Published on 2011-01-30 10:10:00
I'll have to get out more. Up-Helly-A' and the coincidental Burns Night passed by last Tuesday without any participation by me whatsoever, although the Tait Gallery is now on the collecting sheet for the former. My sister Angela, who is normally re > read more
EYEMOUTH
Published on 2011-01-30 04:04:00
Last week I promised that I'd have two more completed paintings to show you today. I almost succeeded, but the second one still has a couple of details to complete, so I've had to hold it over until I've done those. Meantime, here is the "Dougals", > read more
"THULE ROCK" AND "REAPER"
Published on 2011-01-23 07:15:00
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 > read more
SHOKKIN' APO A SPITTLE!
Published on 2011-01-23 04:57:00
It's not often I find myself drawn to proceedings on the Review Show, which is the slot on BBC2 which follows Newsnight, round about 11pm on a Friday. Indeed the only reason it was on in my studio was that I had been working on my computer and had n > read more
GOOD FOR HUGH!
Published on 2011-01-16 05:57:00
Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's series about the price of fish was excellent - at least the only programme I managed to watch was. He told it as he saw it, from the point of view of someone who knows his food, and added some pretty clever stuff to his > read more
APPOINTMENTS AND ARTWORK
Published on 2011-01-09 07:22:00
Last week, things got gradually back to normal after the festive season. Even the weather seemed to return to its damp dull usual for a Shetland winter, at least until Thursday, when the snow returned to plague us once more.My work is not greatly af > read more
CAPTAIN'S LOG, STAR DATE WHATEVER......!
Published on 2011-01-09 04:58:00
I try to keep a record, in the hastily scribbled pages of my diary, of the weather in Shetland each day. It's not a detailed scholarly affair, such as might be kept by an amateur meteorologist, with temperatures, rainfall amounts, wind strengths and > read more
......AND IN WITH THE NEW!
Published on 2011-01-02 09:47:00
I have heard tell of a custom, which used to be practised in some parts of these islands, by which people did a little, on New Year's Day, of everything which they intended to do more extensively during the coming year. What this was supposed to ach > read more
OUT WITH THE OLD.....
Published on 2011-01-02 08:32:00
The snow, which was beginning to thaw at the time of my last post to this blog last Sunday afternoon, had virtually disappeared by Tuesday. The ground, which had been under a foot of the white stuff, displayed not a trace of it after 36 hours of win > read more
NOT BOXING DAY!
Published on 2010-12-26 13:40:00
I learnt this startling news from my diary today, namely that the 26th December is not Boxing Day when it falls on a Sunday. Even more startling is the fact that I've gone through 63 Christmastides without being aware of this.Well, I've just had my > read more