January 2014 Caritas - The magazine of the former pupils and friends of George Watson's College. Issue 35
Art in Motion
When I was at Watson’s, I was mainly known for two skills, art and diving. Suffice to say I was no Tom Daley - but I had bottle and was not afraid to fling myself off high places regardless of whether I hurt myself or not.
In art I took a similar approach. The art department was not the facility it is now, but Ian Coutts encourage me to be ambitious. He let me and a few other pupils set up an impromptu studio in the lobby area. From there I produced paintings, the bigger the better. When I applied to art college in 1991 I had a Godzilla scale portfolio which nearly garrotted my arm off, it was so heavy.
In 2011 after a career as a magazine illustrator I decided that commercial briefs alone were not fulfilling my full potential. I resolved to start tackling monster historical images like the ones I’d seen in the galleries on the Mound.
I painted a spectacular historical epic of Bonnie Prince Charlie entering Edinburgh in 1745 at the head of his Jacobite army which hung at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This led to a commission for a bar in Glasgow where I was asked to produce a 20 metre version of Tam O’Shanter. I used patrons of the bar as photo reference for witches and warlocks. I also made a time lapse video of the picture’s construction. My cousin George, who is in a bluegrass band, recorded a spectacular musical rendition where he recites the poem in seven minutes. I found a talented editor who made an epic film of the picture’s creation from my cottage which told the poem in a whole new graphic way.