The Wild Islands
A Visual Diary
Self-published • 2023
In the summer of 2023, I joined Sail Britain’s Wild Islands Artist Residency and spent a week sailing and sketching around the Inner Hebrides. This book is my illustrated diary of the trip.
In recent years my creative and personal self have become increasingly rooted in the natural world. Sail Britain’s Wild Islands artist residency offered an amazing opportunity to spend a week exploring this connection.
The residency was spent aboard the yacht Merlin sailing between the islands of the Inner Hebrides. It was an intense and inspiring week of being deeply immersed in nature. We heard the haunting sounds of seals singing, and the noisy clamour of a guillemot colony. We saw puffins with their beaks stuffed with shiny fish, and watched dolphins dance round the bows of the yacht. Through it all I drew, trying to capture the magic of the experience in my sketchbook.
On my return I turned the sketches and notes I had made into an illustrated diary of the trip. An account of a magical week and a reflection upon the importance of our relationship with nature.
The book is available from my online shop here. Further details of Sail Britain’s residency program can be found here. I gratefully received funding for the residency from Creative Scotland’s Open Fund.