The Swan Sketchbooks: John Cumming, 5th April – 29th May 2021

The work for this show has been significantly influenced by circumstances during the past year. Denied the opportunity to travel and research subjects, I turned instead to the sketchbooks I have filled over the past decade. Sketches which might have become prints or carvings in other circumstances have instead been developed in charcoal, graphite, oil pastel or clay.

Revisiting the sketchbooks has reawakened my deep love for the sea and for boats, and reengaged my concern at the loss of seabirds and those ecosystems which sustained them. The work bears references to a memorable week spent on the Minch aboard Song of the Whale as well as several trips aboard the Shetland Fifie Swan.

Last winter my sea-watching was limited to daily walks at Wharbeth with my dog, but the birds we saw there and the constant break on the Kirk Rocks has been added to new sketchbooks and further developed on paper and in clay.