Over the years, I’ve had many people ask if I would ever publish the many sketches I’ve made during my trips to Scotland. Well, I’m happy to announce that the time has come. My new book, Through a Painter’s Brush: Scotland, is now available in paperback, hardcover and Kindle editions. (By the way–the Kindle version allows you to ZOOM IN on the images. You can’t do that on the print version.)

The book turned into a bigger project than I’d expected. As I was getting started, I asked myself, Why just publish the sketches when I can also publish the studio paintings based on the sketches? And why not include my journals, too? I felt that the writing was equally important; after all, I’m a sort of a chimera, a hybrid beast, one that you might look at and ask yourself, “Is this a writer who paints, or a painter who writes?” So, I organized my notes—it was a pleasure, reliving the trips—and added them.

The book chronicles the three journeys I’ve embarked upon so far:

• Perthshire and Beyond: from the rolling hills and quiet lochs of Perthshire to the medieval town of Stirling with its ancient castle, and on to the glacier-carved valley of Glen Coe;
• Highlands and Islands: from the majestic mountains and broad moorlands of the Isle of Skye to the towering cliffs of the Orkney Islands, rich with prehistoric treasures; and
• Wider Horizons: from the remote Moray Coast to the beauty of the Cairngorms, to the varied landscape of the Isle of Arran and the “Artist’s Town” of Kirkcudbright, and finally, to historic Berwick-upon-Tweed. (Berwick, right on the border, is technically part of England, but it has been swapped back and forth between England and Scotland many times over the centuries, and so I’m now claiming it for Scotland.)

I gave each trip its own section with glossy images of both sketches and finished paintings. In addition to the journals, I thought it might be useful for any painter who is thinking of traveling to Scotland to include sections on what I took for gear and materials and how I packed, and how I as a plein air painter dealt with the Scottish weather, among other topics. Finally, I added a step-by-step studio oil demonstration of what became one of my favorite subjects while there, the 16th-century buildings around Portsoy’s Old Harbour.

You can get the book here.

Now, I’m off to plan my next trip to Scotland!