Mon 1st July – Sun 7th July 2024
Immerse yourself in the wild and dramatic, world-class, land and seascape of the Isle of Skye, on a 5 day residential Creative Wildlife Escape Collaboration with Liz Myhill, award winning Scottish landscape and wildlife artist, Alice Angus wildlife artist and Divers Eye Boat Trips.
INSPIRATION
Nothing is more powerful than the smell of the sea, taste of the salt wind, and the call of the restless ocean to invade your senses and inspire your creativity. The haunting shriek of seabirds stacked on their sea cliffs, or the breath whooshing high from a surfacing whale! Sea spray splashing on your face from a dolphin pod surfing alongside the boat on a pressure wave, all simple but joyous experiences.
And how better to remember these experiences than to find your creative freedom and explore where it may take you. Whether you’re a complete beginner or a practiced artist looking to expand and push in new directions there will be a wealth of inspiration, hints and tips, one-to-one guidance and ideas to help you find your way into a painting or break free of old habits. Above all there will be the time and space to explore different ways of working alongside a group of like-minded people all following their own creative journey. And all with the exhilaration of working outside surrounded by magnificent nature.
ABOUT LIZ MYHILL
Liz Myhill RSW SWLA is a painter and printmaker whose observational works are gathered through working outside directly from life. A deep-rooted connection to her native Isle of Skye and the rugged landscape of the Highlands and Islands continues to shape her life and work, providing a wealth of inspiration.
The act of walking, watching and recording, whether fleeting or through lengthy study, allows Liz to forge a connection with her subjects and evoke a sense of places and encounters. Liz studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee and has since exhibited throughout the UK, receiving recognition for her work in the form of a number of awards including an international Elizabeth Greenshield Foundation Award and in 2021 received the Swarovski Optik and Birdwatch Bird Artist of the Year Award. In 2017 she was elected to the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour and in 2023 was elected to the Society of Wildlife Artists.
Liz now splits her time between Highland Perthshire and the Isle of Skye as well as numerous field trips throughout the year to work directly in the midst of some of Scotland’s finest wildlife and landscapes.
All images are copyright of Liz Myhill.
ABOUT DIVERS EYE BOAT TRIPS
Divers Eye Boat Trips, strive to make moments you will treasure a lifetime, where the everyday is extraordinary. With 35 years of experience running scuba diving expeditions and 20+ of wildlife watching, we enjoy ‘all things sea’ and the very best of wildlife watching adventures.
Passionate about sustainable tourism we are WiSE accredited operators and take care to strike the balance between giving incredible wildlife encounters, without impacting on their wild lives.
We run beach cleans, participate in community science monitoring and survey programs, contribute to research projects, and collaborate to promote and develop ecosystem biodiversity enhancements.
We are keen to adventure, entertain, educate, facilitate, create and collaborate with the ambition of leaving our wee corner of the world a rich treasure for future generations to enjoy as we do now, or better!
ABOUT ALICE ANGUS
Alice is a visual artist with a passion for working outside from life, in all weathers, being embedded in a place, observing, drawing and listening for hours. Her work includes painting, illustration, textiles and sculpture for large collaborative projects, individual commissions, commercial and community projects and with academic research in social science, geography and computing. Drawing is her way to discover places, she uses graphite, watercolour and mixed media, observing her surroundings through sight, sound, smell and touch. She studied at Glasgow School of Art and has undertaken projects in many places, urban and rural, from The New Forest to the Canadian Arctic. She is currently artist in residence for Glen Scotia Distillery on Kintyre.
“Drawing is many things. It can be a fast to capture fleeting moments, slow to reveal unseen stories, a method of representing what you see and an abstract way to capture experience. It is an opportunity to immerse ourselves in sights, sounds, weather, stories and atmospheres that we return to in our work, long after the experience has passed.”
All images are copyright of Alice Angus.
Mon 1st July – Sun 7th July 2024
THE PROPOSED ITINERARY
A welcome get together and drinks will kick the week off with introductions and an outline of the coastal and wildlife, creative adventure ahead which includes;
2.5 days out making trips by boat. ASCRIBS (Full Day) | NEIST PT (3/4 Day) | ISAY ISLAND CASTAWAY (1/2 day) with optional Castaway
2.5 days to explore the waternish peninsula, ARDMORE SHORE (Day) |SKETCH WALKS, drawing, painting and idea development’ (Day)
We will be flexible to maximmise weather and wildlife opportunities, taking a robust approach to get out and about.
Safety is always a priority and nobody wants to be seasick or cold and wet all day so final activities will be at the discretion of the organiser.
The skipper will have final say on decisions while aboard.
PROPOSED BAD WEATHER ALTERNATIVES
In the event of bad weather preventing us from working outside we have a range of workshops lined up such as printmaking, exploratory drawing, mixed media techniques and sketching tips
SPONTANEOUS OPPORTUNITIES
Between workshops there will be spontaneous opportunities to enjoy a refreshing wild swim, wander the shores, take a local wildlife walk, peer in rockpools, or explore beneath the waves with a snorkel.
For those with kayaks, the local coastline is excellent for paddling, please feel welcome to bring them.
There are also a rich diversity of workshops, studios and galleries, on the island if you wish to absorb some of the local creative work.
BOAT TRIP – ASCRIB ISLANDS
The journey to the offshore puffin colony of the Ascrib archipelago, also a special area of conservation, is as good as the destination. Rainbows of waterfalls of cascade down seacliffs, dramatic arches rise from the tide, birds perch on unforgivingly tiny ledges clasping young between their feet, and throughout you’ll enjoy opportunities to spot sea eagle, whales, dolphin and colonies of kittiwake, fulmars, guillemots and cormorants.
The puffin colony is on an island, one of a low-lying string, a protrusion of hard black basalt surrounded by deep teal seas, where puffins and pufflings emerge from their burrows amidst a blanket of soft pink sea thrift. They make frantic flights to sea with furiously flapping wings which keep these comedic creatures airborne, in spite of their oversized iconic beaks, until, packed with sand eels, they return to feed their young. Between flights, they skid onto the water, big orange feet waterskiing to a halt in the sea, as they pop by to be nosey – much like us, who’s watching who! They really are curious and seemingly unafraid of us, allowing us to totally absorb the moment.
How to beat that!
…… BUT the return journey does not disappoint, as the sea, along with tide and weather, is always changing, always giving. As we turn for home we often see sea eagles sitting hidden in plain view on a rocky pillars, before their ginormous wingspan lifts them aloft to soar on the current.
CLICK ANY IMAGE TO OPEN SLIDESHOW
BOAT TRIP – ISAY ISLAND CASTAWAY
Experience an immersive castaway day on Isay Island, designated in recent years as a special area of conservation for its common seal habitat. This delightful island, one of three, sits in Lochbay, central like a jewel, with panoramic views of Macleod Tables, the Cuillin’s and the Hebridean Archipelago on its horizons. Now considered by some as ‘remote’, it was historically a rich and sustaining island, at the center of the ancient maritime superhighway. The Vikings, Celts, Gaels and Scottish Clans have all fought fervently over this island and it was inhabited by almost 100 crofter/fishers until the late Victorian era when the fishing Station on Isay was cleared to make way for sheep. Now reclaimed by wildlife its tranquility nourishes the spirit, and its silence is golden, earning it the mythical name ‘Tir Nan Og.’
It’s habitat supports common seals, and a myriad of migrating birds. Here resourceful gulls, ducks and geese craft magnificent nests on the shoreline and in the flag iris and reed beds with utter abandon. As you wander the coast watch seals, with newborn pups enjoying piggyback rides, and sit quietly by deep sided gulleys and watch for otter kits as they call for Mum, perhaps hooked in the kelp feasting on fish in the sun. Cormorant, guillemot and razorbill perch on small cliffs as sea-eagles soar aloft. Peek into rock pools for startlingly bright anemones and mermaids’ toenails. Guddle in the seaweed shadows where butterfish slide into shelter. Here you’ll spot heron patrol the tideline stalking for dinner, as sandpipers, curlews, and tern call in the summer breeze. As you continue to explore the shoreline and its abandoned cottages, watch the bog cotton blow in the breeze as butterflies’ flit from orchid to sea thrift. Perhaps you’ll hear the echo of bygone children’s laughter flutter in the wind. It’s a truly magical, tranquil and peaceful island and one that you’ll carry in your heart forever.
CLICK ANY IMAGE TO OPEN SLIDESHOW
BOAT TRIP – NEIST PT
Setting sail from Stein jetty we cruise by Lochbay Islands onwards to Dunvegan Head where the tallest seacliff’s in the UK, plunge into nutrient rich tidal waters and the wildlife promise that they hold. Everything from flights of manx shearwater to resident orca bulls can be seen here, as we journey on towards Neist Pt, the farthest west point of Skye.
Cliffs falling sharply and sheer towards the west where they curl into a long gnarled hooked finger of rock that reaches into the ocean to stir the tide. Atop of this chiseled rocky promontory stands a bright white lighthouse, warning of the perilous danger of tide and crashing wave below.
Yet in these ocean rich currents and beneath the waves lies a land of beauty and colour, sustenance to a vastness of marine life, from the tiniest plankton to the ocean giants. Basking shark, orca, whale and dolphin are regulars here along with seals who tumble in the surf that gushes up the gulley in a spume of spray and bubbles. Gannets plummet with astonishing speed piercing into the sea, where sunbeams dance in the turquoise depths, to gorge on shoals of shimmering mackerel.
All the while on the western horizon the Hebridean Island Archipelago stretches in full and curving panorma, offering shelter from the wild Atlantic seaboard beyond, to passing yachts and fishing vessels.
……… and the resltess ocean echos whispers of seafarers and islanders past, whose left these shores on the wave to new lives beyond.
CLICK ANY IMAGE TO OPEN SLIDESHOW
BOAT TRIP – ASCRIB ISLANDS
The journey to the offshore puffin colony of the Ascrib archipelago, also a special area of conservation, is as good as the destination. Rainbows of waterfalls of cascade down seacliffs, dramatic arches rise from the tide, birds perch on unforgivingly tiny ledges clasping young between their feet, and throughout you’ll enjoy opportunities to spot sea eagle, whales, dolphin and colonies of kittiwake, fulmars, guillemots and cormorants.
The puffin colony is on an island, one of a low-lying string, a protrusion of hard black basalt surrounded by deep teal seas, where puffins and pufflings emerge from their burrows amidst a blanket of soft pink sea thrift. They make frantic flights to sea with furiously flapping wings which keep these comedic creatures airborne, in spite of their oversized iconic beaks, until, packed with sand eels, they return to feed their young. Between flights, they skid onto the water, big orange feet waterskiing to a halt in the sea, as they pop by to be nosey – much like us, who’s watching who! They really are curious and seemingly unafraid of us, allowing us to totally absorb the moment.
How to beat that!
…… BUT the return journey does not disappoint, as the sea, along with tide and weather, is always changing, always giving. As we turn for home we often see sea eagles sitting hidden in plain view on a rocky pillars, before their ginormous wingspan lifts them aloft to soar on the current.
CLICK ANY IMAGE TO OPEN SLIDESHOW
BOAT TRIP – ISAY ISLAND CASTAWAY
Experience an immersive castaway day on Isay Island, designated in recent years as a special area of conservation for its common seal habitat. This delightful island, one of three, sits in Lochbay, central like a jewel, with panoramic views of Macleod Tables, the Cuillin’s and the Hebridean Archipelago on its horizons. Now considered by some as ‘remote’, it was historically a rich and sustaining island, at the center of the ancient maritime superhighway. The Vikings, Celts, Gaels and Scottish Clans have all fought fervently over this island and it was inhabited by almost 100 crofter/fishers until the late Victorian era when the fishing Station on Isay was cleared to make way for sheep. Now reclaimed by wildlife its tranquility nourishes the spirit, and its silence is golden, earning it the mythical name ‘Tir Nan Og.’
It’s habitat supports common seals, and a myriad of migrating birds. Here resourceful gulls, ducks and geese craft magnificent nests on the shoreline and in the flag iris and reed beds with utter abandon. As you wander the coast watch seals, with newborn pups enjoying piggyback rides, and sit quietly by deep sided gulleys and watch for otter kits as they call for Mum, perhaps hooked in the kelp feasting on fish in the sun. Cormorant, guillemot and razorbill perch on small cliffs as sea-eagles soar aloft. Peek into rock pools for startlingly bright anemones and mermaids’ toenails. Guddle in the seaweed shadows where butterfish slide into shelter. Here you’ll spot heron patrol the tideline stalking for dinner, as sandpipers, curlews, and tern call in the summer breeze. As you continue to explore the shoreline and its abandoned cottages, watch the bog cotton blow in the breeze as butterflies’ flit from orchid to sea thrift. Perhaps you’ll hear the echo of bygone children’s laughter flutter in the wind. It’s a truly magical, tranquil and peaceful island and one that you’ll carry in your heart forever.
CLICK ANY IMAGE TO OPEN SLIDESHOW
BOAT TRIP – NEIST PT
Setting sail from Stein jetty we cruise by Lochbay Islands onwards to Dunvegan Head where the tallest seacliff’s in the UK, plunge into nutrient rich tidal waters and the wildlife promise that they hold. Everything from flights of manx shearwater to resident orca bulls can be seen here, as we journey on towards Neist Pt, the farthest west point of Skye.
Cliffs falling sharply and sheer towards the west where they curl into a long gnarled hooked finger of rock that reaches into the ocean to stir the tide. Atop of this chiseled rocky promontory stands a bright white lighthouse, warning of the perilous danger of tide and crashing wave below.
Yet in these ocean rich currents and beneath the waves lies a land of beauty and colour, sustenance to a vastness of marine life, from the tiniest plankton to the ocean giants. Basking shark, orca, whale and dolphin are regulars here along with seals who tumble in the surf that gushes up the gulley in a spume of spray and bubbles. Gannets plummet with astonishing speed piercing into the sea, where sunbeams dance in the turquoise depths, to gorge on shoals of shimmering mackerel.
All the while on the western horizon the Hebridean Island Archipelago stretches in full and curving panorma, offering shelter from the wild Atlantic seaboard beyond, to passing yachts and fishing vessels.
……… and the resltess ocean echos whispers of seafarers and islanders past, whose left these shores on the wave to new lives beyond.
CLICK ANY IMAGE TO OPEN SLIDESHOW