IONA NORTH END-FROM A PEPLOE VIEWPOINT

IONA NORTH END-FROM A PEPLOE VIEWPOINT

This is a gouache painting I made from a drawing done last year on Iona.I stood as near as possible to the spot in which  Peploe must have placed himself to do his oil. At this place you are surrounded by unusually shaped rocks. Some of these have been given names by the many artists who have flocked to Iona, especially in the C20. You are within yards of Cathedral Rock and Pulpit Rock.

As I said this is a gouache painting. If you haven't used gouache before let me say that it has two particular characteristics: it dries to a chalky, non-glossy surface  and it can be a little difficult to visualise the colour it will take when dry. Cadell would certainly have liked the idea of a chalky surface. But I don't see much evidence of his using gouache.In his time it would have been associated with commercial art where permanence was little valued. Nowadays the quality of gouache paint is vastly improved.