Anyone with a camera can take photographs, can't they?  Of course they can.  Just as anyone with a paint brush and paints can paint.  However, because someone has a camera or paint, it does not follow that they are an artist.  To produce elopement and proposal imagery which qualifies as fine art requires the bringing together of a number of elements - training from a master (just as the art students of years gone by learned from the great masters,)  knowledge of how to sculpt the human body with light and flattering posing, the correct equipment together with the know-how to use it effectively, the desire to always aspire and be inspired with originality.  If this sounds like the kind of photography you want, we would love to hear from you!

Are you thinking of eloping to Scotland?  Where should you elope to?  Well, of course, Scotland, despite being a small country, has so many absolutely amazing locations for elopements or proposals.  Some of these beauty spots can also be very busy with other visitors.  A less explored area with the most gorgeous beaches is Fife.  To find out more, please check out our Let's Elope! page and do discuss your plans with us too!

If you know anyone who had "a friend with a good camera" shoot their wedding, you would hear the sad tale of sobbing over wedding images and rounding up what photographs you can from guests.  Ask them if they would do that again and they will immediately tell you the value of professional wedding photography.

When you receive your images, the only tears you should cry are of joyful amazement and reliving your happiness. Let's make your elopement images fabulous!

Delighted to have completed this gorgeous girl!  And even more delighted that the author finds her uncannily exactly as she had in mind!

This commission, which is in its beginning, is an illustration of the heroine in a novel.  I am working in soft pastels and art pencils for the finer details.

Her eyes are to be a particular shade of blue.  So, I have made a shade-chart, from the colours I have, and am waiting to hear the writer's choice.  Then, the eyes will bring her face to life!

Although working primarily in Scottish landscapes, I have a very strong connection with the Isle of Jersey too.  I am currently preparing to undertake a commission for a painting from this beautiful island.

My Art teacher said never to work from photographs but always from sketches.  Sketching definitely makes you look hard at your subject.  However, if you also learn some photographic skills, with the right focal length, you can replicate a scene (almost) as the human eye would see it.

Photographing this way allows you to gather a number of inspiring subjects quickly and, depending on the weather, more comfortably.  Will the above image be translated into a painting...?

May's painting reached right into July!  Life is like that sometimes, isn't it?!  The rocks dominated the scene with their size, strong colour and organic pattern.  The view from the beach stretches right across to Ely.  If you would like to know more about this painting, please enquire here. 

Absolutely fell in love with these amazing, warm-red rocks.  Their organic forms lead the eye into the painting and produce a strong value-contrast with the pale tones of the beach.

This is the early stage, where main areas of colour are blocked in although, I used wet-in-wet technique for the rocks to create a sinewy, fluid movement of light and shade.

Added in much more detail now.  Clouds, sea and shore are almost there.  I want to make some finishing touches to the cloud on the right - it really was a monster cloud!  Popped it into its matt white frame to get a better idea of the finished painting.

Beginning a series of acrylic, beach paintings with this 40 x 40 cm canvas.  Firstly, I created a textured effect, appropriate to  the composition, with gesso.  I roughly and lightly made the outlines with charcoal.  The the main blocks of colour with cloud shapes are blocked in. 

As you know, in the past, student artists learned by copying the work of the Great Masters.  Then, from exploring the Master's style and technique, they developed their own. There is a much to be learned from making such studies, provided you respect all copyrights.

Obviously, this fruit with a green bottle, though painted in Scotland, is not especially Scottish.  However, there are certain products and natural findings which can be truly Scotland-inspired.  This is an aspect which I would like to explore and utilise further in the future.  Looking forward to it!

This is a coloured study, in pastels, of the rolling hills of Dumfries and Galloway.

This Spring scene, of a cottage and mountain range, is painted using soft pastels, on pastel paper.  It is A4 before framing.

Rhododendrons are beginning to bloom, new growth is on the trees but vestiges of the Autumn and Winter grasses remain, adding rich warm tones to contrast with the brooding darkness of the mountains.  A burst of sunlight is hitting the house-side and foreground, while the skies suggest uncertain weather.

This portrait is of a young, Scottish girl around 12-years old.  From babyhood she has loved books with a love that has only grown.  Here she is in the perfect reading chair where she is transported to other worlds by imagery in words.

Her pleasure in reading enabled her to sit perfectly for the time required to paint her.   Interestingly, this young lady went on to be a publlished authoress herself!

If you have ever swithered about a statement portrait, please do get in touch to discuss this further!

(The Bookworm was painted in acrylics, on canvas, and is over 1 metre square.)

This painting measures 26 x 18 inches.  It was created in acrylic paints, on paper, adding leaf and grass printing from real leaves grasses and sycamore seeds.  I simplified the copse into five bands of colour.  The trees were formed by painting the trunks by brush and directing the flow of thinned paint to form the fluid branches.  For the leaf printing, I chose an appropriate range of leaves plus autumnal colours and tried to create the effect of the falling leaves, softly dropping to the ground.

This is the completed painting of "Ullswater, Winter Light."  Winter sun was slanting from the left of the painting, illuminating the edge of shed and peppering the trees with light.  There was snow and ice on the landscape and road.  I think you can sense the chill in this image but, hopefully, more as if you were looking through your window, at the winter scene, without frozen toes!

If you would like to have further details about this original work, please do get in touch. 

Delighted to be able to say that my "Buttermere Reflections" is now finished.  The completed work is A4 size, unframed, painted in pastel paints on Ingres Pastel paper.

I have also reached the final stages of "Winter Light," and hope to be able to let you see that larger painting in the next day or so.

Hoping everyone is keeping warm and safe in spite of the ice and snow!

This painting is my latest and here you see it at its first stage.  The main areas of background colour are in place and there is some depth and dimension in the foliage.  Because the wall and shed are the focal points, I believe it is important to allow these to shine.  So, the mountainside, while retaining its contours, has to remain softened in detail and tone in order to be non-dominant.

This is the view as I saw it last week and it seems appropriate to be working on a winter landscape, while enjoying a glowing fire!  Looking forward to seeing how this A3 landscape develops.

This is the next stage of "Reflections", which I thought that you would like to see.  The painting is nearing its final stages.  As I was discussing this, with my husband, I explained that, sometimes, the hardest thing is knowing when to stop painting - for me, the best time to stop is just before I think I should do a little bit more!  This painting will have a few finishing touches yet and I will have reached the point to stop.

Everyone seems to love the visual echoing of reflections.  Here is another example, incorporating reflective patterns in the backwater.  Why do we love these so much?

Is it the calming, serene effect of still water doubling the power of a scene?  What magic do reflections work upon the viewer?

"This is the first stage of Reflections," blocking in the main areas of shapes and colours.  It is not entitled "Reflection" because there are two or even three reflections simultaneously.  The literal reflection and the reflections in the minds of the couple are the actual reflections.

A long way to go yet but I thought you might like to see this developing.

I did slip down to Buttermere for this one but, as my Scottish Mum would say, "The Lake District is really part of Scotland!!!"