Joan Eardley, Catterline, Smirisary, "The Illusionist" animation...
Joan Eardley lived and worked in Glasgow, creating her famous paintings of tenement children, but she also had a cliff top cottage in the east coast village of Catterline. Her seascapes were painted in all weathers down by the fishermen's nets on the shoreline. Another settlement I had read about and visited over the years is Smirisary on the West Coast near Glen Uig. The first time I explored this part of the West Highlands there was a celebration in Glen Uig - the village was finally connected to the National Grid (electricity). The local priest officiated and a piper played the tune called "You've been a long time a coming"! Sylvain Chomet's animation "The Illusionist" which is partly based in Edinburgh and the Highlands of the 1950s, is beautifully illustrated. The island village which the 'Illusionist' visits is also celebrating the coming of 'the electricity'! When I produce illustrations based on my childhood in 1950s Edinburgh, I try to create a similar feel to this animation, which is very close to my own memories of that time.
