50 Paintings of Eigg Series No. 27

Eigg Series No. 27. Acrylic on 5×5″ wood

Today’s painting – a house nestling beneath the cliffs of Cleadale on Eigg’s West Coast. Painted in acrylic with palette knife

 

 

Now, a little while ago, I mentioned my friend who accompanied me to Eigg and adopted a rock from the Singing Sands, so today I’m pleased to introduce you to both Donald Ferguson and his rock

Rose: Donald, thank you for sharing your excellent photographs with us today and for creating a video (below) for which you’ve created a brief soundtrack, firstly can you tell us a little about that?

Donald: The recorded sounds are from http://noosphere.princeton.edu/onepage.html which is a Princeton physics experiment to do with global consciousness.

R: What drew you to the rock in Singing Sands Bay?

D: It’s amazing! Its two halves, its holes, its weight, shape and all-round rockness. That the holes link up to enable it to be hung is a later discovery which adds to its amazingness.

Photo by Donald Ferguson

R: Do you feel a personal connection to the rock?

D: Although I’ve named and gendered the boulder (Petre – he was almost going to be called Trevor after the bassist in the Spiders from Mars) I don’t think of it as human, so there isn’t really a personal connection. It’s more an aesthetic, kinetic thing.

Petre by Donald Ferguson

R: It strikes me that around 20 million years ago, Petre would have been formed from the sandstone plateau that forms the most ancient rock formations of the Isle of Eigg, so in effect (and without being too dramatic) you’ve wrested him from the bosom of his forbears where he had so far resided undisturbed for millennia, how do you feel about that?

D: I do feel a bit bad about re-siting it and so depriving people the chance of experiencing it in its original setting. I might take it back one day, and meanwhile it is being experienced in new ways by a different audience. I like to see myself as a custodian more than a thief/owner.

R: What does Petre add to your life back in Edinburgh? Do you sit and watch him in the evenings and if so how does that compare to TV?

D: Opening the curtains in the morning gives it an energy input, and when I return, showered, to sit with coffee for ten minutes before leaving the house it’s still gently oscillating, which is strangely calming/reassuring.

R: Thanks for sharing your creations with us today Donald, I think the video is oddly compelling, and the photographs are truly wonderful. If any readers are interested in prints of these do let me know..