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My introduction to photography and Rothesay both started around my 8th birthday. 

That year my mother and father gave me a Kodak Brownie 127 roll film camera for my birthday. The only thing missing was the 127 roll film. I was presented with a wee box, film, at the end of the following week, on Clydebank ‘Fair’ Friday and told that we were going on holiday to an exotic sounding place – Rothesay. 

The very next day two things happened. I began my life long love affair with Rothesay and photography. My mother gave me an endless lesson on how to work the camera and take photographs. She carefully put the strap around my neck and I took my first ever photograph, my new Clark’s sandals bought for going on holiday. 

This turned out to be the best photograph on the whole roll.

Sadly I grew up. My love affairs with photography and Rothesay have never diminished in the slightest. I have since been privileged to use more sophisticated, and expensive, cameras to photograph Bute but with no noticeable improvement in image quality.

When I retired from the Police I decided to improve my rather limited knowledge of computing. I was able to achieve a BSc in Computing Science from Strathclyde University. I have used my limited knowledge to design and create an extremely simple photographic program. This, unintentionally, managed me to obtain something like the results I had been unable to obtain thus far in my life. I was astonished. 

I later achieved an NC Photography certificate. I combined this acquired understanding into my computer program, often with horrendous results. That eventually led me to where I am today.

An artist friend suggested that I try and not connect my work to any artistic ability. She suggested the term ‘Computer Generated Artwork’. She said that all the work had been done by the computer and I have adopted this description wholeheartedly.

I always look forward to returning to Bute. 

When there my vivid imagination enables me to hear loved ones who are no longer here. They are always laughing, I feel safe and happy in my Utopia. We all love Bute. 

I hope that you, and they, like my prints .

I call it “coastal treasure” - beautiful pieces of sea glass and pottery, that have tumbled in the seas of the West Coast of Scotland, and are turned into pictures you can treasure.

I am now retired but have always enjoyed crafting and designing in one way or another and always keen to try something new. 

I have spent all my life walking along the shores of the Cowal Peninsula and beach combing. 

Then one day in 2015 I picked up a piece of sea glass, decided it looked like a bird , thought I’d try and make something from it, and the rest is history!

I have gone on to create many different designs using the sea glass, shells, driftwood and pebbles and turn them into keepsakes, including bespoke pieces, and I sell at craft fairs, shops and galleries.

I now have quite a collection of sea glass and when I create my artwork, most of the time is taken up looking for the correct shapes to suit that particular picture. I search for the tiniest pieces to suit the picture and even the birds beaks are little yellow shells smashed up. I then have to find a small enough piece in the shape of a beak!

I continue to be inspired by different shapes, colours and beach treasures. 

Anne is a pastelist who lives on the beautiful island of Bute where she paints, exhibits and tutors. 

She also shows her work at many mainland galleries and has art lovers buying from as far afield as Japan and America.

This exhibition demonstrates both her versatility and unique pastel style.

Inspired by Impressionism, Anne has developed to produce work of a more contemporary nature.

She works layer upon layer, building on texture, vibrancy and movement as she progresses. Nature’s flowing patterns are captured in her paintings.

Anne’s works range from land and seascapes to pieces more abstract in form which all originate from her love of the natural world.

Born in 1961 in the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, a graduate from the Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics.

Since the age of 10, he has been interested in all forms of artistic creativity. He has studied the artistic techniques of various masters. 

Constantly improving his skills, researching the directions of painting by artists of different disciplines. He paints pictures in the styles of realism and impressionism. 

He works with oil paints and acrylics, using various techniques to apply the paint to the canvas.

From 2012, he had been successfully developing a family business in the city of Kyiv. In February 2022, the war forced him to leave his home, so now Volodymyr lives and works as an artist in exile living in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, Scotland.