Borrowing Days
Peter Davis RSW
Cover image: Peter Davis, ‘Pulter’, 61 x 94 cm, watercolour and body colour on paper, 2023 This catalogue was produced for the exhibition ‘Borrowing Days’ at the Birch Tree Gallery, Edinburgh, Jan 11 - Feb 10, 2024 COPYRIGHT © 2024 · BIRCH TREE GALLERY All photos by Peter Davis
Peter Davis Living and painting in a remote part of the Shetland mainland with an open view of the Atlantic I am constantly seeing the daily changes of light and dark, the sudden changes in weather, and the slower, gradual changes in the seasons. I sometimes respond to those changes even as I’m painting - sparkling sunlight on the sea might set off a change of direction in a painting I’m working on. For me I feel it’s inevitable that an unpredictable medium like watercolour and the unpredictable Shetland weather synchronise so well. The paintings in this new show chart the seasonal changes in the weather and the sea, and in my responses to those changes. Most of the titles are taken from John W Scott’s excellent dictionary ‘Orkney and Shetland Weather Words’. And then there’s that strange concept found in Scottish and Irish tradition of the ‘borrowing days’. Those stormy days in early April when folk thought that March had ‘borrowed’ a few days from April to extend its reign of bad weather. This is strongly felt in Shetland where the weather in March and April can be unpredictable and, occasionally, quite wild!
Shetland weather words Choggle choppy sea, commotion in the sea Dagalien decline of the day; the beginning of twilight Daga-light daylight, daybreak Humska fleecy clouds in an overcast sky, often in the early evening Lien evening or the decline of the day Loomin twilight or the gloaming Pulter heavy commotion in the sea; agitated or restless Skjul a place offering shelter against bad weather Tiggtagg commotion in the sea with small choppy waves, or a cross-sea Tø-tak an attack of bad weather suddenly coming on after a spell of calm Vink abatement in the wind followed by a change of direction Source: Orkney and Shetland Weather Words: A comparative dictionary, John W. Scott, 2017
‘Clett’ (a skerry in the sea off the coast of Silwick), watercolour on board 2023 (29x21cm)
‘Humska’, watercolour on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
’Choggle’, watercolour, bodycolour and chalk on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
‘Borrowing Days’, watercolour, bodycolour and chalk on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
’Daga-light’, watercolour, bodycolour and chalk on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
’VInk’, watercolour and bodycolour on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
’Lund’ (a headland on the island of Unst), watercolour on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
‘Fethaland’ (the most northerly point on Shetland mainland), watercolour and chalk on paper (50x70 cm)
Corn Knowe: a headland near Littlelure on the westside of Shetland
‘Corn Knowe’, watercolour, bodycolour and chalk on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
‘Landscape at the Vernal Equinox’, watercolour, bodycolour and chalk on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
‘Lien’, watercolour, bodycolour and chalk on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
’Tiggtagg’, watercolour and bodycolou on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
‘In Sommerwind’, watercolour, bodycolour and chalk on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
’Summer Noust’, watercolour, bodycolour and chalk on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
‘Skjul’, watercolour on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
‘Loomin’, watercolour and bodycolour on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
‘Dagalien’, watercolour and bodycolour on paper 2023 (50x70cm)
‘Tø-tak’, watercolour, bodycolour and chalk on paper 2023 (62x94cm)
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