Watercolour Prints

Print of my watercolour painting, Airyhall Primary in Aberdeen.

Prints are available to purchase in either A5 or A4 sizes.

Airyhall Primary is where lots of adventures have started for me. Many years ago, I went to school here, and it was where I first picked up a paintbrush and discovered my love of art. Only a couple of years ago, I took part in my first ever Christmas fair here, which has changed my life. The support I received really encouraged me to take my passion and business further, and coming back to the school where my creativity began felt like coming in a full circle.

Print of my watercolour painting, the Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen.

Prints are available to purchase in A4.

When I think of the Beach Ballroom, I think of enchanting nights dancing with friends, concerts from the likes of The Beatles, and love stories that unfolded on its famous sprung dance floor. Of course, I’m not talking about my own memories here, but those passed down to me by my grandma and granda, who spent many evenings there together as their own love story grew. My granda still insists he was the first person in Aberdeen to sport the Beatles haircut! Their vivid stories have given me such an affection for this building.

The red tile of the Beach Ballroom roof is a colour I feel you don’t really see very much around Aberdeen. I love that it stands out against the sky on the occasional days the clouds vanish and the sky gleams bright blue. Thomas Roberts and Hume, the architectural firm, actually won a design competition in 1926 for the building, a gorgeous example of Art Deco architecture in Aberdeen.

This print is perfect for anyone whose story is intertwined with the Beach Ballroom, whether through evenings spent dancing, cherished family memories, or even a love story of their own, I hope this painting brings a smile and a little nostalgia every time you see it.

Prints are available to purchase in A4.

Do I even need to give a reason for painting this building? Its grand architecture, vivid colours and fascinating history all speak for themselves. Alongside the bronze monument of Sir William Wallace, this area is, to me, one of the most beautiful parts of Aberdeen.

From the oxidised copper dome above, to the Kemnay and Tillyfourie granite that sparkles in the sun, and the grand wooden entrance doors below, everything that Frank Matcham created with his architectural plans of HMT is extremely breathtaking to look at.

No matter if you’re a child or an adult, there is something magical about walking through those doors. Whether it’s a pantomime, concert or comedy show, the excitement before the curtain rises is unlike anything else… except maybe an ice cream at the interval!

Every time I pass His Majesty’s Theatre, I think it’s easy to see why it remains one of Aberdeen’s most treasured buildings. I continue to notice new details in Matcham’s remarkable design, making it a building that you could stare at forever and still find something new.

Print of my watercolour painting, King’s College in Aberdeen.

Prints are available to purchase in either A4 or A3 sizes.

Generations of my family have a close tie to King’s College and the surrounding area of Old Aberdeen. Many family weddings have taken place in the chapel, and many of us have followed in our Granda’s footsteps by attending the University of Aberdeen as a student, myself included. When my granda was a boy, he lived on the high street in a house which is now a bicycle repair shop. What a dream it must have been to be able to get up 10 minutes before your lecture, cross the road, and be sitting in your lecture hall within minutes.

As I walk past King’s College on my way to my lectures in New King’s, I can’t help but slow my pace to take in the grand building. I have always been particularly drawn to the crown tower that sits on top of the sandstone building. I have painted King’s College a few times and it always takes centre stage in my opinion. The imperial crown design was chosen to support the Scottish monarchy’s assertion of universal dominion and imperial authority within Scotland, independent of the Holy Roman Empire or England.

For hundreds of years, King’s College has been woven into the lives of so many people. I hope this painting celebrates the personal stories created thanks to this building, along with its remarkable history and architecture.

Print of my watercolour painting of Girdle Ness in Aberdeen.

Prints are available to purchase in A4.

Girdle Ness Lighthouse is a building in Aberdeen that, I have to admit, I had never paid much attention to. That changed when I made a post on the Aberdeen Beach Community Facebook page asking for suggestions of buildings to paint, and someone suggested Girdle Ness.

I’m so glad they did. It’s funny how you can live somewhere and become so used to the things around you that you barely notice them. Now, whenever I spot the lighthouse in the distance, I find myself looking for it and taking a moment to admire it, something I never used to do.

Standing proudly on the Girdle Ness peninsula, the lighthouse has watched over the coastline since 1833. Designed by Robert Stevenson, one of Scotland’s most famous lighthouse Engineers, it was clear a light needed to be built following the wreck of a whaling ship Oscar in 1813. Devastatingly, of the 45 people on board, only two survived.

There is so much more to Girdle Ness than its beautiful tower, which I love. When first built, a rather unusual system was used: two fixed lights, one above the other, to guide ships safely along the coast. And in 1860, the Astronomer Royal, Professor George Airy, visited and described it as “the best lighthouse I have seen”. On a clear night, the beams could reach 25 miles out to sea.

Today, the lighthouse is automated and remotely monitored from Edinburgh, but it still stands as a familiar part of Aberdeen’s coastline, quietly watching over the North Sea and the harbour, just as it has done for nearly 200 years.

What makes Girdle Ness so special to me now is that it’s such a familiar part of Aberdeen, yet there was so much about it that I never knew. I might have continued to see the lighthouse in the distance without ever knowing the history behind it. I wanted my painting to capture that feeling of discovering something familiar for the first time, the colours seem brighter, the sea completely still, and everything feeling like one small moment in time. Hopefully, every time you look at it, you’ll be reminded of this little part of Aberdeen and the story it has to tell.

Print of my watercolour painting, Pittodrie’s Merkland Stand in Aberdeen.

Prints are available to purchase in either A5, A4, or A3 sizes.

Pittodrie is such a core memory for me, and I’m sure it is for so many others who have spent time there too. I remember getting to go to games with my uncle, granda, and cousin occasionally when I was younger, wrapped up in my pink Hello Kitty AFC scarf, clutching a steak pie in one hand and a hot chocolate in the other, trying not to spill either while cheering on the team.

This is my favourite painting I have ever created, and it has also become the most popular! I love the look of the contrast between Aberdeen’s dark granite and the iconic red of the Merkland Stand. With all the building’s character, I wanted to reflect the memories and emotions that so many people associate with it as well as the architecture.

Whether you’re a lifelong Aberdeen supporter, have fond memories of match days at Pittodrie, or simply love Aberdeen’s granite architecture, I hope this print brings a little piece of those memories into your home as it does for me. It would make a thoughtful gift for any Dons fan or anyone with a connection to the city.

Print of my watercolour painting of the Music Hall.

Prints are available to purchase in A4.

The Music Hall is a building which appears to be in nearly every chapter of Aberdeen’s story.

It began life in 1822 as the County Assembly Rooms, designed by Archibald Simpson. It was originally a place for balls, banquets, and gatherings, before becoming what we now know as the Music Hall.

Charles Dickens gave readings here, the famous Swedish singer Jenny Lind performed to sell-out audiences, and in 1896 the Music Hall became one of Aberdeen’s very first cinemas, showing films just months after the Lumière brothers’ pioneering demonstrations in Paris.

One of my favourite stories is from the 1930s, when the building was turned into a roller-skating rink. In 1931, Robert Bruce became the World Amateur Marathon Roller Skating Champion here after skating continuously for an incredible 61 hours and 36 minutes!

And then, decades later, David Bowie performed at the Music Hall in 1973. The Music Hall has been a ballroom, concert hall, cinema, roller rink, and more, and has welcomed everyone from Victorian performers to rock stars. I think that makes the Music Hall a very Aberdeen building, familiar, slightly unexpected, and with considerably more going on than you might guess from the outside.

Print of my watercolour painting of the Seafield Shops in Aberdeen.

Prints are available to purchase in either A4 or A3 sizes.

This row of shops, along with my family, is one of the few things I have seen almost every day of my life. Although some of the shops have changed over the years, I still have bright memories of the Blockbuster that once stood where Figment is now. It was always such a treat to go in and browse the shelves of DVDs, and there was inevitably an argument between my siblings and me over who got to drop them back off through the ‘QuikDrop’ slot.

I also remember the bright green of Co-operative Food and being completely distraught when they changed their name to Co-op and reverted back to their original blue branding, although I have to admit, this has grown on me now! Most importantly, I remember feeling so grown up when I was asked to get out of the car by myself to drop a letter in the post box.

Sometimes the most ordinary places can become the most meaningful. The Seafield Shops have quietly been the scene of countless ordinary moments throughout my life, and looking back, those types of memories are the most special.

With many of the businesses having stuck around for a long time, and although some have come and gone, this row of shops has remained a familiar part of the community. I love to think about all the people who will have their own memories attached to this little corner of Aberdeen.

Print of my watercolour painting of The Powis Gates.

Prints are available to purchase in A4.

As I walk through campus, I am quite often drawn to how unusual the Powis Gates are. Sitting opposite King’s College, the two towers look as though they belong somewhere different, with their pointed roofs, golden finials, and crescent moons. They were built between 1833 and 1834 as the entrance to Powis House, the home of the Leslie family of Powis.

The gates have a difficult history. They were built during a period when Britain was moving towards the abolition of slavery, and the Leslie family had connections to plantations in Jamaica. Historical research has linked the money used to build the gates to compensation received by the family following the abolition of slavery. This is an important part of the story behind the Powis Gates, and one that adds a very different dimension to an otherwise striking piece of Aberdeen architecture.

Today, the Powis Gates sit within the University of Aberdeen’s Old Aberdeen campus, looking like something from a storybook. I enjoyed painting the unusual shapes and little details in watercolour. I love painting Aberdeen, the more I look into these familiar places, the more stories I find hiding behind them.

Print of my watercolour painting of Woolmanhill Hospital.

Prints are available to purchase in A4.

Although abandoned, Woolmanhill stands loomingly in the city centre. Grand and full of history, but now sadly left to deteriorate.

This building was originally Aberdeen’s Royal Infirmary, with the first building opening in 1742. The Simpson Building we see today was designed by Aberdeen architect Archibald Simpson in the 1830s, and the hospital went on to provide medical care in the city for almost 280 years before finally closing in 2017.

I painted Woolmanhill for the cover of John Duncan’s debut novel The Denburn, which made this painting very special to me. It was important to capture the building as it stands today, rather than pretend it hasn’t changed, and preserve this moment of the building’s history.

One of my favourite parts of painting it was including the graffiti left behind by other artists. My work is usually all about precise lines and architecture, so I had fun bringing in the spontaneous nature of graffiti. It almost feels like a conversation between the artists who have visited the building over the years.

There’s something really striking about that contrast, an old building with centuries of history, slowly changing again as new people leave their own marks on it.

Woolmanhill may be abandoned now, but it certainly isn’t forgotten!

Print of my watercolour painting of Grampian Television.

Prints are available to purchase in A4.

For my grandma’s birthday, I painted this picture of the old Grampian Television building, a place that means a little bit more to me than just another Aberdeen landmark.

My grandma’s first job was here, so she has so many lovely memories from her time working at Grampian. And, as she says, some of the best memories involve the bakery around the corner where she used to get her rowies!

I love discovering the stories behind the buildings I paint, and Grampian has such an interesting place in Aberdeen’s history. Grampian Television began broadcasting in 1961, bringing independent television to the north of Scotland. The original Queens Cross studios were actually converted from an old tram depot, which was quite a transformation!

Although the Grampian name disappeared when it became STV in 2006, its legacy remained through the local news and programmes that kept Aberdeen and the north of Scotland at the heart of their broadcasting.

With STV’s dedicated Aberdeen news studio now closed, there was a real sense of sadness across the city at the loss of such a familiar part of Aberdeen life. I wanted to paint this building as a reminder of its history, before another part of Aberdeen’s past disappears from view.

For me, though, it will always be my grandma’s building first. The place she started her working life, made memories, and apparently found a very good source of rowies!

These paintings can hold onto parts of personal history, even when the places themselves change.

Print of my watercolour painting of Foot Dee in Aberdeen.

Prints are available to purchase in A4.

Every time I visit Fittie, no matter the weather, I’m reminded of how special a place it is.

My favourite time of year to visit Fittie is in summer, when the bright colours of the sheds and the little ornaments outside the houses seem even more cheerful. I love walking through the lanes and seeing people sitting outside their homes, chatting to neighbours and always ready to say hello as you pass.

But there’s so much more to Fittie than its colourful little houses. Footdee, or Fittie as it’s known locally, has been home to a community since medieval times, and the village we see today was purpose-built in the 19th century to house Aberdeen’s fishing community. The houses were designed in squares, facing inwards with their backs towards the sea. This helped protect them from the harsh coastal weather, while also creating the close-knit community that Fittie is still known for today.

I also love knowing that Fittie was once referred to as “Fish Town” on an 1828 map, and that the village was designed by John Smith, the same architect associated with Balmoral Castle.

Fittie feels like a little world of its own, right at the edge of the city and the sea. I painted this watercolour because Fittie holds so many happy memories for me, and whenever I look at it, I’m reminded of sunny days, colourful doors, little details and all the moments that make it so lovely.