On Friday 13 May 2022 in the morning, we drove 30 minutes from Stenness on the Orkney Mainland to Lamb Holm, a small uninhabited island in Orkney. The island features an Italian Chapel built by prisoners of war, Domenico Chiocchetti and his colleagues, during WWII. A friend in Edinburgh had recommended it to me and my pal had visited it on her previous trip to Orkney. We had to pay entry to go in (but it wasn’t that much and definitely worth it). The chapel was amazing with numerous beautiful artworks. Luckily we managed to have a look around and take some photos just before a tour bus arrived. I loved the murals/wall paintings and the carved wood stations of the cross, of which Station 13 is shown below (together with a few other photos I took of the chapel).

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I understand that Station 13 is Jesus being taken down by the cross (by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus). I assume that the man depicted in the head covering is Joseph, as his was the tomb Jesus was laid in. However, it may also be Nicodemus. Both men were secret believers of Jesus, perhaps due to being members of the Sanhedrin and having a fear of their reputation should it become known of their allegiance to Jesus. I wonder if that is why the man is depicted with his head covering as if to hide himself? Or it may simply be an artist’s interpretation of traditional Pharisee garb. I cannot be sure. I had never really given a lot of thought to who Nicodemus was or the pressures he may have faced in wanting to believe in Jesus, until I watched Season 1 of The Chosen (if you are interested in historical/biblical fiction and you haven’t watched this, I would highly recommend. I binged Seasons 1-3 in a few weeks and am waiting for Season 4 to stream).

After the Italian chapel, my pal and I endeavoured to find a spot to sketch. We hunkered down near a bridge close to Lamb Holm. Grey skies were looming and the wind was tearing up sand and piling it over my pal’s sketch book as she tried to paint. There didn’t appear to be a space where we could shelter from it.

We decided to keep driving onto St Margaret’s Hope in South Ronaldsay. This ended up being an excellent plan as we found Robertsons Coffee Hoose & Bar. The place was packed but luckily they managed to get us a space in the little conservatory on the side. The food was great and we took the opportunity to hang out there for a while. Another friend of mine had previously had an exhibition of her work at St Margaret’s Hope Workshop and Loft Gallery, so after lunch we walked down there to check it out. The place had a cool shop full of work by local artists on the ground floor and the exhibition space on the top floor. I couldn’t resist buying myself a cute little felt puffin and otter.

Rejuvenated we jumped back in the car and kept driving in South Ronaldsay in the hope that there would be somewhere we could shelter to sketch. We didn’t have a lot of luck and ended up parked on a bitumen road which dropped to the ocean. I have no idea where it was on South Ronaldsay. All I have is a photo of a toilet block, with an oil rig in the distance and the sea to the front and side. I am sure it was a pretty spot on a sunny Orkney day, but that day the wind was torrential and moaning like it was a live thing chained trying to escape its bonds. I have never heard the wind sound so much like a creature in pain, it is difficult even to describe. My pal ventured outside to see if she could get closer to the sea. She came back with hair in complete disarray and looking wild. What else could I do but laugh. I am sure she wouldn’t appreciate me sharing photos of her here looking wild, so you will all just have to imagine the sight. All I could do was draw the toilet block and the car in front because there was no way I was going outside. As it was the car was rocking side to side with the wind.

After a while of sitting there in the car, we decided to drive back the way we came, continuing to search for an oasis of stillness. We finally came across Ophir Bay on the Orkney Mainland. By this time it was late afternoon and we were so grateful that the sun had at last broken through the grey. Ophir Bay had some shelter among the rocks so I was able to set up my tripod and telescope to sketch some oyster catchers snoozing. I tried oil pastels this time and it seemed to work much better for me in terms of working quickly. Here are a couple of sketches I did on that day.

Some little lambs had also broken free of a flock and were wandering by the brook (burn). I am sure they had little smiles on their faces, probably due to escaping for an adventure. Here is one of my sketches of the lambs, together with a small watercolour painting of another lamb at Ophir Bay. If you check out my instagram you can see a video story made of my sketches of a little lamb.

That night we packed up ready for the trip back to mainland Scotland. Early morning on Saturday 14 May 2022 saw us catching the ferry from Stromness to Scrabster. My pal did one last orca call to any orcas that might have been listening. This had been a regular call throughout the trip, but those mischievous orcas had never answered (it always seemed to be that we would go somewhere and the orcas had been seen a few days before or were seen a few days later). Once landed we took off for the stunning Duncansby Stacks, which are to the west of John O’Groats, and then onto Freswick Castle to visit friends.

The remainder of our trip was uneventful, with a night stay at Inverness then back to Edinburgh on Sunday 15 May 2022. It goes without saying that we stopped at The House of Bruar for a bite to eat and a nosey at the stores. The temptation to buy a stack of raspberry plants nearly overcame me but I resisted (it was a close call for sure).

And thus ends the tale of our Orkney sketching trip.

The Italian Chapel & Lambs, Orkney

Port Fairy & Portland, Victoria

Runaway Bunnies, Orkney