At the far end of Catterline Bay near the Kaim of Forley there is a natural fault in the rocks, which creates a deep thumping guttural sound from the rhythmic motion of the sea. It’s a hypnotic moment when you are out walking around on the rocks. It catches your attention and draws you towards the gaping slot, giving you a fearful thought to be caught by the waves and pulled into the sea and under the rocks. Nature can be dangerous, so you step away and walk back around the bay.
But there is no danger here, this place is safe; Catterline is a creative and community spirited place. The artist, Joan Eardley’s ashes were scattered on the beach after she died in 1963 (Pearson 2007, p. 91). Eardley spent a number of years living and working here and her paintings could be seen to define the place and as you walk around the village; from the park, past the school, near the Watchie, along by North End and the Coastguard cottages, the Creel Inn, South Row and down the hill to the harbour and the sea; there is a familiarity from seeing Eardley’s paintings and drawings in catalogues, galleries and museums. Living in this environment you get a continual sense of creativity in the air. This is comforting and gives a certain confidence; it makes this place what it is, which is unique and different from other coastal villages in the North East of Scotland.
Eardley’s life was documented over her years spent in Catterline. The images are intriguing, as are all images of the everyday lives of artists doing what they do. There’s Eardley with her scooter, sketching by the sea or just sitting out with artist friends, Angus Neil and Lil Neilson at number 18 (Oliver 2000, Pearson 2007). The presence and activities of a particular person in some place draw others to want to be there. It could have been a baker, mechanic or healer but in Catterline it’s been an artist, a painter.
Further round the Bay past the locally named Dumpling, with its myth of a kale garden having been planted on its grassy top, and round the cliff end you can get to a small cave on the edge of the rocks. This secluded space is safe and private even though it sits right at the edge of the North Sea. When I’m in this small cave I imagine Eardley sitting here and experiencing the sun on the water, the sounds of the waves, the smells of birds and seaweed and thinking of making another painting – the one of the wave and the driving weather. While walking around the village, the land and the sea are dominant but on certain days, dotted around are artists. Artists out in force; armed and out and about with their specialist equipment and imaginations. They might be painting and drawing these same rocks and sky and fields and the waves but it doesn’t matter, it is stimulating and makes them feel good. It’s not strange or eccentric, as Eardley has given them courage to do this – in public – without fear.
Refs.
Oliver C., 2000. Joan Eardley. 4th ed. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing.
Pearson F., 2007. Joan Eardley. Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland.
Iain Irving, 2015-16
Iain Irving 