Catterline

On our way to Aberdeen we stopped at Catterline to pay homage to the artist Joan Eardley.   2021 is the centenary of her birth.

We turned off the A90 onto a road that we would be upgrading if we called a ‘B’ road – I suspect we’d fallen foul of sat nav instructions that took us via some dirt track but nonetheless we arrived!   

I’m not sure what we expected.  Joan was attracted to Catterline by the wild storms from the North Sea, but all was calm today.   We found less of a village and more a row of houses although there is a village school. 
 
During the 1950s she painted kids from the tenements of Townhead, Glasgow which is possibly her most recognised work.   In 1951 a friend took her to Catterline which was a small fishing village about 15 miles south of Aberdeen.  She was transfixed by the wild coastline and stormy seas and declared she wanted to paint there.   From then on, she divided her time between Catterline and Glasgow.   She painted "en plein air" with the weather raging around her and you can see and feel that in her work. 
 
We had time for a very nice seafood lunch in The Creel Inn and then took a walk along the low cliffs taking in the view of the harbour, rocks and bay – seeing the same scenes that Joan Eardley saw.  
 
The haar was coming in fast as we left Catterline.  By the time we’d reached Dunnottar only 5 miles away the Castle was all but invisible!