Our pictures all have a connection to the headland, they show the places you can visit here, and the wildlife that you may see. Many of the artists live here in Caithness. If there’s one that you love, get in touch with the artist.
Entrance Hall
Lightkeeper Dishon's family at Noss Head
These photographs were given to us by Brian Dishon, the younger of the two boys playing in the boats. His father was Lightkeeper here between 1947 and 1949. You can read about the Dishon family’s time here in Brian’s memoir.
Dining Room / Family Room
Lisa Poulson - Sinclair Bay
Lisa grew up in Caithness, surrounded by the county’s flagstone, heritage, and landscape. She creates landscapes using photographs of Caithness stone captured from various sites including harbours, beaches, paving slabs and even ancient standing stones.
https://www.inspiredbycaithness.com
Georgina McMaster – Bees
Georgina’s work is mainly based on animals, in particular Scottish wildlife. She endeavours to capture the character and soul of the animal. We bought Georgina’s pictures from the Coo’s Tail Gallery in Thurso.
www.georginamcmaster.com
Anna Wright – Starlings
Anna creates lively illustrations of animals and birds; a gentle sense of humour runs through all her work, alongside a passion for drawing. She is from Dumfries and is now based in Edinburgh and Kennington. We got this print from the Coo’s Tail Gallery in Thurso; her prints, cards, stationery, books and homeware are also available via her website.
https://annawright.co.uk/
Highland Hare
Kitchen
Louise Scott - Puffins
Louise lived in Orkney for 17 years, she is a member of Glasgow Print Studio. She creates copper plate etchings using a sewing needle and a magnifying glass. This was gifted to us specifically for the Cottage, and we love it.
Living Room
Lisa Weller – Sandigoe Beach
Lisa is our neighbour in Papigoe and you came past her studio at Haven House Art on the way here. She has been painting full time since 2009 after moving here from the south of England. She does classes here for our guests in the Cottage – see her leaflets in the Dining Room.
https://www.havenhouseart.com
info@havenhouseart.com
Dawn Maciocia – Wildlife on cushions and lampshades
Dawn lives in Fife where she creates collage paintings using hand painted torn papers. She finds life serious and deliberately creates work that’s light-hearted. This is why we chose her work to brighten up the Living Room. We bought the cushions and lampshades in the Coo’s Tail Gallery in Thurso.
https://dawnmaciocia.com
Jane Smith – Seal on the Shore
Jane came to wildlife art via a degree in Zoology and a career filming wildlife. She sketched the young Seal on the Shore in Oak Call Ink while she was an Artist in Residence in the oak woods at Taynish.We bought the picture direct from the artist.
janesmithwildlifeart.blogspot.com/
Double Bedroom
F S Begg – Sinclair Bay
Frank Begg has been painting the wildlife and landscapes of northern Scotland since the 1960s and his paintings depict ways of farming that are now long-gone. However, the view of Sinclair Bay looking over to Noss Head and Castle Girnigoe has not changed since he painted it. We had a long chat with him when bought the print of his painting at the Toll Gallery, Bridge End, Thurso.
Martina Cross – And the Memories Remain (Castle Sinclair Girnigoe)
Martina lived for more than 10 years in Caithness and produced books of photography the north of Scotland before she returned to Germany. We bought her atmospheric print from her on Redbubble.
www.martinacross.com
G E Newton- Oilette Postcard: Girniegoe (sic) Castle, Wick
GE Newton painted picture postcards before the First World War. Newton must have painted the picture, or at least sketched the position of the moon, early one summer’s morning. These postcards occasionally turn up on ebay. It is displayed with other vintage postcards of the castle and lighthouse.
Jane Strugnell – Castle Sinclair Girnigoe and Noss Light
Jane came from Coventry and now lives here in Caithness. She says “I previously tried to diversify into several other artistic areas, but having realised that I am not going to live forever and some things had to go, the painting was the activity that survived!” We bought the prints of Jane’s watercolours from John o’Groats Crafts.
http://www.artworkscotland.com/
jane_strugnell@hotmail.com
Print of Castle Girnigoe
This print came from the Royal Mile Gallery in Edinburgh.
www.royalmilegallery.net/
Print of the Herring Fleet in Wick, with Noss Head in the distance
This imaginative view shows many East Coast fishing landmarks; we got it from the Highland Hospice Charity Shop in Thurso.
Pelican Design Consultants - Castle Sinclair Girnigoe
This image really brings the castle to life - we think it was commissioned by the Clan Sinclair Trust for the information panels outside the Castle and we're delighted to have a copy here in the Cottage.
Emma Horne - Two Blue Dogs at Noss Head
Two Blue Dogs Designs is the showcase for the Artwork of Emma Horne, inspired by Sheepdogs and Scotland. We love Emma's style and asked her to create images of Noss Head for us - they are available exclusively in our "shop".
https://www.twobluedogsdesigns.com/
https://www.facebook.com/2bluedogsdesigns
Twin Bedroom
Jane Smith – Puffin Landing
Jane came to wildlife art via a degree in Zoology and a career filming wildlife. She sketched the young Seal on the Shore in Oak Call Ink while she was an Artist in Residence in the oak woods at Taynish. We bought the picture direct from the artist.
janesmithwildlifeart.blogspot.com/
janesmithwildlifeart@hotmail.com
Mary Andrews – Black Throated Divers
Mary trained first as a research scientist before returning to her first love which is art. She says “… my work is an effort to express my excitement in the beauty of the animals and plants around my Highland home”. We bought this lino cut from an exhibition in Caithness Horizons
mary.andrews5@btinternet.com
https://highlandprintstudio.co.uk/artists/mary-andrews/
Sheelah Sparkes – Rock Life
Sheelah is an artist and calligrapher who was born in North Yorkshire. She has lived and worked for many years in the Highland village of Portmahomack, Easter Ross. We bought this print from an exhibition at Caithness Horizons.
Louise Worthy – Mermaid’s Purse and Lapwing Sunset
Louise worked in the fashion industry for over 20 years. When she moved to Sutherland in 2005, she could be more hands-on creative and for a number of years she used a converted ACME mangle for producing her prints! We bought two of her ink monoprints of shore birds from an exhibition at the Caithness Horizons gallery, but you can buy her work from her website and on Etsy.
https://www.louiseworthy.net
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LouiseWorthyArtist
Bunk Room
Brambler (formerly The Font Tree) – Personalised Treasured Location Print
This map with the co-ordinates for Noss Head is the picture which is both most specific and least specific to this place! We got it from Jasmine and Baz on the website Not on the High Street.
https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/thefonttree
Copper Top Croft – NC500 Postcards
Get a poster of this year’s NC500 design from Copper Top Croft in The Coo’s Tail Gallery in Thurso. Anna Mayon is a visual artist from Inverness, designs are based on Anna’s original ideas, drawings and Lino Prints (carved blocks, inked and printed) in collaboration with her husband Scott.
www.coppertopcroft.com
Tabitha Mary - Shipping Forecast Print
Tabitha is the founder, owner and designer behind Tabitha Mary. It all started when her Mum and Dad asked her for a map of the Shipping Forecast for Christmas; she couldn't find one anywhere; So decided to design her own.
https://tabithamary.co.uk/
Peter Walters - Treasure Island
Peter lives in North Cornwall, which makes him one of the few non-local artists; but we love his take on Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, the nephew of Alan Stevenson who built the lighthouse.
https://athenaart.com/collections/peter-walters
Bathroom
David Armitage – Covers for The Lighthouse Keeper’s books
These were the books that inspired us!
Sylvie Veyres – Covers for Les Etioles de Noss Head by Sophie Jomain
These books in the Twilight tradition are only available in French, alas.
