Above: St Ronan’s Bay, Iona. Mixed media on 30 by 30 inch wood. Rose Strang 2026.

This is the bigger version of St Ronan’s Bay, and this one is for the Graystone Gallery in Edinburgh, possibly Edinburgh’s most popular contemporary art gallery. The owner, Lesley Briggs has an MA in the History of Art and worked with London’s prestigious Whitechapel Gallery

Here’s a zoom-able version and a photo of me with it to show scale…

I remember how excited I was to take a trip to the Whitechapel Gallery when we were art students. Lucian Freud’s work was showing and I was mesmerised by the way he painted the pink skin of a dog’s stomach in one of the paintings, at a typically odd setting and angle. Afterwards we all went to Jimmy’s Greek Taverna in Soho and I ate the loveliest lamb casserole ever. Happy days.

None of that has anything to do with my painting of course. I really fought to make this one translucent and vibrantly green. Layer after layer, building it up, then taking it into the shower to wash it off when I didn’t like it. All worth it to capture that wonderful sea-green of Iona.

If you like the look of this then contact The Graystone Gallery soon. Their summer exhibition launches in July, and people reserve paintings in advance.

More painting in a few days …