the Raincoats

I use to paint butterflies. Big, bright, colourful butterflies. My artwork would fly off, every Tuesday, to the local paper.  One of the staff must have loved butterflies too.  Each week I almost always won first prize - a Penguin book voucher.  Off I'd trot to spend my winnings and then home to paint another butterfly...

As an adolescent - abstract art became my 'thing'.  Huge splashes of colours, blobs of gouache - teen angst on canvas!  When I began to travel, on a budget, I would spend time sketching in cafes.  Sometimes I would get a coffee, maybe even a sandwich...

For some reason drawing was forgotten for a long time.  Life became busy with, well, I suppose life stuff! And then I moved to Shetland.  My first summer here (2009) was spent enjoying festivals, walking, settling in and eating way too many home bakes! 

Come the winter - no, I didn't get a lightbox, nor did I moan about the short days, the snow, the gales...No, I got out my pens and pencils once again and began to draw.  Sitting in my cosy kitchen with mugs of milky tea I started to create.  Bliss.

Then there was a knock at the door.  In they came and introduced themselves as 'the Raincoats'.  "Can we have a mug of hot chocolate and a bowl of rice pudding?" They asked.

Before long they had become a permanent fixture in my small cottage.  Crowding my kitchen, dancing on my table, playing in my office, snoozing on my work surfaces, and talking, always talking (even in their sleep)!  "Draw us!" They cried. "Let the world know about us!"  So I did, and have done ever since.

Next thing I know - they're posing for greeting cards, appearing in Shetland Life, signing autographs and wondering off to far flung destinations - like Northmavine and Oxford!

One Raincoat even asked to visit The Museum of Everything Exhibiton at the Tate Modern.  The curators took such a liking to this brazen Raincoat, they asked to adopt him!  He sends postcards, now and again, telling me of his London life.  He's gone a bit trendy, if truth be known.

Other trips are planned in the near future -  New Orleans in October (more about that later) and a Raincoat rock'n'roll tour, across the US, is planned for 2011.  I'm just arranging their visas. Goodness, the admin involved is exhausting, and the Raincoats are very bad at filling out forms.

I adore the Raincoats - they never stop exploring and having fun.  I miss them when they leave. They assure me they're alright via text, Twitter and Facebook.  There's plenty more Raincoats here to keep me company, and I know in my heart that one day the globetrotters will return and visit. Because after all, Shetland is their true home.

Want to see more drawings of the Raincoats?  Click here.  Handsome, eh?!!

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