Dolphinton Straight, Journey North by Oran Wishart

Title: Dolphinton Straight
Artist: Oran Wishart
Medium: acrylic paint on board
Size: 21 cm x 15 cm

"Stories that evolve from a long repetitive journey and borrowed imagery from
memories, music, film and folklore collide along a familiar route of around 80
miles that I regularly drive.

"A makeshift farm becomes a backdrop for a ghost-like image of Buster Keaton’s
Steamboat Bill Jr. A long straight road of about five miles forms a meditation on
folklore such as Michael Scott, the Scottish Borders Wizard. And in the rafters of
an old building in Carlops, a flash of the headlights reveals in the far corner what
looks like an owl that has been tangled up in a nest. I am drawn to these small moments; a bird flies over the car with a branch for its nest, I look up, suddenly the branch drops and the bird is gone.

"The heron, an elusive presence. Something that evokes in us a hint of the
unknown, the unknowable about to be revealed. Last year I walked five miles or
so along an old railway line near where I live with my five year old daughter.
Towards the end of the walk we reached a bridge and looked North towards our
destination, when we turned around a Heron took flight from behind us; close,
quiet and haunting."