Earlier this month we took in the Barbara Hepworth Exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Modern Two, Edinburgh.

The Exhibition is entitled Barbara Hepworth, Art and Life and is open till 2/10/2022.

As well as sculpture, for which Hepworth is most famous, there are some of her paintings on display. In the first room this one reminded me of Mondrian:-

Photograph of Contrapuntal Forms, a Hepworth sculpture displayed at the Festival of Britain’s South Bank site in London. Part of the Skylon can be seen in the background:-

Room 2 had more early paintings. Apologies for the picture quality. I didn’t use flash as I assumed it wouldn’t be allowed:-

These watercolours are very good:-

Also in room 2, some typical Hepworth sculptures:-

The leftmost one above, Dyad, caught the good lady’s eye:-

During World War 2 Hepworth’s access to sculptural materials was limited. This is one of the sketches she made as preparation for a sculpture:-

She even designed textiles:-

An ovoid sculpture with her characteristic smooth curves and voids:-

A more traditional sculpture but still with her distinctive curves:-

Orpheus. An example of her use of strings. (See also background of Dyad, above):-

Thsi one seems to be very similar to one I photographed outside the Pier Art Centre, Stromness, a few weeks before:-

In Stromness:-

Photograph of Winged Figure, John Lewis, London:-

Photograph of Hepworth beside one of her sculptures:-

I didn’t spot much that could be described as Art Deco on mainland Orkney. The lettering on mosaic background on this shop in Stromness came closest:-

Once a soda fountain and coffee salon the shop has now been repurposed to sell clothes:-

A spit of the Orkney mainland, a ness, juts down from Stromness towards Hoy. To defend the Sound of Hoy from the 1860s onwards artillery batteries were sited on the north shore of the Sound of Hoy.

We strolled down one evening not knowing there were remains still there. I suspect these are all World War 2 vintage.

Site of Volunteers Battery, Stromness:-

Nissen Hut, Volunteers Battery, Stromness. I supose they kept ammunition and such here. I suspect it’s now used by Stromness Golf Club:-

Gun Emplacement, Links Battery, Stromness, Hoy in background:-

Closer View, Gun Emplacement, Links Battery, Stromness:-

Searchlight Emplacement, Links Battery, Stromness:-

Reverse View Links Battery, Searchlight Emplacement. Mainland Orkney in background, island of Graemsay to right:-

Sound of Hoy and Hoy from Links Battery Searchlight Emplacement:-

Remains of Gun Batteries, Stromness Golf Course, in middle ground:-

A statue of a woman on a plinth, this stands on the outskirts of Stromness beside the main road to Kirkwall:-

Statue and Plinth. Dedication, “In memory of the gallant dead who gave their lives for honour and freedom in the European War 1914-1919.”:-

View looking towards town:-

Names for 1915-17:-

Names for 1917-18:-

Additional plaque. After 1917:-

Names for 1939-45. “To the glory of God and in memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice in the Second World War 1939-45.”:-

The churchyard cemetery at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, had a Commonwealth War Graves sign on it. There were two, both Seaforth Highlanders from the Great War.

Private J Brass, 30/10/1918, aged 18:-

Private J McKay, 11/11/1918, aged 21:-

Similarly, in Stromness’s Warebeth Cemetery on the shores of Hoy Sound, W Parsons, Second Hand, RNR, HM Trawler Dale Castle, 8th December 1918:-

And at Orphir, Lance Bombardier J W Bews, Royal Artillery, 26/3/1941, aged 20:-

Also in Orphir cemetery was this dedication to James Oliver Flett, Airborne Division, who died on active service, 22/4/1944, aged 22:-

The Unstan Cairn stands near the shores of the Loch of Stenness. It’s signposted from the main Kirkwall-Stromness road. Access is via a farm road/track but there is a small car park by the final path to the cairn.

Unlike some of the neolithic remnants we visited on Orkney we had this one to ourselves.

From northeast:-

From northwest:-

Entrance. There is a latched gate to open before crawling into the chambers:-

Entrance to interior from gate:-

We were surprised and delighted that there was plenty of light inside as it has a modern roof with a skylight.

Interior:-

A side chamber:-

Another side chamber:-

In time-honoured tradition people have carved grafitti onto the stones (as those Vikings did at Maeshowe). Some of this at Unstan is very modern, though. Well, there’s no attendant to stop it:-

This carving may be old though:-

Entrance/exit in natural light:-

Entrance/exit lit by flash:-

After settling in at Stromness for the night, the neolithic village of Skara Brae, on the shores of Skaill Bay (or Bay o’ Skaill,) was the first place we visited on Orkney. Ever since I heard about it Skara Brae was somewhere I always wanted to visit so I was delighted to be able to.

It was mobbed with people though, only to be expected I suppose.

Early houses:-

Passage to a house entrance:-

An excavated house, Skara Brae Visitor Centre in left background, modern day Skaill House in right background:-

Neolithic house with stone dresser:-

Neolithic house entrance:-

A passage between houses:-

We made the crossing to Orkney from Gills Bay in Caithness via the Pentland Ferries’ catamaran the Pentalina. It skelped along at a fair pace:-

Landfall was at St Margaret’s Hope, South Ronaldsay, the third largest settlement in Orkney:

Closer view of the town:-

This is the Northlink Ferries’ ship Hamnavoe in Hoy Sound on its way from Stromness to Scrabster:-

This video (click on picture to get to my flickr to play it) shows the Hamnavoe steaming through Hoy sound with Hoy in background. Unfortunately I zoomed in and as a result the focus went awry:-

Stromness (the name is derived from the Norse Straumsnes [headland protruding into the tidal stream]) is Orkney’s second biggest town but that doesn’t mean it’s big. It has just under 2,200 residents.

It has a brilliant Art Gallery called the Pier Arts Centre with several works by Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and Stanley Cursiter among others. Well worth a visit – and it’s free.

Stromness Museum does have an entry charge but the ticket gives you entry for a week. It is also interesting with exhibits covering Stromness’s sailing hostory and from the Grand Scuttle of 1919 but also many examples of stuffed animals etc that may nowadays be frowned upon.

Here’s a view I took of North Stromness from the hills above:-

In this one most of the town is hidden under the brow of the hill but part of the harbour can be seen with Scapa Flow in the background beyond:-

Both in the previous photo and the one below of Stromness from the south the Northlink Ferries ship ferry Hamnavoe can be seen docked at the terminal. (The picture on the link is no longer accurate. The ferry company has a newer livery now.) Quite often when we walked down into the town along by the harbour the Hamnavoe would be there. Hamnavoe is an old name for Stromness, meaning peaceful harbour.

Looking south from Stromness, Scapa Flow in left distance:-

The High Street and those leading off it are very narrow. High Street:-

This one is quite cheekily named Khyber Pass:-

We had hired a cottage in (well, up above) Stromness for a week.

This was the view northwards(-ish.) Stitch of two pictures:-

The cottage complex. Ours was one of the middle ones. it was very well appointed. Other people came and went through the week:-

View south from cottage:-

Orkney is quite far north and so the nights never really get dark in summer. The second evening we were there (Sunday 4^th June 2017) I took this one of the western sky very late on:-

This was just after midnight the next night, so early morning of Tuesday 6^th June, 2017. Looking north:-