Snowy Hebrides from Portuairk

Winsor and Newton Artists' water colours on Fabriano Artistico HP 140lb watercolour paper; in a frame with real miniature glass.

Width: 51 mm (2 in), height: 45 mm (1 3/4 in), depth: 4 mm (3/16 in).

Suitable for 1/16th and 1/12th scale dolls' houses.

This painting is on auction at eBay, closing on Sunday 14th March. You can bid in the auction or view the details at this page at ebay.co.uk.

This is a very small original miniature watercolour painting by Jenny Chapman. It shows a view looking north-north-west out to sea from the hilltop above Portuairk on the north coast of the Ardnamurchan peninsula, around 1 p.m. on 8th January 2010.

This painting is discussed and various stages of work in progress are illustrated in the Artist’s Journal entry for 29th January 2010.

The image below is a scan of the painting which has been enlarged to greater than life size in order to show the details more clearly. In reality the image as shown here measures just 1 1/2 inches (38 mm) across.

It was a beautiful but frosty day, and the ground was frozen hard underfoot. In the foreground of the painting you can see the edge of the shore, where the partly frozen-over burn is flowing out to sea through the tiny village of Portuairk. Portuairk lies in permanent shade in mid-winter, owing to the tall hill immediately behind it to the south, so the icy burn is in shadow but the rest of the scene is in full sun. The view from here on a clear day is one of the most beautiful in the whole area, with a fabulous panorama of the Hebridean islands sweeping right round to the Isle of Skye and the mainland in the east. In this scene the low-lying island of Muck can be seen across the Sea of the Hebrides, in front of the much larger island of Rum with its mountain tops covered in snow. The tallest peaks on Rum often have their heads in low clouds, which on this day were casting strong shadows on the snow. The water is shallow in much of the bay, so shoals of rocks are exposed and then covered again by the tides, creating an ever changing pattern of light and dark across the sea.

This is a particularly small miniature so it is well suited to small-scale dolls houses.

The painting is presented in a hand-made wooden frame with real miniature glass and is ready to hang, complete with a gold-plated chain.

This painting is a unique work of art and no prints of it will be made. It is initialled on the front and signed both on the back of the painting itself (not visible when framed) and on the archival quality backing board, which is sealed to the frame in the traditional way with miniature paper tape. A unique code number is marked on the back, and a signed certificate of authenticity with this code number is also supplied.

This miniature work of art is a collectors’ item intended for collectors of miniatures and for dolls house enthusiasts. Please note that it is not a toy and is not intended for children.