Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-03-17
4 Seu-Painter.

IL is a far cry from quiet, peaceful
Kensington to the wild Atlantic-beaten
shores Of the West of Scotland, but when
seated i'm the handsome studio of Mr..
Colin Hunter, in the Melbury road Says
a London contributor, the sense Of dis
lance between the two is vastly dimin-
ished. In various stages of progress are
anvases depicting scenes which the artist
has made peculiarly his own. Here a
piece of rugged beach, on which great
green rollers are beating themselves out
in surf; there a glimpse Of a lofty noun
tain peak, with the dark waters Of a lOch
at its base; there, again, a brown-sailed
fshing-boat dashing madly through the
water before a strong breeze. The whole
atmosphere is that Of the sea; we al
most fancy we hear the surf beating on
the shore, and feel the invigorating
breath of the wind blowing bin from
across the waves as We talk with Mr..
Hunter of his pictures and his method
OF painting them.
'MIost Of my subjects have been found
either on the west coast Of Scotland on
Ireland, far away from the ordinary
tourist tract. The scenery and effects
are very similar in both parts, and the
fishermen, with their cottages and boats,
serve as models, n form the living in
terest of my pictures. Yes" he proceed
ed to reply to a question, "the sea on
these coasts is Of the grandest descrlp-
ton; the great waves roll in with all the
vast unbroken force of the Atlantic be-
hind them. The sky effects TO be obtain
ed, too, are most gorgeous in their beau
ty."
Some 70 your plctures-such as The
Herring Market at Sea- for instance
have, of course, TO be painted, or at least
%sketched, at sea?"
Certainly. That particular picture rep
resents a scene on Loeb Fyne. l had TO
charter a small steamer and paint on the
deck; and as the time of the market is
just about dawn, 1 had to be at work by 4
o'clock i'm the morning, n that for day
after day"
1t is a curiou scene. Surrounded by
herring boats is a steamer, to which is
being transferred the silver harvest of
the fishermen.
The steamer explained Mr.. Hunter,
'fs an old tug, long past the service for
which ii was built, but sound enough for
this purpose. l painted the picture in
1881, and 1T is now in the City Art Gallery,
at Manchester. My chief picture in the
Royal Academy in 1852 was one painted
under similar conditions. l called it
Waiting for the Homeward Bound Two
tugs are lying-to under Ailsa Craig wait
ing to tow incoming ships up the Clyde.
For this picture L had to hire a steamer
for a month. and went out each day to
within a mile or two of the rock and
painted. The worst of it is that 1 I'm al
ways i'll when l am thus working, and yet
In the ordinary way l am never sea-sick.
My first works accepted for Burlington
were both open sea pictures, and
were called Herring Trawlers' and Sail
ing Free That was in 1872"
Mr.. Hunter is a Scotchman by birth,
hailing from Glasgow. He began his ca
reer as a clerk, but, like NAM others of
well-known brethren of the palette,
that painting was more congenial
TO his tastes than sitting at the desk. The
pen was. therefore, abandoned for the
brush, landscape painting claiming first
attention. But the sea soon attracted him,
and to the sea he has remained faithful.