An artist who loves nothing more than painting landscapes outdoors has revealed his secret to overcoming the cold.
John O’Neill moved from Norway to Aberdeen last summer, and has since fallen in love with the north-east.
He regularly heads out to paint the scenes before him – accompanied by dog Tanzie – and Stonehaven, Westhill and Garlogie are already among his favourite spots.
The former physiotherapist reveres the “lovely skylines and turrets” of Aberdeenshire’s landscape.
The pros of painting outdoors
And while Aberdeen does not have the same chill factor as Norway’s -20C winters, the artist has revealed he always carries an essential with him on his trips: a flask of vodka.
The 55-year-old, who has featured on Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year twice, winning the wildcard in 2019, said painting outside – or en plein air – is a particular pleasure.
“There’s something about the light and the atmosphere of the day,” he said.
“I used to paint outside in really low temperatures in Norway. And my paint would freeze on the palette, like a slush puppy.
“Someone recommended that I mix vodka in with the paint to keep it from freezing.”
Mr O’Neill, who now lives in Milltimber, has been enjoying chatting to locals as he and labradoodle Tanzi get to know the landscape.
He said: “As for the Scottish people, I love them so much.
“If you paint outside in Norway, people are very conservative, so they’ll let you paint and not really bother you too much.
“But here in Scotland, if you’ve only got a four hour window for the light, you’ve got to use every second you can.
“Scottish people chat your hind legs off and I love it.
“I’ve had to rethink my procedure for getting painting done, in the knowledge that I’ve got half the time that I used to because there’s always a good chinwag.”
Art as a relaxation tool
Mr O’Neill, who has had his work shown with the Royal Society of Oil Painters, admitted he still gets a thrill when people buy his artwork and said it’s important to reflect on areas that resonate with people.
Some of his biggest inspirations include Amedeo Modigliani, Euan Uglow and Catterline’s own Joan Eardley.
“I admired her (Eardley) from afar before I ever came to Scotland,” he said.
“And now I’m there, I just think, oh my god, she painted all around somewhere just 15 miles from where I live.”
Mr O’Neill recommends creative outlets like painting “to show you that there are some beautiful things just on your doorstep”.
“How do we balance beauty with the contrast of the toughness that’s going on around us?” he added.
“I’ll sit myself down at my easel with pretty much a blank canvas, and lose four hours in some sort of out of body experience.
“You come out of it feeling cleansed, like the grey clouds have gone.”
