“Welcome to our studio and thank you for dropping by to view this miniature Masterworks oil painting, ‘The Munro Killer’. One of a series of paintings in a collection that celebrates the output of local producers and artisans from the Highlands of Scotland. A fisherman’s passion for tying his own flies was the inspiration for this painting, who had also built the stone wall on which the still-life is perched.

SUBJECT - This still-life is brought to life by a dramatic fusion of light and colour. Here the colourful subject of fly-tying paraphernalia is set against the soft warmth of a sunlit stone wall - we see everything that is needed for the craft. Clamps, feathers, instruments, a fishing reel and more, sitting alongside a box of completed fishing flies. The fly in the process of being tied is the Munro Killer.

COMPOSITION – A glorious challenge in miniature, to capture the colourful and highly contrasting detail of feather, flies, metallic equipment, along with a section of the stone wall, receding away from the viewer. The black stand and the red box, provide the framework that holds the elements of this busy composition together. They also re-inforce the perspective of the stone surface on which everything sits. In the foreground, feather, scissors and tying instruments provide diagonals, inviting the eye to explore the details of the composition.

METHOD & TECHNIQUE – A miniature with such detail as this, requires very precise brush-work. While colour and light are essential, accuracy is foremost, especially in correctly rendering scale and volume. The method and techniques used on such a miniature scale are no different than those exploited on one of my largest Masterworks. Each involves many layers, worked gradually through from the dark underpainting to the final super-white highlights. Volume, depth and structure are achieved through the use of impasto, followed by selective glazing. Bright touches of colour are made more brilliant through the selective use of transparent glazes of pure colour, as in the reel of lustrous orange thread; others may be the tiniest ticks of colour that draw the eye.

As always, we thank you for reading and watching, with best wishes from Eileen and myself,”

Paul Taggart

Artist : Author : Presenter : Producer