IT has inspired writers and artists alike since time immemorial.
English Romantic painter Turner couldn’t get enough of it, and in his novel, Catriona, Robert Louis Stevenson described it as “just the one crag of rock, as everybody knows, but great enough to carve a city from”.
Now the Bass Rock, once dubbed Scotland’s Alcatraz because of its long-disused prison, will play a starring role in a new exhibition at Fidra Fine Art in Gullane.
Around 30 artists have been invited by Fidra owner Alan Rae to present their unique view of the famous volcanic plug, which sits a few miles off the coast of North Berwick in East Lothian and is home to 350,000 seabirds, including a large population of gannets.
Bass Rock opens on September 4 and among the artists exhibiting in the gallery are husband and wife Darren Woodhead and Pascale Rentsch.
The couple, who live in Haddington, East Lothian, with their three sons, have a deep connection to the Rock, having first met 25 years ago during a seabird-drawing course based at North Berwick, run by the late John Busby.
A renowned wildlife artist and teacher at Edinburgh College of Art, Busby drew and painted birds on the rock throughout his lifetime.
Woodhead said: “Like everyone who visits the Bass Rock for the first time, Pascale and I were overwhelmed by the experience.
“Even as you approach it by boat, it literally glows thanks to being covered by both gannets and guano.”
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