One of Britains foremost printmakers Norman Ackroyd CBE RA has spent a lifetime recording the coastal landscapes of the British Isles A Shetland Notebook contains forty of his vivid landscape sketches in watercolour Made in the open air often aboard a pitching & tossing fishing boat these lively spontaneous works capture the unique atmosphere of these remote & beautiful islands The notebooks unusual format is due entirely to the artist who uses sheets of various types of paper torn to fit into a loose-leaf ring binder made from two pieces of wooden picture-backing; this he tucks into his coat pocket ready for use whenever the need arises His brief but engaging commentaries place each sketch in its context Following the success of A Line in the Water Ackroyds collaboration with the award-winning poet Douglas Dunn OBE published by the Royal Academy in 2009 A Shetland Notebook is an essential purchase for all admirers of this most characterful artists work