Hello from Bressay!

A short time before Covid, I made a map-like drawing of Bressay. It was a kind of aerial viewpoint of the island, as though looking east from mainland Shetland, but also a bringing-together of many of the island's special features and natural landmarks. Whilst drawing, I thought a lot about how the island is only a short journey from Lerwick, but is still a hidden gem, with a special character of its own - like a whole world in miniature.

It was brilliant when Bressay's community development company, who I was volunteering with, saw this as something with potential for a postcard design. However, Covid coming along meant postcard-sending wasn't happening for a while. But during restrictions, we still worked behind the scenes, and I made an A0 digitally drawn version which was then printed for welcoming visitors back to Speldiburn Cafe and Community Hub. Historical sites and the island's community facilities were added, giving a sense of layers of stories and human-habitation through time, which continues today.

This enlarged version was very much informed by a 2020 experience: we decided one day to walk around the whole of the coastline of Bressay. I'll never forget this long sunny day, with amazing panoramic views and time spent on the largely uninhabited east side of Bressay. I'm not sure whether we'd have done this if we hadn't had the experience of lockdown, and the feeling of the island becoming the container of your whole world for a while.

The original drawings were in time made into a postcard, and here are some of the original studies. There is now even a teatowel - both of which you can buy if you visit Speldiburn Cafe.