About Jane Glue — orkneycalendars

Each year in May, the arctic terns arrive in Orkney, about 13,500 all together, doing a return trip to the southern ocean of about 15000 miles, they are one of the most well travelled birds. They have several nesting sites in Orkney, Papa Westray being one of the biggest. I usually visit the colony ay Northside in Birsay, not far from The Brough of Birsay. This year I made several visits and one particularly enjoyable visit was early one morning. The light was very bright and the terns shone bright white against the vibrant blue sky ducking and diving in...

 Although I have mainly concentrated on painting with watercolours for most of my career as an artist, I now enjoy exploring with lots of different materials, particularly acrylics, collage and more recently cold wax.. Rather than brush strokes, I often find that you can create different marks using scrapers, old credit cards and found items such as twigs and seaweed. These last two years I have been particularly obsessed with birds! from our gorgeous puffins to gannets, terns and crows, I just love birds! Other subjects that I have been working on are a derelict caravan that I discovered at...

Orkney has many famous landmarks. The most famous must be The Ring of Brodgar which I have painted many times over the years and at all times of the year. In June/July the Ring is surrounded by dandelions and other wildflowers and later in September, the heather blooms in wonderful colours of purple and pinks. Orkney's sunsets can be spectacular too and Brodgar makes for a great setting with the dark silhouette's of the stones against the luminous sky. In wintertime, if we have snow, the landscape changes again and the colours become more muted.  Another famous Orkney landmark has...

June is my favourite month in Orkney! The colours and smells of all the wildflowers are wonderful. In early June we have the celadines and marsh marigolds which appear out of our freshwater streams, all a few weeks later than down south and this year especially late as Orkney has been dry and cold.

A visit to the secret garden of Happy Valley is a must in early June also, just to see and feel the bluebells which grow below the trees that surround 'Edwin's' cottage.

This year I have launched a range of gifts. My new serving platters are size 275mm in diameter and made of high quality antbacterial stonemax material. They have a wrap around 3D affect, are hygienic and FSA food safe with standing up to 130C. They can be used in the middle of your table to serve food from directly or for hot dishes.  Serving platters – www.janeglue.com My candles are made by my daughter Elsa Tait Designs and have a fragrance of seabreeze and orange. They are made of vegan friendly soy wax and come in hand painted 'paint tins' in...