Amy Morris McGlashan and Professor Robert Marshall

I have been looking forward to the time to report on the results of my research project. I had proposed to study the writings of Robert Burns, travel to Scotland to experience the places he lived in and wrote about, and paint those places described in his ballads and poetry. The entire process was incredibly enjoyable, not to mention educational and inspiring.

With the money ORCA granted me, I arranged a flight to London and traveled with a friend up to Glenrothes, Fife, where I stayed for the duration of the three weeks I was in the country. Because my friends were accommodating I was able to save money for photographs and developing, painting supplies, and travel. It was a close scrape with the money but it worked out to be just enough (I flew out of Gatwick airport with 3£ in my pocket).

Several things surprised me on arriving in Scotland. First, the beauty of the light and the quality of colors in both countryside and cities was astounding. It was easy to find interesting places to paint as I traveled to various places mentioned in Burns’ biographies and poetry. Second, I was surprised at the number of places Burns wrote about. I came with a list of places I would like to visit and had to pare it down just in the interest of time because there were so many. Third, I was surprised at the deeper meaning I found when rereading Robert Burns’ works after learning of his history, understanding better the straightforward and endearing Scottish attitudes toward work, enjoyment, and life in general, and standing in the stormy, rich, and starkly beautiful lands that inspired his writing.

On the second day after arriving I went up into the highlands. This area was written about in many of Burns’ poems, one of the most famous being Highland Mary. In this poem Burns lament the quick death of his Highland Mary whom he loved and buried on the windswept wild highlands. He writes “How sweetly bloom’d the gay green birk, How rich teh hawthorn’s blossom.” I found the hills covered in thick heather and fern, which made a startling view under building thunderclouds with the sun bursting through the openings in the storm.

As I drove home it was growing dark and raining heavily. As the road curved there was a little cottage nestled up in the trees against a hill with lights on in the window. It reminded me of the heartfelt homecoming stories Burns writes about in ballads such as “The Cotter’s Saturday Night” in which a man returns through the November blustery chill to his cottage and his family after a hard week’s work away. “At length his lonely cot appears in view, Beneath the shelter of an aged tree; The’ expectant wee-things, toddlin, stacher through To meet their dad, wi’ flichterin noise an glee…” Then Burns explains the things that mean the most to this man, which “Does a’ his weary kiargh and care beguile An’ makes him quite forget his labour an’ his toil.”

Much of Burns’ sentiments were connected with the cottage where Robert Burns was born and lived until he was seven. Built by his father, the little cottage is still standing in Ayr, a town described by Burns in “Tam O’ Shanter” as: “Auld Ayr, wham ne’er a town surpasses, for honest men and bonie lasses.” I was able to visit and paint the cottage and many of the cites nearby (the area is called “Burns Country”). These included the bridge over which Tam rides his gray mare Meg on his haunting ride home from the pub and “Alloway’s auld haunted kirk” where “ghaists and houlets nightly cry”. I was disappointed to find the “cairn to a bairn” (a pile of stones marking the grave of a baby) which Burns describes as deep in the forest. It is now on a little cement platform in the middle of a sidewalk in a suburb. l met a local man who was thrilled about his little town and offered a tiringly lengthy description of all of the interesting locations. Still, the photographs and sketches were fun to paint from in trying to capture the storm and witchery of the poem.

One of my favorite memories which I still haven’t been able to paint with enough feeling was the Afton River. This little river flows into the Nith River near New Comnock. The charming, wild scenery on its banks is described in “Afton Water,” one of Burn’s most popular poems which was written as a complement to Mrs. Stewart of Stair. The fern and greenery growing along the banks are lush and vivid next to the shallow stony water. Because the river winds between trees at the bottom of a shallow ravine the colours seem crowded together and intense. On the day I was there the sun was out and the water reflected the blue of the sky adding to the beauty and feeling of isolated freedom.

I returned home with one decent painting, a few painting attempts and a lot of sketches and photographs. I was excited to try to capture the feelings and moments Burns writes about but was frustrated with my inabilities. If I was a better, more experienced painter these experiences would have inspired some masterpieces. As for now, I have about five paintings that are fairly successful and a huge number of failed attempts. The process of having a focused project such as this one pushed me to learn more about my strengths and weaknesses in painting than any other project or assignment I did during school. This was mostly due to the fact that the project was of my own design and therefore it meant more to me than an adopted assignment. As one of my last classes before graduating I took 494R, Special Problems Art, from my mentor Robert Marshall. He was extremely helpful in guiding my attempts and pointing out any progress I made.

This project was to be used as a part of my honors thesis and presentation. Several changes came up however, and I have new goals that I am working toward instead, as an extension to this project. The biggest “problem” that came up was that I got married this summer and, in interest of graduating before we left Utah, I dropped the last honors class I was to take and withdrew from the program. Strangely enough, the friend who I married was the one who drove me from the airport in London up to Glenrothes. Not only have we moved to Scotland as of one week ago (We’ll live near St. Andrews, one of the places I painted), but I have found another presentation to work toward. Instead of a show or a report, I have agreed to work with a Scotish teacher who writes children’s books. She’s interested in using some of my work as illustration, as well as more paintings I will do more specific to her needs. I’m sorry I was unable to complete my honors project as proposed but feel this is a good extension to the project and will continue to push me talentwise even though I’ve now graduated. I’ve also been collecting Burns’ songs sung by popular and coloquial people and will continue painting until I have enough successful paintings to present accompanied by this music.

Thank you for funding this project. The experience I gained from the opportunity is invaluable (not to mention my husband).