Thursday 11 February 2016

Unusual Paintings of the Loch Ness Monster




Here's one that is going on eBay just now. It was painted in the 1970s by Preston artist Nick Tomlinson and its yours for forty quid. Look close enough and you'll see Nessie! When I see a painting like this, I check the database to see if the artist was a witness to the monster and went off to paint their experience. In this case, I found no reference to this artist.

Now that may not be unusual in that regard, but Nessie popping up while the artist is at the loch painting is a scenario I have only two claims for and one was an alleged painting done in the 19th century. The person who made that claim said they had scans to prove it but never sent me them. Whoever it was didn't come good on that, so we move on.

There is one painting I would like to track down and that is one of the Loch Ness Monster that is over eighty years old. It is mentioned in an advertisement from the Dundee Courier of 20th September 1934 and is shown below.



The ad seems to imply that the artist painted a sighting of the creature in progress and this would obviously be of great interest to Nessie cryptozoologists. Where this painting is now is anyone's guess (unless a reader has special information). A first step would be to identify the artist and candidates for that period would be Constance Whyte and Alistair Dallas. However, this does not sound like one of them. Another opportunity for detective work it seems.

But hitting dead ends on Nessie investigation is enough to drive you to drink. So I would likely find this beer mat useful!




And speaking of unusual paintings, Bradford Johnson's ongoing work with Loch Ness paintings can be seen here.


The author can be contacted at lochneskelpie@gmail.com







2 comments:

  1. GB-
    With you, I'd also love to see that "actual painting" by a River Ness Artist painted in 1934. It does beg the question if the subject was rendered after having been seen or imagined. Either way it would be fascinating to lay eyes on.

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  2. Don't know any of Nessie, but The Search for Morag includes a painting of Loch Morar by a Dr Cooper, with a hump in the loch he painted which then disappeared in a swirl of water.

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