Scottish Pet Portraits, biography

Scottish Pet Portraits

About me

hand painted logo of collie, paints and brushes

Dogs rule

I was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, and spent many years in England; Essex, London and Hampshire. After a variety of false starts, I took a degree in fine art at West Surrey College of Art, (now renamed the Surrey Institute), and became a teacher of art and music.

James collins with blues class

That's me in the middle with the white jazz guitar and this
is the blues class I used to teach

I finally gave in to the insistent nagging of my celtic side, some six years and returned to Scotland with my wife, daughter and three dogs, to concentrate on painting and drawing, and also to search for my Scottish relatives - the other half of my family. I've had some success with the search. Amongst others, I found a cousin who returned from South Africa at the same time that I moved up from England. Not only was she on the same quest but she has now launched a search agency for Scots and others who are looking for their relatives. Her name is Margaret Drummond, which is a good old Scottish name, the original Margaret Drummond having been married to David 2nd of Scotland. Maybe my family is better connected than I thought! Her website address is: scotsconnected.com.

I also discovered my sister, Bonnie, whom I had only ever seen once, when she was ten and I was about twenty. When I came back to Scotland I found that she had been looking for me and lived about twenty miles from where I used to live in England! That's life.

Here are some pictures of me and the local area

The Great Man

James and Patch by the River Lossie

The Great Man with his dog
at the River Lossie near Dallas

Looking north towards the Hill of the Wangie
(yes, really). The Wangie is a puma-like animal
which is reputed to live in the area. It is not the
indigenous wildcat of Scotland, but has been
seen by a number of people, including friends of
mine (and now me). There is also a Kellas cat, which
may or may not be the same animal. (Full story on
www.scottishbigcats.co.uk/blamethekellas.htm)

Moray, Scotland in the snow

The same view in winter. The first summer we were
here a local lady asked me how I liked the area. I
said I liked it very much and that the scenery was
stunning. She said if I thought it was beautiful now
I should wait for the winter. At the time I thought
she was joking, but now I know she was
telling the simple truth.

The two little dots in this beautiful winter scene are
children who are supposed to be at school. The school, Dallas primary, is just out of the picture
to the right!

Border Collie

Patch, (see A Scottish Collie).

	This is the farmhouse at Kellas, (see Do you ken John Peel?), where we stayed for a while before moving to...
Dallas, Moray, in the Scottish Highlands,where we lived for three years when we first moved back to Scotland. In case you are wondering, Dallas, Texas was named after a local lad, George Mifflin Dallas, who emigrated to the U.S. in the mid-nineteenth century, became vice-president of America and gave his name to Dallas. Not bad for a good ol' country boy, as they say in the lone star state


...the coastal plain of the Moray Firth. "Oh, my, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto." That's Toto - I mean Oscar - in the garden.	This rich farming land was fought over by the Vikings, Picts, Scots and English and it's not difficult to see why. Even the Romans gained a toe-hold at one time, although they never managed to suppress the 'wylde wykked hieland men', and soon retired behind their Roman walls, some 250 miles south

How Not to Photograph Your Dog

James and Daisy May Rough Collie pup

There you go, Daisy May. Just sit there,
this won't take long No, look at the camera, Daisy May,
the timer's running

Daisy May and James

Ok you're right, I'm better at painting
than photography! What do you mean, union rates?
Keep quiet and eat your biscuits

Please tickle me to return home

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There you go, Daisy May. Just sit there, this won't take long	No, look at the camera, Daisy May, the timer's running


Ok you're right, I'm better at painting than photography!	What do you mean, union rates? Keep quiet and eat your biscuits