THE paintings of a former cartoonist at The Herald newspaper are to be exhibited in Edinburgh.
This is the second solo exhibition of the work of Bill McArthur, his first having been on the Orkney Islands, where he has lived for the last 36 years.
His seascapes represent a relatively recent switch, from cartoons to painting, mainly in oils.
But it is not the first time he has made a dramatic change in tack, his career as a cartoonist beginning when he was a fisherman for 20 years, beginning with a weekly cartoon, Jim’n’Alec, for the fishing newspaper, the Fishing News, which he began in 1988 and continues to this day.
Says McArthur: “It was a view from the deck by someone who knew about it and revolved round the Unholy Trinity of drink, sex and the price of fish. Then along came [The Herald editor] Arnold Kemp in 1992, starting with the front page spot cartoons and under [Kemp’s successor] George McKechnie taking on the political cartoon on the Opinion page.”
He was dropped, as part of cost-cutting, ten years later, during the editorship of Mark Douglas-Home.
His exhibition is taking place at the Coburg House Gallery, 15 Coburg Street, Leith, Edinburgh, between August 15 and 28.
