On Friday afternoon I was invited up to Milton, near Allness, to attend a joint networking meeting of the Woodlands Community Association, Voluntary Arts Scotland and a variety of artists.

This part of the tour has taken me the farthest North I have been in Scotland and to a place I have always longed to visit; Shetland. To make the most out of the trip I decided to take 5 days to explore the island and deliver two workshops, one in Lerwick and one in Unst.

I am off (finger’s crossed) to Shetland first thing tomorrow morning. Despite the panic casued by the Volcano it would appear all flights in and out of Inverness are still running as normal!

A Web Marketing Music Special

Are you an artist based in the Highlands and Islands? I invite you to be part of my Highlands and Islands Art Blog. Every month I’d like to change the Banner on my Blog to promote the great work, design and events that happen across the Highlands and Islands.

How jealous am I, my sister and fabulous photographer, Ashley-Liv Jamieson, is currently sunning herself over in the United Arab of Emirates!

Day 2 in Orkney on the Web Marketing Workshop Tour of Scotland.

The web marketing workshop tour of Scotland 2010 commences!

Documentaries are the new black. At a time when reporting is dominated by the rolling bulletin and breaking news, we need documentary-makers to take the long view, to get behind the headlines, to tell the stories that can change our view of the world forever. On BBC2 last night, Julien Temple’s film ‘Requiem for Detroit’ achieved just such a paradigm shift.

What kind of TV event would get you out of bed early—a General Election, the Oscars, the Olympics? For me, many years ago, it was an opera. At 6am one Sunday morning in 1992 I was huddled before the TV in pyjamas and dressing gown to experience a live relay of the last act of Puccini’s ‘Tosca’. This was, however, no ordinary relay. The producer had had the bold idea of staging the opera in the three actual Roman locations in which it is set (all largely unchanged since 1800, the period of the opera), and, even more ambitiously, at the times of day at which the action was supposed to happen: noon, evening—and dawn.