Illustrator draws on famous places so artistic Scots can colour in their country
Jenny Morrison When Eilidh Muldoon was a little girl, she didn’t splash paint on paper like other kids in her class.
Instead, the patient youngster would spend hours creating the most intricate patterns with the finest-tipped felt pens.
Fast forward 25 years and Eilidh is one of Scotland’s most talented illustrators and has just launched The Colouring Book of Scotland, which she hopes will take colouring fans old and new on an artistic journey to many of the country’s favourite places.
Eilidh, 30, of Edinburgh, said: “I was never one of those children who liked a massive paint brush to splosh paint around.
“I preferred using a tiny, very fine-tipped pen to draw patterns and pictures so intricate that I would be straining my eyes.
“I spent hours drawing repetitive patterns or copying illustrations from my favourite books. I would almost go into a meditative trance, drawing lines on paper like the illustrators I loved. I could sit and look at the work of illustrators like Quentin Blake or Nick Sharratt for hours. ”
Eilidh studied history of art at St Andrews University followed by a master’s degree at Edinburgh College of Art.
She said: “For my degree show, some of my work was interactive art – including a colouring activity book with flaps you could lift to see what was underneath. The craze for colouring had just kicked off.”
Her work was spotted by a publishing company who asked Eilidh to design a colouring book that was suitable for both children and adults.
She put together a list of 23 popular places in Scotland – including Edinburgh Castle, the Forth Bridge, Melrose Abbey, the Falkirk Wheel and the beach at her hometown of North Berwick – then recreated them in her own artistic style.
She hopes colouring fans will use her book as a catalyst to visit the places featured. She said: “Some of the places I knew well but some I didn’t know that well so it was a great excuse to go for a visit.
“The book reads like a journey, so you can work your way through the sites, colouring them in as you tour the country.
“But if you just want to sit in one place and colour the pictures in, that’s fine too.”
Eilidh, who has also worked with the National Gal leries of Scotland on a colouring and drawing project, has taken her new book to workshops across the country.
She said: “Colouring is a lovely creative way of switching off from the stresses of life. I love when people talk to me about the therapeutic benefits they get from the book but colouring can be a social thing too. People sit and chat while colouring.
“And I love the way people add things to my drawings – someone once added a gorilla walking a dog along a street.”
Eilidh, who combines working as a private commission artist with teaching at Edinburgh College of Art, took her own time out to enjoy some colouring – on her honeymoon with husband Bob.
She said: “We went to Oban and I went into a bookshop and there was my book. I hadn’t realised it was going to be there, so it was lovely to finally have the time to sit down and do some colouring for myself.
“I feel really lucky to be able to make a living doing something I love so much.”