Vikings on the shore
Now then, let's muse upon that name Viking a bit further. It's still a handy verb, but it led to a couple of weighty nouns too; Norsemen and, in its Francophone corruption, Normans. Duke Rollo was responsible for quite a bit of the corrupting, and has been celebrated in Norse districts ever since, from the Orkneyinga saga onwards (more about currently Caledonian archipelagos in a moment). His great, great grand-son William the bastard/conqueror had quite an impact around these parts, generating a genuine game of thrones which saw Scots and Saxons serving as expendable infantry for their post-Scandi overlords on both sides. There have been plenty of northern naughty Normans as a result, from Robert the Bruce to, erm, a certain Lord Monboddo. So, where better to put the Rollo Artist Graphite Set to test than some lightly-defended islands off Scotland?
In this case, a bit of diplomacy had to be used before getting going with these Danish pencils, because on the next-door island, Iona, it is still very much not the done thing to mention Vikings - although if you want to see what the monks managed to protect with significant self-sacrifice, check out the magnificent Book of Kells. On Mull, though, there was no-one about to object and the stags and eagles weren't too concerned.
No great claims of artistic merit are made here. It was a lovely view, even if Jura was hiding behind a tree and had to be represented by a stage prop which, ahem, just happened to be to hand. But the pencils worked a treat, as Viking (the company, not the verb) have sensibly selected just the lead grades that one really needs. 2H makes a very faint line which is easily erased; ideal for initial layout. The remaining increasingly soft grades allow for appropriate shading, that in more competent hands might even allow for a sense of perspective, all the way up to the 8B used to portray Colonsay lurking on the horizon. The chances are that you'll pull off a better sketch than this; if you try, have fun! Oh, and go easy on the Normans - we're much more peaceful nowadays ;)
