Isle of Islay - Watercolours by Ken Stainsby

Ken Stainsby was based on Islay with the RAF in 1942-43 (The picture on the left shows him in Weston Super-Mare in South-west England, where he was stationed in September 1943). During his stay he painted several water-colours of the scenery on Islay. Most of them seem to be from the area around Port Ellen, where he was stationed during that time. It looks as though he could not get hold of any proper watercolour paper, so he has used paper out of a ledger. I got in contact with his son Mike Stainsby in 2002 through an entry Mike made in my (unfortunately now closed) Guestbook. He was looking for anyone remembering Ken, trying to find out more. When Mike mentioned the water-colours his father had painted I asked him about showing them on this site. He agreed and scanned several of the pictures for me. You can see the result on this page, a big Thank you to Mike for his help and permission to show the pictures here. Mike died in 2004 from illness, so this page also serves as a memory to him and his friendliness.
A harbour scene dated 4th / 8th Oct. 1942. I guess this is Port Ellen, overlooking Loch Leodamais from The Ard	Rocks in the sea, painted some time between the 30th Sept. and 6th Oct. 1942
Dunyveg Castle near Lagavulin Distillery (31st July 1942)	A beautiful picture of the Singing Sands near Carraig Fhada, painted 27th June 1943.
In Summer 2005 I was contacted by Ian Birrell who had found a painting by Ken Stainsby in a charity shop and when trying to find out more about the picture ended up on this page. He sent me a scan of the painting, which is of Carraig Fhada lighthouse at Kilnaughton Bay and Port Ellen. Looks like a really nice warm and calm day... Side note: Ian is a painter and photographer himself, you can view some of his photos and watercolour paintings of Orkney.

Islay Watercolours by Ken Stainsby