Cath Waters Scottish Landscape Gifts

Without a doubt, one of the most popular ranges in the shop has to be Cath Waters atmospheric digital collages of the West Coast of Scotland. Gorgeous and moody, this stunning range captures the wild beauty of the western isles in all it’s rugged realness.

The range includes greetings cards and notebooks, prints and blocks, ceramic mugs and coasters as well as melamine table mats, glass work top savers, and new mini chopping boards.

About Cath Waters Scottish Landscapes

Cath Waters is a Scottish Landscape digital artist and photographer, whose work greatly draws inspiration from her camper van travels around Scotland.  She loves the wide-open spaces, vast skies and low light of the Scottish West Coast and the Hebrides and tries to capture the essence of these special places.

There is a sense of simplicity, space and solitude in her work, which often features the unique calming colours of the Scottish land and sea – soft greys, emerald greens, muted blues and purples.

Originally Cath opened a studio and workshop in Grangemouth, central Scotland but now lives and works with her family on the Isle of Skye.  Her beautiful Skye studio and gallery is where she creates all artwork and designs each product, as well as now welcoming visitors from all over the world. Cath’s studio is in a large wooden outbuilding beside Cath’s family home near Carbost on the Isle of Skye,  nestled beneath the Cuillin moutains and on the shores of Loch Harport and just a mile past the world famous Talisker Whisky Distillery.

All her products are designed and printed in the UK. Cath creates and designs everything at her studio and then all the ceramic gift products, including tiles, mugs, coasters and wood block art are printed and finished by her small team at the Grangemouth workshop.  They produce most of their own giclee prints too, and either frame them themselves or send them to framers in Edinburgh.  The rest of the gift products such as cards, notepads and table mats are produced in the UK as locally as possible.

Digital collage can mean any form of collage assembled or created using a computer.  Cath’s process starts off on location where she takes digital photographs of the landscape.  Back in the studio she uses a computer to blend the landscape photography with sections of additional photographs to add texture, colour and depth.  Each finished piece might have between 10 and 20 layers of collage in addition to the original landscape photograph.

Cath explains some of her favourite textures, as shown above, here:“peeling paint on old fishing boats (a favourite source of textures), lichen on rocks, a campervan tabletop and some copper paint on board which I oxidised in the studio.    I sometimes use photographs of painting or mixed media but more often I use photographs surfaces such as rocks, peeling paint, scratched metal, rust, fabric, old paper - all sorts of unusual things.   I have a huge archive of “weird” pictures that I have collected, including the bottom of my kitchen sink.”

Our Favourite Designs

Cath has a wide range of designs and over the years we've stocked a fair number of them, and from these undoubtedly some favourites have emerged. Here are our current favourite and best selling designs that we stock:

Strawberry Moonrise over Cuillins, Skye

"A strawberry moon is the full moon in June which marks the time of year that wild strawberries are ready to pick. The full moon in June is also sometimes known as the Honey Moon, Rose Moon or Mead Moon. The Cuillin ridge on the Isle of Skye is spectacular in it’s own right but even more so on a full moon and watching the moon rise over the jagged peaks is a truly memorable sight"

This Ceramic Coaster featuring the Strawberry Summer Moon rising over the Cuillin ridge - viewed from Cath's studio near Carbost on the Isle of Skye, comes in a beautiful, branded matchbox style gift box and makes an excellent present at only £10.00.

Isle of Arran Sunset

Up until recently this pretty Arran Sunset as viewed from Argyll across the Sound of Bute was our most local design. It's colour palette contrasts beautifully with the rest of the range and it's been a popular one from the start.

This Worktop Saver is made from toughened tempered glass with a high-shine, textured surface and has protective rubber feet. It is designed to protect the work surface from mess while cooking but can also be used as a chopping board, table mat or serving board.

The Summer Isles from Achiltibuie

For Achiltibuie from the Summer Isles, Cath has used a photograph of the peeling paint on the side of an old fishing boat in the yard at Achiltibuie as the lower layer of the image. The upper layer is lichen on the surface of one of the Kilmartin standing stones. She has digitally coloured and blended sections of the stones and lichen, and subtly blended with other textures to create the finished piece.

Shown here on the very popular Summer Isles Ceramic Mug. All Cath Waters mugs come with a matching gift box.

Ben More, Sound of Mull

Reflections of the evening sun over the Sound of Mull with views to Ben More. A cool and tranquil design with beautiful light.

Shown here on wonderfully glossy Melamine Table Mat - finished with a eucalyptus base and hard-wearing cork backing. All Cath Waters table mats are sold individually so you can create your own set or just by one or two as a feature.

Salt Marshes on Harris

Salt Marshes and crofting village on the East Coast of the Hebridean Isle of Harris. One of the most atmospheric images in the collection of this beautiful and rugged landscape, the colours in this one are fantastically moody.

Shown here on the a glossy 15 cm, black edged wood block. These clever little blocks are supplied with wall hanging fixture but can also be displayed free standing on a shelf.

And lastly - our new favourite design - not that we're at all biased - features...

Jura from the Mull of Kintryre

Jura viewed from the Mull of Kintyre, Argyll. The new, most local design available! Beautiful Jura is famous for it’s whisky, whirlpools and wild remote hills and we're delighted that this design reflects its beauty so well.

Shown here on another newbie - the mini chopping board is another recent addition to the range. Made from sustainably sourced eucalyptus wood coated on both sides with a durable, food-safe, heat-resistant melamine. It's dinky size also comes with a dinky price tag, at only £10.00 each these make great gifts that are also perfect for posting.

If you'd like to see the full range of Cath Waters gifts that we have in stock then you can take a look here or, of course, pop into the shop for a browse. We've just recieved our latest delivery so there's plenty to see and it's been given a new space right in the middle, so you certainly won't miss it!