Between the Tides by William Littlejohn (b. 1929) presents an abstract scene that combines various geometric shapes in blue and grey colour. Each shape uses thick, blended strokes of oil paint to create a solid form of colour. Softer sweeps of layered grey and blue take up the negative space, revealing the texture of the canvas. Near the top portion, a curving stroke of green is over a grey curve and a rectangular shape of pink-orange colour is over a grey and blue speckled rectangle. These shapes are suggestive of beach debris that may come up in between tides, or even what the tides may carry with them. 

Littlejohn's use of the abstract comes from inspiration from his travels to Japan, where he took techniques of flattening a scene with abstract shapes to capture Scottish coastal objects. His works often contain a colour palette focusing on variations within one hue, or similar hues, present here in the consistency of bluer tones. 

William Littlejohn RSA RSW RGI, born 1929

Littlejohn was born in Arbroath and studied at Gray’s School of Art. Thanks to a Royal Scottish Academy travel bursary, he was able to visit Japan, where he absorbed a style that fascinated him from the early stages of his career, applying the flattened spaces seen to rougher coastal Scottish subject matter. He has been widely exhibited in Scotland, becoming an academician in 1973. He combined his exploratory practice with duties as lecturer at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, and finally as Head of Fine Art until his retirement in 1991.