Wednesday August 13th 2025
Norham Castle
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
A Berwickshire artist is to pay tribute to one of the UK’s greatest-ever painters at a site from which he drew great inspiration.
Rachel Sutherland will pay homage to JMW Turner beside Norham Castle on the banks of the River Tweed on Thursday, September 4.
Turner was born in 1775, 250 years ago this year.
The fluid, luminous qualities of his landscape paintings have made him one of the world’s most famous artists.
Turner first visited and sketched Norham Castle during his 1797 tour and he returned to the area several times to make sketches, watercolours and oil paintings.
Several of his Norham Castle paintings were later reproduced as engravings and widely disseminated.
Connecting Threads, the cultural strand of the landscape-scale project Destination Tweed, have partnered with Norham Arts to offer a creative workshop next month.
The five-year project is bringing together creative practitioners with conservationists, environmentalists, scientists, river specialists and communities of place and purpose, to celebrate the River Tweed.
In tribute to Turner’s work, Rachel Sutherland, who is secretary of Berwickshire Art Society, will demonstrate some of the innovative painting techniques and unusual materials that Turner employed to evoke the dynamism of water.
Taking place right on the riverbank, the workshop will involve sponges and scalpel scrapes, as well as wet and dry brush techniques that allow pigments to float or accumulate.
Paint can be mixed with water from the closest source: the River Tweed itself.
Joanna Helfer, Connecting Threads River Culture Animateur for the Lower Tweed, said: “There is something creative in the waters of the Tweed, which groups like Norham Arts clearly demonstrate.
“I hope this workshop with wonderful artist Rachel Sutherland can support people to continue Turner’s legacy of drawing inspiration from the river.”
This event costs £5 to attend, payable to Norham Arts Group.
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