Paradise found on the Kintyre shore; Keith Jackson, Glastonbury

Monday

FLY into Glasgow. En route to Kintyre stop briefly at a green- grocer's - the only shop open. The owner moans about southern visitors ordering aubergines and then not buying them. How xenophobic! Buy some bread and whisky.

On the map, the Kintyre peninsula doesn't appear to be too far away but because of Scottish glacial activity and the timing of the ferries it actually takes forever to reach. Arrive in the dark; the fire is laid; one match later and we've settled in.

Tuesday

AWAKE to sunshine and the call of seabirds; a cottagey paradise on the foreshore with island views across a blue sea. This isn't the Scotland I'd expected - where's the rain, the mist, the midges?

I spend the day painting and exploring - a tourist-occupied castle, a derelict stately home, a well-used bothy ... Miles of beautiful, empty (and warm) coastline to paint. I start to see where the Scottish colourists are coming from.

Wednesday A GOOD day's painting by the sea - wonderful light, wonderful place. Hopefully produce the goods. Celebrate in the evening with a bottle of Jura.

Thursday

ASK the farmer's wife about the bull in the field behind the cottage. She informs me (casually) that yesterday he tried to mount her - "he's a right dirty Charlie". Imagine half a ton of Aberdeen Angus on your back! Decide not to paint in that field - Charlie may not be strictly heterosexual.

I pass the day painting this glorious Scottish sunlight on this glorious Scottish coast. Early to bed anticipating the next day's drive to Glasgow, the opening of my exhibition and then hopefully a night on the tiles - but not before trying a few bottles of heather ale.

Friday

DRIVE to Glasgow. Cities are always a place of unease for me. However, my stay proves to be one of pure pleasure (but little sobriety).

In the morning, I comb the city's galleries for the paintings of Joan Eardley, a heroine of mine. Only a few pieces to be found but no seascapes. Book into the Arthouse, a beautiful building. Wander down to the Gallery of Modern Art in my quest to find an Eardley. My first- ever Scottish show opens in the evening at the Kelly Gallery (RGI). It looks really good, the large crowd seem to agree and the rash of red "sold" spots confirms it. Hit the town afterwards.

Saturday

OFF to Kelvingrove museum looking for more Eardleys. What a place! The taxi driver had every right to be so proud of it. Everyone should see the two fantastic Eardleys and the Great Auk - the stuffed seabird wiped out in the 1800s. Fly back to Cornwall via Gatwick. Land clutching my litre of Auchentoshan whisky like a wartime evacuee with his tea flask.

Sunday

TIME to get back into my routine. I'm going to paint among the wild flowers of oak woods - primroses, bluebells, anemones and wild garlic, above an estuary as the tide ebbs and flows. Looking forward to the exhibition moving to Edinburgh and to sampling again the delights of a Scottish city for a night.

Kurt Jackson, the Glastonbury festival's artist-in-residence, is showing at Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh from May 17 - June 2

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