Did you know that the BBC has been busy putting all the British paintings which are in public ownership onto a website? They have just completed the mammoth task so all of the paintings which are owned by local authorities are now available for viewing online. You can see them here.

I’ve been snooping around on that site for quite a while and have pinned some of the paintings already, particularly ones which feature scenery which is dear to me, it’s that ‘hills of home’ thing, but I see that since I last visited the site quite a few more local scenes have appeared, I’ll have to get pinning.

This is one of my favourites. It’s the Cloch Lighthouse at the Tail of the Bank on the Clyde estuary. It dates from the 1930s and is by Norman Wilkinson. I love that 30s style.

This one was painted in about 1853 and is of the town I grew up in, albeit more than 100 years before I got there, it’s Dumbarton from Kirktonhill, by David Octavius Hill.

If you have some spare time you should have a wander around the site you never know what you might find.