A Room With A View Without is an original painting by Derbyshire based Scottish artist John McDonald, created after a visit to the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides, the Western Isles of Scotland.

The artist was struck by the prevalence of abandoned crofts in the Outer Hebrides: former Scottish Island homesteads. These buildings are slowly decaying, being reclaimed by the land and the island weather, and yet are full of memories. The ruins tell the stories of past lives, and whisper the secrets of the families who lived there, with all kinds of objects and possessions remaining: keys, clocks, furniture and linen.

Inspired by the work of John Maher, fine art photographer, and former Buzzcocks drummer, the painting is based on an image from Maher’s Nobody's Home series. A Room With A View Without is produced with the kind permission of Mr Maher.
The Western Isles are a long way from John McDonald’s origins, a very different Scotland from the Glasgow tenement where the artist was born.

The series is not about a lament for a romantic view of lost Scottish heritage. The human objects remaining in the abandoned crofts, relate to another kind of loss; the alienation and surreal mind-state of profound hearing loss, where things cease to be familiar through the absence of their sounds.

The Original Painting is available to buy directly through this website, or you may contact the artist if you wish to make an offer.