It is in these paintings that the artist develops the sombre and almost threatening metamorphic qualities of the aerial landscape of the border skies to express a sense of his lack of personal recognition following his retirement from Central School of Art
In his autobiography, he refers to this period in his work op.cit. 'In spite of farming fustrations during the years at Portburn (1965/70), I painted a series of pictures which I called 'Rain in Ettrick'; these grey, almost monochrome, paintings were, perhaps, the fruit of much personal depression. Why, after all, should I continue to paint? Why paint just to stack canvases in rows against the wall in a spare bedroom? Was it a silly pastime for an old man?