TWO Scots artists are locked in a bizarre transatlantic contest to see who can create the tiniest painting.
Roderick Watt Adam and Margaret Maclean have both managed to produce works which are half an inch square.
And the next step in their battle of the brushes is the eye-straining quarter of an inch square.
Margaret, from Stornoway, Lewis, and Roderick, originally from Dundee and now living in Ontario, both produce miniature artwork for a living.
But their creations are normally a relatively massive four to six inches in the longest dimension.
The friendly “feud” started on Facebook when Margaret posted a daringly small three inch by three inch oil on canvas of the view at Garenin, Lewis.
Roderick hit back with a two inch by two inch watercolour of the Windmill Bar on the Hilltown in Dundee.
He cheekily captioned the work: “How come your paintings are so large?”
Since then, the pair have been trading blows by repeatedly lopping off sections of canvas.
Margaret painted a view of Princes Street, Edinburgh, sized two inches by two inches.
Roderick then produced a one inch by one inch watercolour of Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness, which he posted on facebook with the boast: “This took three minutes. For my friend Margaret Maclean, beat that.”
Margaret indeed did beat him with her own half by inch work, a watercolour of a house, called Pentland Airidh.
Roderick evened the score with his own piece featuring Broughty Ferry Road, Dundee.
Margaret said: “The challenge is more precise and there is so little margin for error both in outline and colour and to remain accurate.
“Roderick and I had spoken about miniatures before but I think it was really him who spoke about a proper challenge and I took him up in it, as I love a challenge.”
Roderick said, “I usually do 6 by 4 inch work, but I produced the 2 by 2 in “retaliation” to my friend Margaret Maclean’s 3 by 3.
“I should not have made the comment promising the 1 by 1 on Facebook, but when it’s out there why not?”
The battle is currently raging on, with a quarter by quarter inch on the cards in the coming days.
But the pair are miles off the official world record for the tiniest painting. A version of the Mona Lisa was created by scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA, and is just 30 microns wide – a third of the width of a human hair.
