One rainy afternoon that month when walking through Holyrood Park, I realised that I was free to design in any manner that I wanted, that I could take inspiration from anything. Graphics did not need only to impart information, they could also become art. It was one of those flashes of inspiration that don't come around too often.
Since that walk, I've taken inspiration from many sources, referencing various moments in the history of art and design. I've enjoyed it all immensely. Such creative freedom is unprecedented in my experience as a designer and I am making the most of it. Especially considering it is for a cause, for a movement, that I support so passionately.
The latest design I've finished feels a little more special than what has gone before. This time, I have very clearly referenced a painting, a painting that is Scottish and I have done so purposely and explicitly.
While Scotland has always been an outward looking country, I think there are times when we need to remember who we are and what we have achieved. In art and design, the field of endeavour that is closest to my heart, Scotland has a history that goes back a very long way. Yet, like much of our culture and history, we have been taught to devalue it, to ignore it: it's not as good as what other people have made; too unimportant; too parochial.
This is an attitude that has been created by decades of what appears as a systemic attempt to avoid all mention of Scotland in our education system and of a cultural elite that regard Scottish positions of responsibility as a stepping stone to somewhere else, to somewhere that matters.
If we had an education system that had taught us the value of ourselves, our history and our culture, would any Scot cringe when they hear bagpipes? Would Charles Rennie Mackintosh be the only Scottish artist commonly known? Would our National Gallery keep its Scottish paintings in its basement?
Of course if we had that awareness of ourselves, it's hard to imagine we would still be part of the United Kingdom. Culture is what defines us. It is what makes us Scottish. Simply to be born on the northern part of the island of Great Britain is not enough – Scottishness isn't merely a function of geography, it is a symptom of human interaction, of how we relate to each other. There is no way to talk about Scottishness, without including an aspect of our culture.
It is hard not to view the devaluation of Scottish culture as anything other than part of a long-term, deliberate process, whose roots can be traced back to the 1746 Dress Act. The purpose of that process was to keep us in our place – in our place in the United Kingdom, quiet and subservient.
In the basement of the National Gallery of Scotland, lingers their Scottish collection. It contains some beautiful works, however as nothing less than the nation's collection of its own art, it is pitifully small and barely gives a glimpse of Scotland's long history of artistic endeavours. This is no national collection, rather a desultory, box-ticking excuse, kept out of sight in a dim and slightly shoddy basement.
Along with the Scottish political reawakening – a truly awesome thing – I think it is important to begin to remember what makes us who we are. This is why I have chosen to consciously and deliberately reference a painting from the national collection in my latest pro-independence illustration.
John Duncan's St Bride is a beautiful work. Created early in the twentieth century, it is virtually unknown, even though it is of a calibre equal to contemporaneous Europe art. In this, it shares a similar fate as much of Scottish art.
With independence, not only will we finally be able to take control of our own affairs, we can at last realise who we are. Moreover, we can both tell the world and show the world who we are and what has made us. This is an amazing time to be alive in Scotland. Our future is more hopeful than it has ever been. We have the chance to begin again and everything, everything, is up for grabs.
If you enjoy my illustration, as I hope you do, then I urge you to take time to visit the National Gallery, search out the basement, and take a little look into out past.
