As a 20-year-old cub reporter in the early 1980s I was invited in to the 16th century Ayrshire castle that had been the base for many of the nation's Pre-Raphaelite artists who aimed to reform art by rejecting the \"formulaic\" academic approach in favor of bright colors, intense detail, and \"truth to nature,\" inspired by Italian art before Raphael.
My invitation came from Elton Eckstrand, a US corporate attorney who spent more than a decade restoring the castle and curating the artworks that hung on its walls. That castle was Penkill, located close to the town of Girvan where I worked on the Carrick Gazette.
Meeting people like Mr Eckstrand was one of the joys of the job I did at the time and Elton Eckstrand sure was an interesting mix, from his love of art and architecture to his passion for motor facing, muscle cars and dragsters.
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