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DESIGNPhotos courtesy of Anthony ProudloveClockwise from top, wildlife artistChris Shields has created beautifulceiling panels for the Northern Belle’sDuart carriage, in harmony with itssumptuous fabrics and marquetry.designed equipment to help him in his task,rigging up a platform that would sit on the carriageheadrests. On this he placed a modified gaming seat,which he reclined at a 30-40 degree angle.Shields took the name of the carriage—Duart,a Scottish castle—as inspiration for the murals,perfecting his preliminary drawings before startingto paint: “I devised a series of vignettes of Scottishnatural history—primrose, lovage, a Scottishtoadstool, a thistle, a golden eagle and a red deer stag.And because Duart Castle is owned by the Macleanfamily, I added their coat of arms.”Shields, whose signature flourish is to slip abutterfly or moth into each piece of work, alsoincorporated a Scotch argus butterfly, which, at fiveinches wide, passengers should find easy to spot.Once on his platform, he burnished the drawingson to the wood panels of the carriage ceiling andthen painted in acrylics. But how to keep his armsfrom drooping? Fortunately, as a teacher of theArgentinean tango in his spare time, his upper limbswere more than up to the task!38