Scottish Landscape Art – Scottish Landscape Paintings

'December afternoon, near Cononish'

Following our fabulous short day in the snow above Loch Lomond last Saturday, I’ve been down the studio every day since.  The new layout seems to be working much better and I’m already starting to feel more at home now.  The light is still difficult but it is at least fairly constant and that has made a big difference.

Our walk on Beinn Dubh though, did me a lot of good.  Just getting out into the fresh air, bright light and vivid colours on Saturday has given my painting the kick up the ******** that I probably needed.  I’ve said it enough times before, but I don’t think you can really paint the landscape if you don’t get out into it and really experience it.  Almost two months of work and no walking was taking its toll. We’ve already another walk planned for the day after Boxing Day so I’m already looking forward to that.  Mind you, it’s gone very mild here now and the snow over on Arran is melting fast ….it’s twelve degrees here this morning so even up on the tops there will be a bit of a thaw.  Whether there will be any snow left by the 27^th I don’t know, but it’ll still look good if there’s a bit of brightness around.  I’ll keep an eye on the forecasts and see what happens.

Of the last four days, I’ve spent two of them working on one of my new 80 x 80 cm oil paintings.  I’m very slow and tentative at the moment …as I’ve said, I’m not really sure what I’m doing with them, but I am enjoying using this different type of  paint and am quite excited by it.

'In Glen Lochy, early winter'

For the last two days, I’ve been working on two very small paintings.  I had no intention of doing anything this small (standard post card size) but received an email from the folk at Scotlandart.com in Edinburgh, saying that they were going to hold a short exhibition of unframed / un-mounted post card sized works in early January ….and asking me if I’d like to take part.   They had a similar show back in January this year and I quite enjoyed doing something for it then.   The show is an opportunity for people to see and purchase small and relatively inexpensive pieces of work by artists they may follow or be interested in.  I guess these small works are there to tempt!  Anyway, I’ve finished the two pieces (see images of them here) and will be sending them off to the gallery immediately after New Year.  I don’t have the exact dates / details of the show yet but will post all the information as soon as I have it.  So then, if you’ve room on your wall for a small piece of work then this could be a great opportunity to find something different.  All the works will be the same size and there should be an excellent choice of different artists work on show.  Watch this space for more details.

Finally, it’s that time of year again so here’s wishing you all a Very Happy Christmas.   I’ll be working at the studio until 8 pm on Christmas Eve and then hanging up the paint brushes for a few days I think.  As well as the planned walk ….probably over on Arran on the 27^th, we’re also planning a day over in Edinburgh in order to see the Elizabeth Blackadder exhibition before it closes.  I’ve heard great reports about it and I always like her work ….so am looking forward to that too.

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