Scottish Landscape Art – Scottish Landscape Paintings

New work

I’ve had quite a busy time since the spring and early summer and have completed a number of new paintings and drawings. After spending the best part of 2 years working on the large oil paintings for the Scottish Maritime Museum exhibition last year, it has been really nice doing the smaller acrylic and pastel pieces once more. Below are images of some of the new paintings:

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Big Glen Rosa drawing – 10 years ago!

I realised the other day that it is now almost exactly 10 years since I created the big graphite drawing of Glen Rosa, as part of an exhibition I had at our excellent Harbour Arts Centre here in Irvine. You may recall that I did the drawing in the main gallery during the course of the exhibition and so as it is a very public space, it was almost like a performance piece. With the help of Graham Byron and Dan Thornton, we made a short time-lapse video of the piece as I worked on it and I thought that it would be nice to show it here. The video runs for just over 12 minutes:

If I remember rightly, the exhibition was on for about six weeks and so I had a reasonable time to complete the drawing. As it happened, I actually completed it in around 17 days and even this, (as you can see from the video) included plenty of time drinking coffee and talking to visitors! The finished piece was 500 cm wide and 150 cm high and I did it using a range of graphite sticks …..the softest being 9B, hence the very dark marks in parts of the drawing. I also used soft erasers to ‘cut’ back through the graphite to create some of the ‘white’ lines. I had spent much of that year doing trips over to the Isle of Arran to do drawings and take photos and so I was well prepared by the time I started work on the first day of the exhibition. That said, it was quite stressful to start with, but became more and more enjoyable as the drawing developed. I still have the original drawing and so if you are part of a big company who are looking for a large scale Scotland based artwork, do get in touch. Noth Ayrshire Council, who run the HAC, also created a slightly larger than life copy of the drawing and this is sited on the wall of the café in the Portal Leisure Centre in Irvine. If you live locally, do check this out, …..the cakes and coffee there are great ….and the drawing isn’t bad too!

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Walks

We haven’t managed to get out walking much since our return from Assynt back in May but here are a few photos from two of the walks we did do, one of them on Beinn Chaorach near Tyndrum and the other a day in the hills above Glencoe.

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Where to see my work

ScotlandArt Gallery, Glasgow

I have recently delivered six paintings to the ScotlandArt Gallery on Bath Street in Glasgow, so do call in if you are passing by, or check out their website. Below are 2 of the paintings they currently have.

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Seagull Gallery, Gourock

I’ve been showing work with Seagull gallery for a number of years now and as from Sunday 10^th November 2024, they will be exhibiting the following three paintings.

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Courtyard Studios, Christmas Open Studios Evening

The artists at the Courtyard Studios are also holding a pre-Christmas Open Studios Evening on Friday 29^th November from 5 pm – 9 pm. There should be ten studios open and so it is a great chance to see and buy something special for Christmas. I’ll be taking part and so I look forward to seeing you then.

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Own Art Scheme

Do remember, if you are interested in purchasing one of my paintings, this can be done through the Own Art Scheme when buying original art directly from my studio. This scheme allows people to buy an original piece of art and pay for it over 10 months interest free.

For full details of how it all works just contact me:

Keith@keithsalmon.org

Tel: 07568 380552

Since my last blog I’ve been pretty busy both painting and walking. Indeed, I’ve completed several new paintings during this time, as well as two holidays up in the north west of Scotland too! I justify the trips north by using them to fuel new work and in fact my most recent piece, 484 ‘A late evening in May, Achmelvich, Assynt’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2024, 80 x 80 cm, is based on the beautiful beach close to where we stayed a few weeks ago. We have visited Achmelvich for holidays many times since our first trip there in 2006 and I have always wanted to try and create some paintings based on the late evening colours there. This is the first of what may, over the next year or so, be a series of four or five Achmelvich paintings.

Upper Badcall, Sutherland, 16^th – 30^th March, 2024

Our first trip this spring was to Upper Badcall, a small community overlooking the beautiful Badcall Bay a few kilometres from Scourie. We’ve stayed here several times in the past but not as early in the year as this. It was really interesting seeing this wild landscape at this time of year. That said, the first few days were really warm and we enjoyed several walks in bright sunny conditions and the sun block had its first outing of the year on a hike up Ben Strome. This is just a small hill of around 420 m, but being close to the sea-loch at Kylesku, it offers magnificent views into Assynt as well as big views north into Sutherland. Over the previous years we have climbed many of the hills that we could see from Ben Strome and it was interesting sat in the sun trying to work out which was which. We could clearly make out the long escarpment of the remote Beinn Leoid and its neighbour Meallan a’ Chuil which we climbed in 2019 and 2018. Below are two paintings I did based on these walks.

Into Assynt from Ben Strome

In the past when staying in Upper Badcall we had visited the wild and remote Sandwood Bay and it was from these visits that I got the idea and sound recordings for three audio paintings. Scan or click the QR codes (below) to see and hear these pieces.

This year however, we decided to venture a little further north still and spent a lovely day wandering along the coastal path by the Kyles of Durness to the rocky point of Filean Dubh. It was stunning coastal scenery and watching the surf break over the sand bar at the mouth of the Kyle was really impressive. I’ve started another of my 76 x 23 cm paintings based on just one of the fantastic views from that day ……. and an image of it will hopefully be included in my next blog!

By our second week the warm weather had gone and the landscape took on a more wintry aspect, especially up on the high tops of Quinag, which turned white on several occasions that second week. On the Thursday we walked up into this magnificent mountain and enjoyed walking in falling snow …… as well as in bright sunshine. This is the view out over Loch Assynt from the Bealach a’ Chornaidh. It was bitterly cold here in the wind and we needed all our winter clothing for a while …….but it was well worth it as you can see……. It is a great view point.

Achmelvich, 4^th – 18^th May, 2024

On our second trip north, this time to Achmelvich near Lochinver in Assynt, we did a really nice variety of walks. We met with friends who live in Assynt and on several occasions enjoyed gentle strolls with them just looking at some of the wildlife of the area. On one of these we spent almost an hour watching an otter as it splashed around in the seaweed at the edge of the shore. This was amazing for me as I usually can’t see these things and have to make do with an ‘audio discription’ from Nita ……this time however I was lucky …….. it was the first time I had seen an otter since before I lost most of my sight back in 1990 …so quite a big event for me. During this holiday we also finally got back into the bigger more serious hills, spending a fabulous day up on one of my favourite hills, Canisp …..and another day on one of its neighbours Cul Mor. Below are a couple of snaps from these walks as well as two paintings of these wonderful mountains from previous visits.

Back to the studio

So then, it is back to the work now and although I haven’t any exhibitions lined up this year, I am trying to get some new smaller paintings completed and I guess that I’ll be doing this for the rest of the summer. If you are on the Harbourside at Irvine, do call in to the Courtyard Studios. If you are planning to make a special visit to my studio, do just call or email before setting out ……just to check that I am here rather than out on a hill somewhere!

A slightly clearer view again

As you probably know, I’ve been registered as blind since 1999 and only have just a small amount of sight left in my right eye, the left one being totally blind. For a good number of years, despite this, I was able to get a lot done. Then, around 2007 I was told that I had a cataract forming in my right eye. It didn’t really have much effect for a number of years but by 2014 I was starting to notice it and it was affecting my ability to do both the work and hill walking. Things deteriorated very quickly after the end of 2019 and I was really struggling. Thankfully, last year my consultant agreed to do the cataract operation and this took place back at the start of April this year. So then, five months on and I am pleased to say that everything went well and although I am of course still registered as blind, I now have a little more light and colour back and perhaps most importantly, I have a sense of depth again. It has taken me a little while to get used to this improved view, but we’ve spent the summer getting back into the hills once more and this is already feeding into my work. Exciting times ahead!

“Painting with Sound … the Story continues”

Back in March 2018 I had an exhibition of work at the Barony Centre in West Kilbride. The exhibition was called “Painting with Sound” and it included the first audio painting that I worked on with sound engineers Graham Byron and Drew Kirkland. The work was experimental but there was a great response to it and we’ve been continuing to develop it ever since. I’m pleased to say that we’ve been invited back to the Barony Centre to show the new work. I have spent a lot of time this summer getting everything ready for the show, called “Painting with Sound ….the Story continues”. The exhibition opens on 29^th September and runs until 22^nd October. The show will include 12 audio paintings, each with their own short soundscape and there will also be around 15 other new paintings on display. We have created a special exhibition soundtrack that runs for an hour and includes excerpts from each of the 12 individual soundscapes. This will be played three times each day at 11am, 1pm & 3pm). Further details on the poster below:

Back in the hills

Our first opportunity to get back out walking again after my cataract operation, was in early May when Nita and I spent two weeks staying in a caravan in Upper Badcall in Sutherland. We had actually stayed at the same place the previous year and the owner of the van had asked whether I would be prepared to do a painting based on his favourite local view, one looking out over Badcall Bay toward Quinag and the distant Assynt peaks. It wasn’t quite the thing I normally do but I agreed to have a go and finally came up with this painting for him. It tries to convey something of the huge view out over the island strewn bay and I’m pleased to say that he liked it. When all is balanced out, I guess we had a free holiday this year!

Anyway, we managed a good number of walks over our two weeks long stay and finished off with our first proper hill walk for a few years, climbing up to around 600m on Meall Horn near Loch Stack. It is rugged country up there and it certainly tested out my new improved bit of vision. Since then we’ve done several other good hill walks and I am starting to feel more confident again ……just need to keep on getting out.

Looking ahead

Finally, Graham, Drew and I have recently agreed to create a new body of audio visual work for an exhibition at the Scottish Maritime Museum in the winter of 2023 / 2024. We visited the exhibition space there and it is a great venue …..but it will need quite a lot of new work. The exhibition will contain pieces about the west coast of Scotland, in particular the far north west and south west of Scotland. We have some great recordings from our January 2018 trip to Stoer and Clachtoll as well as some very nice recordings I made at Sandwood Bay back in May last year. I have started some of the paintings but still have to make recordings to work from for the more local paintings. It is all quite exciting …..but a lot of work. Watch and listen to this space!

New painting

I just can’t stop doing paintings about Canisp, one of my favourite hills and locations. This is my latest piece, simply called ‘Around Canisp, evening light, evening mists’. Oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm, £2500.

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You can see and hear some more of the paintings and sound in this video exhibition: Follow the link or watch below: https://youtu.be/FuoalSuqSTE