''After a day in the snow, looking back from Rannoch Moor'
‘After a walk in the snow, looking back from Rannoch Moor’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2012, 210 x 148 mm
Several years ago we got up very early and drove up to Glen Coe. It was February I think and there was a lot of snow and ice about ….much of the latter on the roads …which made for an interesting and slow journey. We had planned to walk up the Devil’s Staircase to its highest point and then walk along the broad ridge as far as we could go in the available time. As I say, the journey was a long one and with the prospect of a similarly difficult return trip, we didn’t want to be too late setting back. So then, we’d not be walking far!
The snow, just a few centimetres at the side of the road, quickly became thicker as we gained height on the West Highland Way path and before long we were almost wading through knee deep snow …..considerably deeper in some drifts. We made painfully slow progress as we picked our way uphill, picking a tortuous route around the deepest snow by following areas where the heather was showing through to the surface. Eventually we got to the top of the Devil’s Staircase and all about was white …this was a place for snow shoes or skis and after a very enjoyable late lunch admiring the wonderful views around us, we headed back down to the car. It was still quite early as we drove carefully back across Rannoch Moor and the scenery was amazing. Indeed, at one point we stopped and got out for a couple of minutes just to enjoy it.
This little painting is not an accurate representation of what we saw but is rather how I remember the very white foreground with the darker, almost purple mountains beyond. As I said about the last little postcard size painting I did, I’m trying with these small pieces to develop more abstract compositions. I may take this idea into a much larger format soon.
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