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Artwork of the Week | Scottish Landscape Art - Scottish Landscape Paintings - Part 20

Archive for the ‘Artwork of the Week’ Category

‘West, above the Blackwater Reservoir’

Posted by admin on February 16th, 2012
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'West, above the Blackwater Reservoir'

‘West, above the Blackwater Reservoir’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2009, 76 x 23 cm

The forecast for the weekend is for a little bit more winter.  I thought therefore that I’d have one of my wintry paintings for the current work of the week.  I did this piece a few years ago and it’s based on the view we had from Leum Ulilleim.  This is a 906 m hill that lies just to the SW of Corrour Station on the West Highland line.

I had been with a group from the local club staying at the bunkhouse at the station and on the Saturday Guy and I headed for Leum Uilleum.  It’s quite a prominent hill from the station and makes for a good circuit.  We had a day of bright sun and very heavy snow showers and it was quite an exhilarating day for me …being the first proper winter walk I’d done.  As we stopped for lunch at a low point on the back of the hill, the clouds broke to give this wonderful snowy view out over the Blackwater Reservoir.  It didn’t last too long though and by the time we’d plodded our way up to the neighbouring top it was snowing hard again.  We finished our day though under almost cloud free skies and even had time before catching the train home to walk over to the end of Loch Ossian.

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‘Dusk, on Rannoch Moor’

Posted by admin on February 10th, 2012
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'Dusk, on Rannoch Moor'

‘Dusk, on Rannoch Moor’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2012, 210 mm x 148 mm

Here’s another of my new small ‘post card’ sized paintings.  I’m working on these very small pieces at the same time as I’m trying to develop the new 80 x 80cm oil on canvas paintings.  It’s proving quite interesting as these small quite quick paintings are starting to give clues as to how I go about the larger pieces.

This is quite an abstract little scene.  I’ve been playing around with the colours, using greens, blues and copper to try and put across something of the last light of day as we’ve experienced it a few times driving across Rannoch Moor.  The heavy skies reflect in the numerous pools and lochs visible from the road side, the bigger hills beyond disappearing into the cloud and gloom.  It’s such an amazing area, perhaps I should take my two weeks holiday here …camped in the middle of the moor.   Not sure Nita would be too happy if I suggested that though!  I definitely do need to take a few more walks around and through this fabulous wild area ….armed of course with sketch book, camera and some paint.  We’ve just been discussing where to go for our next walk …. Rannoch Moor could be the perfect place.

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Work in progress

Posted by admin on February 2nd, 2012
work-in-progress-oil-on-canvas-80-x-80-cm

work in progress

Work in progress, oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm

I normally put images of finished work on this page but thought it might be interesting to include a piece that is still a ‘work in progress’.  I took this snap yesterday evening before leaving the studio and as I haven’t been down there today, this is exactly how the painting is right now.  I’ve been working on this piece for around four weeks, adding paint in fairly thick broad overlapping bands using mainly flat course brushes of 3 – 12 cm wide. The painting is now at the stage where I’m going to have to leave it for a while and just get on with other pieces …then in a few weeks I can get back to it and try and finish it.  Watch this space …if it doesn’t reappear ….you’ll know that instead of finishing it …I wrecked it!  All part of the process.

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‘Memories of rain, mist and melting snow, Beinn Chonzie, winter 2007’

Posted by admin on January 28th, 2012
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‘Memories of rain, mist and melting snow, Beinn Chonzie, winter 2007’

‘Memories of rain, mist and melting snow, Beinn Chonzie, winter 2007’, Oil on canvas, 2012, 80 x 80 cm

Well then, this is the finished painting (still to be signed) that I’ve been working on for the last month or so.  It’s the first painting I’ve done using oil paint on canvas for a good few years.  The piece is based on a day back in 2007 when we walked Beinn Chonzie in pretty foul conditions.  The cloud was low and the wind was increasing as the day went by.  As we approached the final rise to the summit, it was pretty grim and we decided to give it a miss, choosing instead to walk around to gain some shelter from its steeper southern flanks.  There were the remains of some deep patches of snow here.  They were melting in what were relatively mild conditions but offered a place to sit and have our lunch.  It was a strange and bleak location especially as we were aware that the conditions were getting worse by the minute.  As we set off again and got back into the full force of the wind it was really wild …not a day for stopping to look for mountain hares!

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‘Beinn Toaig, winter’

Posted by admin on January 19th, 2012
'Beinn Taoig, winter'

'Beinn Taoig, winter'

‘Beinn Toaig, winter’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2012 Ref: 215

Still on the theme of post card sized paintings, this is another of the recent small works I’ve completed.  As with the previous ones, this is based on earlier larger paintings of the same subject ….Beinn Toaig in winter.  At this scale, I’ve used the harder wax pastels rather than the oil pastels.  I can sharpen them to create finer lines and marks as they are scribbled into the hard acrylic paint surface.

Beinn Toaig is an eight hundred metre hill that rises above Loch Tulla on the edge of Blackmount and Rannoch Moor.

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‘Autumn mists, Glen Lyon’

Posted by admin on January 12th, 2012
autumn-mists-glen-lyon-acrylic-pastel

'Autumn mists, Glen Lyon'

‘Autumn mists, Glen Lyon’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2010

I did this as one of the two postcard pieces for last year’s postcard exhibition at Scotlandart.com in Edinburgh.  Based on the beautiful autumn colours we experienced a year or so ago while driving through Glen Lyon en route to one of the hills, this little piece is quite abstract but hopefully conveys some of the colour and atmosphere of that beautiful morning.  This piece is still available direct from my studio ….I’ll be posting details on the Paintings for Sale section shortly …but you can always contact me direct: keith@keithsalmon.org .  Happy New Year!

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‘From Beinn a’ Chliabhain, Isle of Arran’

Posted by admin on December 29th, 2011
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'From Beinn a' Chliabhain, Isle of Arran'

‘From Beinn a’ Chliabhain, Isle of Arran’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2009, 30 x 30 cm

Although I’ve shown this small painting in this section before, I thought I use it again this week as it is linked to the subject of this week’s blog.  Beinn a’ Chliabhain is the rugged hill rising on your left as you walk up Glen Rosa.  Yesterday we only saw it for a short time before it was gradually wrapped in cloud and rain.  On the day though that this painting was based on, instead of the cloud coming down, it was breaking and clearing.  We sat just below its summit for a good while just watching the slowly changing scene of mist and mountain ….the mountain in question being Beinn Nuis.   The Arran hills really are special …if you’re a Munro bagger and don’t do things that are under the magic 914m then you’re really missing out…..why not make it your New Years resolution …to go and walk in the Arran hills during 2012!

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‘Looking for Carn a’ Gheoidh, Winter’

Posted by admin on December 22nd, 2011
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'Looking for Carn a’ Gheoidh, Winter'

‘Looking for Carn a’ Gheoidh, Winter’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2006, 12.5 x 12.5 cm

Seeing as I’ve been painting on a small scale these last few days, I thought I’d select an early small work for this weeks Artwork of the Week.  I always liked this little piece and sold it to a local Ayrshire man several years ago.

The wee painting / drawing was done after an interesting and somewhat scary incident on the hills to the west of Glen Shee in early December a number of years ago.  We’d walked up and over the Cairnwell directly above the Glen Shee ski centre and had then headed out for the next Munro, Carn a’ Gheoidh, only for the cloud to fill in quite dramatically.  With snow on the ground and the thick mist all about we had some navigation to do but eventually found the top of the hill.  As we approached it the mist and snow gave a strange light as the cloud briefly thinned and a weak sun made an appearance.  We stood at the top with snow and mist all around …it was quite a strange experience.  The walk back proved quite difficult with the light rapidly fading and the mist getting even thicker.  Eventually the sound of the ski tow generator came to us through the gloom. It was a wonderful noise ….and a great relief.  We’d made it back just as it was starting to get dark bit not without some worry and a good deal of checking and re-checking the map, compass and GPS.

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‘On Rannoch Moor’

Posted by admin on December 18th, 2011
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‘On Rannoch Moor’

‘On Rannoch Moor’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2011, 76 x 23 cm

This is another of my recent Rannoch Moor paintings.  It’s one I included and sold in my exhibition over in Speyer this autumn.  As I’ve said many times before, this moor can be enjoyed under all conditions.  This picture tries to capture one of its brighter moments when the sun livens all the colours and the moor turns from a place of sombre moods to one of vibrancy and life.   I really like this area and one of these days I’ll have to catch the train to Rannoch station and then walk across the moor to the main A82 …..I’ll need to have a long look at the map first though!

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‘From the east ridge of Ben Lui, April afternoon’

Posted by admin on December 8th, 2011

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‘From the east ridge of Ben Lui, April afternoon’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2011, 76 x 23 cm

The latest of the new small paintings, this is revisiting a scene I first painted as a 30 x 30 cm piece.  Based on a wonderful day a few years ago when we did our first proper winter scramble.  It was very exciting and we only got as far as this level half way point on the ridge.  Stunning views out to the east though, despite the heavy skies.

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  • Tel: 07568 380552 or 01294 216427
    E-mail: keith@keithsalmon.org