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Inspiring Mountain Walks | Scottish Landscape Art - Scottish Landscape Paintings - Part 5

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An Teallach commission almost finished

Posted by admin on January 17th, 2014

Near the summit of Mam-na-Gualainn - Starting point for a commission

Near the summit of Mam-na-Gualainn – Starting point for a commission

As anyone following my blog or FB Keith Salmon – Scottish Landscape Artist page will know, I’ve been working on a painting about An Teallach for a chap we met near the top of Mam na Gualainn back in the late summer.

It’s been a really interesting process and yesterday I decided that the painting was probably finished ….and I signed it!   I’ve been trying to create a painting that captures both, the idea of being at the summit of An Teallach as well as a more general feeling of being up high in the Scottish mountains.

The painting is now on the wall in my studio while I get on with some other work.  I’ll be able to look at it for a couple of weeks and make any final adjustments before declaring the painting finally finished!  It’s a difficult process knowing when a painting is finished or not and you have to give it  some time.  I’ve worked fairly intensely on this piece and as I’ve neared the end there’s been a lot of just sitting and looking rather than wielding of the paint brush.

 The photo here was taken near the summit of Mam na Gualainn …..it’s a strange starting point for a commission ….but a very fine one.  Hopefully the gentleman who we met here and who has commissioned the painting will like it.  More news of this in another blog.

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Looking forward…. and back to Ben Vrackie

Posted by admin on December 12th, 2013
North from the summit of Ben Vrackie, December 12 2005

North from the summit of Ben Vrackie, December 12 2005

The plan had been, to write about a walk on Ben Vrackie, but in the end, we didn’t make it to Ben Vrackie or to any other hill this week for that matter.  It was my birthday on Monday and it had seemed a good idea to have a nice walk to celebrate, but when the forecast spoke of very low cloud, the lazy, couch potato side of me got the better and instead of the healthy walk, we had a lie-in, a wander into town and a meal and a couple of beers instead!   This was very nice and very relaxing as there aren’t many days when I don’t pick up a paint brush or spend hours doing studio related work on this computer.   So then, a great day on Monday ….but as I spent the last couple of days slowly getting on with the An Teallach commission, there’s not much to tell and it now leaves me with a gap for the blog!

But don’t think you’ve got off that lightly as by pure chance I came across some photos I took back in December 2005 when I’d been to Ben Vrackie with my pal Guy and another chap called Ian.  An even bigger chance is that when I looked to see exactly when we’d done the walk it turned out to be 12th December …today in other words, just eight years ago.

Big views from the summit of Ben Vrackie, December 12 2005

Big views from the summit of Ben Vrackie, December 12 2005

There was one great difference to today though.  As I look out of the window this morning at 10.30 am, it’s almost as dark as it was three hours ago…..it’s very grey and damp and not really a day for the hills.  On December 12th 2005 however it was bright and sunny and cool and the three of us had a wonderful walk up Ben Vrackie and indeed, I remember the low winter sun being particularly difficult as we scrabbled our way up the steep front of the hill.  Great big views from the top though and I think this was the first time I’d seen them as the previous couple of visits to the hill had been wild and grey.  I remember Guy pointing out the summits of Beinn a’Ghlo to the north and thinking that perhaps one day I’d get to reach them.

Anyway, the photos here were taken on that walk in 2005 and you can see why I want to go back.   It isn’t a long walk although it’s a bit of a drive to get to the base of it but it makes a perfect short winter day for me.  Hopefully we’ll get there again sometime in the next month or so.  In the meantime enjoy the fine weather in the photos!

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Plans for some more footage

Posted by admin on December 6th, 2013

You may remember that earlier this year I met photographer Daniel Thornton at the Preview to my exhibition at ‘the gallery on the corner’.   After seeing the work he asked if he could come over to Irvine and take some film in the studio, which he did a few weeks later.  As we got talking we realised that we had similar interests in wild places and although our approaches to our respective art forms is somewhat different, we are both using landscape as the basis for our work.

Dan then joined us for a couple of walks in the hills.  He was interested in seeing how Nita guided me on rough paths and open hillsides and on our first walk, in Glen Rosa on the Isle of Arran, he took quite a lot of film as well as recording a short interview between his friend David Feeney and I.   It was during this walk that I told them about my plans to create a large drawing based on this glen.  During our slow wander to the head of the glen and back, ideas of how I could develop the project were thrown around and I think that it was at the end of this walk that what at the start of the day had been just an idea, had by the close become a positive plan.

Following this day, I gradually honed the idea further and in late August put a detailed proposal together to do the large drawing as part of an exhibition at the Harbour Arts Centre here in Irvine.   They were very keen on the project and I’ve been offered the gallery for about two months late next year.  This is perfect for me as it now gives me the whole of this winter to go back to Glen Rosa and start to really plan in more detail how I compose this large piece of work.

Dan, who is based in Seattle, is currently back over in Scotland and on Wednesday he visited my studio again.   After our walks in the spring he created a short 10 minute long film from the footage and recordings he made. ….if you haven’t already seen it then click on the link at the end of the blog.  Apparently he’s had a good response to it and is now keen to develop this into a longer documentary piece.  He asked whether Nita and I would be willing to spend several days with him so that he can shoot more footage.  He is also very interested in using the drawing project as an integral part of the film.  I’m very happy to do this as not only will it be a good way of promoting my work, it will be fun and very interesting too, especially as I’ll hopefully learn a lot more about Dan’s own work.

As he was leaving Irvine on Wednesday evening to travel back to Edinburgh, he asked whether I could find any photos showing some of my early work along with any photographs from some of my early walks.  I don’t really have many such photos to hand but the one above is one taken by my friend Mervin, of Nita and I on Cada Indris in mid Wales in late December 1987 …this was one of the first proper mountain walks Nita had done …we’d only met back in the summer that year.  Great hair, great hat, great day!!!  Not sure if this is really what Dan is after but it made me laugh  when I found it!

To see Dan’s short film ‘Walking with Keith’, follow the link below..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k33pTg2TnOw

December 1987 Cada Idris, Wales

December 1987 Cada Idris, Wales

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Annual visit to Ghlas Bheinn – a colourful palette

Posted by admin on November 28th, 2013

You might well think that in a former life I was a gold-fish!  But it’s not that I go back to Ghlas Bheinn every year because I forget what it’s like ….it’s the exact opposite; I go back there each year because I remember how good the views are from its low undulating ridge.

As I’ve said in the past, it makes a wonderful short winter walk and with the daylight hours being so short at this time of year, it’s especially good for me.  On our past three visits we’ve gone there in December and have seen it under similar but still different conditions.  Indeed, the first time we went there it had been especially cold over the previous two weeks and although there was no snow at lower levels, all the lochs on Rannoch Moor were frozen.   Last year I think the snow level was down onto Ghlas Bheinn and with little sun that day it made for a very cold little walk.  I remember Nita pointing out the tracks of small animals in the covering of fresh snow.

This years visit wasn’t as cold and the snow that had been covering the ground on Ghlas Bheinn a few days earlier had mostly thawed leaving just very small patches lying in the grass and heather.  Patches of solid and partially melted ice were everywhere too and it all made for interesting patterns and colours.

Above Loch Tulla, a grey November morning

Above Loch Tulla, a grey November morning

It was the intense colours at the end of the day that really marked this walk out, but when we started a few hours earlier it was under very grey skies.   The cloud though was above all but the highest summits and with the snow level being around 700 metres everything was looking very good.  Loch Tulla was incredibly calm and as we made our way up the lower slopes of the hill overlooking the loch, we could at times see the mountains reflected in its glassy surface.

First brightness over Rannoch Moor

First brightness over Rannoch Moor

There were a few breaks in the cloud though and when we caught one of these the colours in the bright sun were very strong …..a short glimpse of things to come.  By the time we were sat eating our lunch at the summit a couple of hours later, there was increasingly large amounts of clear sky moving down from the north west and in the clear air and bright sun, Rannoch Moor looked very big and incredibly beautiful.  Being November rather than December, the colours of the grasses were different.  They had not yet turned to the straw colour of later in the winter and were, instead a mixture of bright ochre’s, oranges and yellows.  As the sun got lower it accentuated this, creating stunningly colourful scenes against the snow topped hills and the deep blue of the sky.

From the summit of Ghlas Bheinn

From the summit of Ghlas Bheinn

One of the problems about walking with such limited sight is that I have to walk along staring at the ground just in front of me.  On grey days this can get tedious but on Sunday afternoon in the bright sun I could simply enjoy these amazing colours and patterns made by the grass around my feet.

Towards the hills of the Blackmount

Towards the hills of the Blackmount

In the past, after each of our previous visits to Ghlas Bheinn I’ve created at least one painting based on my experiences there.  This year I think there will also be a painting or two coming from this latest walk.  As you know, I’ve been working on several more abstract 80 x 80 cm oil paintings.  I think I may well try and create a couple more using the bright colours we saw on Sunday.  I’ve been wanting to create a larger painting for some time now too and a couple of weeks ago bought a 120 x 120 cm canvas…..it could be perfect for creating a painting about the big bright colourful views we experienced.  Watch this space!

Rich afternoon colours

Rich afternoon colours

 

November landscape, Blackmount

November landscape, Blackmount

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A walk into winter

Posted by admin on November 15th, 2013
Looking towards Beinn Dubhchraig

Looking towards Beinn Dubhchraig

It doesn’t seem any time at all since we were hauling our way up the steep slopes above Cononish in bright very warm conditions with midges and flies buzzing all around and sweat running down our faces, heading on our way to Beinn Dubhchraig.  On Sunday we were walking up Beinn Chaorach instead and looking across the glen to Beinn Dubhchraig, Ben Oss and Ben Lui ….but in very different conditions.  Now, just a couple of months later, everything above about 400 m was white with fresh snow.

Towards Ben Challum

Towards Ben Challum

It wasn’t a complete transformation to winter though, as, with it still being only mid November, many of the trees in the glens below still had leaves …some showing the full array of autumnal colours and others still almost completely green.  Even the grass was still quite green making for a stunningly beautiful mix of colour as we drove up the side of Loch Lomond under an intensely blue sky.

Ben Challum from Beinn Chaorach

Ben Challum from Beinn Chaorach

Once away from the sound of the road, it was a very peaceful scene, (very appropriate, it being Remembrance Sunday) the only sounds, the crump of the snow under our boots and the occasional call of a circling Raven overhead.   With the daylight hours being somewhat short at this time of year and our starting out late due to the icy roads, we didn’t have that much time.  I reckoned we’d have to turn back at 14.00 at the latest and at about 13.40, still a good 15 minutes from the top, we decided to call it a day and sit and have our lunch.  The views really couldn’t have been better with the great snowy bulk of Ben Challum close by, and Ben More and the Glen Falloch hills to the south east.  A glance to the right as I sat eating my sandwich and I could see Ben Lui and it’s neighbours …..it really was very clear.

Towards Ben More

Towards Ben More

Our timing proved about right as the sun was setting behind the hills by the time we were back on the main track and as we descended back to the West Highland Way in the base of the glen, it was once again a very cold and quite dark scene with the white snow covered hills almost glowing against the darkening sky and a bank of low mist forming.  The final couple of kilometres back along the West Highland Way to the car was the most difficult for me …trying to follow Nita as she picked her way around patches of ice in the gloom.

It hadn’t been a long day but a very fine way to start the winter…..apparently they’re forecasting cold weather again next week.

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Blog 200 ….In the cloud

Posted by admin on November 2nd, 2013

According to my records, this is Blog number 200 ….and of course, I’m late with it!  No change there, I hear you cry!  Anyway …here we go.

'On Mam na Gualainn, August'

‘On Mam na Gualainn, August’

As some of you will have seen if you’ve been to my Face Book page recently: Keith Salmon – Scottish Landscape Artist; I’ve finished the 80 x 80 cm painting based on our walk on Mam na Gualainn back in the summer.  As I’ve said before, it was a strange day with low banks of clouds drifting in from the west and breaking as they ran into the high hills of Glencoe and the Mamores.  Most of the time the cloud appeared at the side of the hill we were on and then either drifted on by or rose up.  As we sat near the summit however, not only did the glen below us gradually fill up with a great bank of cloud, but the general layer of cloud above us became very thick and dark and started to descend.  As we walked east along the broad ridge, the two almost met and it became very gloomy and dramatic.

This is a scene that I’ve witnessed a good few times over  the many years I’ve been walking in the hills and it never ceases to impress me and I often forget that for people who don’t walk in the hills, this is something they miss.  Indeed, six or seven years ago when I was walking over Shalloch on Minnoch with a group from our local club Air na Creagan, a couple of ladies who had joined us for what was their first ever hill walk ….asked what it was, as the cloud drifted briefly across the hill side ….they were quite taken aback when we said they were walking in the cloud!

But I digress somewhat.  As I was painting the Mam na Gualainn piece, I found it very difficult to capture that strange patchy view that you get when the cloud is just catching the top of the hill but isn’t completely filling in.  Thankfully last Saturday, Nita and I went up to Luss for a relatively short walk up Beinn Dubh and with the weather deteriorating as a weather front moved in from the Atlantic, we had similar conditions to that on Mam na Gualainn.  Once again, banks of cloud seemed to just appear at the side of the hill, at times forming a band around it ….the middle in cloud and the upper and lower slopes cloud free.  It was wonderful to watch this constantly changing scene especially when, as we got higher, the dark overhead layer started to descend and trails of cloud dripped down towards us.  We spent quite a time just standing in the cold wind watching this and it was time well spent.  When I went back to the studio the next day, I knew what I had to do to finish the Mam na Gualainn painting.  It’s all very well taking photos when you’re out ….but they really only act as memory joggers and sometimes not very good ones at that.  What I think you need, to create any painting, is actual experience of the subject……the few hours on Beinn Dubh made all the difference.

As a follow up to this, I’ve decided to try and create some new paintings which are specifically about being in the mist as it breaks around you on the hill.  I’m not sure quite how they’ll go ….I have a feeling that this might be an opportunity to work on a large scale ….but I’ve started quite small …this is a new 30 x 30 cm piece that is on the go.

Work in progress, 'Approaching Am Bodach, the Mamores

Work in progress, ‘Approaching Am Bodach, the Mamores

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Summit meeting

Posted by admin on October 18th, 2013
View from Edinburgh castle

View from Edinburgh castle

It has been a case of ‘hold the front page’ this week.  My original plan was to do the entire blog about a visit we made to Edinburgh on Wednesday.  Then yesterday I got a very interesting email from a gentleman called Richard Baker…. and I decided that my plans for the blog would have to change a little.

But a bit about Edinburgh first as this really was an important occasion.  As you know, back in 2010 I was invited to act as patron to ‘the gallery on the corner’ in Edinburgh.  This wonderful gallery, run by Autism Initiative Scotland, not only supports and exhibits work by people affected by autism and other health issues, but it also trains young people affected by autism, in both the creative and retail sides of the business.  On Wednesday afternoon I was invited to attend the gallery to help celebrate the successful completion of their training by the galleries most recent five trainees.  It was good to meet them all and to be there as they were presented with their certificates by gallery manager Susie Anderson.  This is now the third group of young people to have completed training at the gallery and a new group of trainees has just started …..so the gallery staff and trainees are doing a great job and achieving a great deal.

As I’ve said in the past, if you are in Edinburgh at any point, do make it along to ‘the gallery on the corner’.  You’ll find a great selection of works, some by established artists and some created by the trainees in the studios below the gallery.  It’s well worth a visit and of course your support will help more young people get real practical training both creatively and in business and retail skills.  ‘the gallery on the corner’ really is a win win situation …do please support it if you can.

And now, as they say, for something completely different.  You’ll perhaps remember that back in August I think it was, we did a magnificent walk up the Corbett, Mam na Gualainn.  We’d been threatening to take our friend Guy there for a good number of years and so the three of us finally made it to the top on what was a particularly fine day.  It wasn’t clear blue skies, but rather a constantly changing scene as banks of low cloud drifted in from the west and broke around the mountains of Glencoe, the Mamores and….Mam na Gualainn.

Panorama Loch Leven by Richard Baker

Panorama Loch Leven by Richard Baker

A large group of walkers set off up hill a short while before we started but with my slow pace they soon disappeared and we saw no one all the way to the summit.  We’d sat for a while just below the summit eating our lunch and watching the clouds come and go and the views change every minute.  Our plan was to continue east along the grassy ridge for some way before retracing our steps.  As we got up to leave, a gentleman arrived at the summit and we stood and chatted for five minutes or so.  At the time it was just one of those meetings you occasionally have on Scottish hills …..you’ve perhaps been walking for three or four hours and haven’t seen anyone and then suddenly someone appears.  It’s nice to stop and have a chat before both going on your respective ways again.

Anyway, that would have been that, but a couple of days ago a got this email from Richard explaining that he had been the chap we’d spoken to near the summit of Mam na Gualainn back in August.  He said that he’d thought he’d recognised me as we spoke (he had apparently found my website while looking for paintings of Scotland a few months before) but it was only as we headed off that he realised where he’d seen my face before.  Richard was in the middle of a lengthy walk and was heading back towards Corrour.  Anyway, he sent me this magnificent photograph which he took, looking back towards Loch Leven, with Mam na Gualainn on the right and the Pap of Glencoe in the centre.  What a fantastic panorama … I’m going to have to do a walk in that direction myself sometime.

Anyway, thanks Richard, for getting in touch.  You say that you are away walking again this coming week …..hope you have a great time and hope to see you at the studio sometime …..or perhaps again by chance at the top of a hill somewhere.

Posted in Galleries with Keith Salmon artwork, Information Updates, Inspiring Mountain Walks, Mountain Photos Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , No Comments »

A busy little week…

Posted by admin on September 22nd, 2013
From above the Devils Staircase

From above the Devils Staircase

This time last week, (Saturday 14 at 13.17), Nita and I were sat with some friends Stewart and Evelyn on a rocky little top overlooking Glencoe.  We’d not walked far, just followed the West Highland Way up to the high point of the Devil’s Staircase and headed north up the grass and heather slopes to the first little summit at around 800m.  It was however a wonderful view point and we’d been very lucky with the weather.  It was I guess the perfect Glencoe weather …a mix of bright sun and dark heavy shower clouds that rolled in filling the glen with mist and rain before passing on over Rannoch Moor.  Stewart, an Irvine man, has been living in Germany with his wife Evelyn for many years and so I think he particularly enjoyed seeing this very special bit of Scotland in very special Scottish conditions.

City of Adelaide ....heading south

City of Adelaide ….heading south

The rest of my week was spent either at my studio or standing on the harbour side waiting to see if the grand old clipper, City of Adelaide would finally start her journey by barge down to London.  Getting this vast wooden ship on a barge out of the River Irvine needed a lot of skill, two tugs and some reasonably fine weather.  The latter was the problem for the first part of the week, with constant gales or at least high winds.  All looked good on Thursday morning and a big crowd once again gathered at the mouth of the River Irvine to witness this historical event but at the last minute with the wind picking up, the wise decision was made to once again call it off.  Finally, on Friday lunchtime, with the crowds once again lining the harbour side, the City of Adelaide was towed out to sea to start its trip down to London.  As I write, it’s now well into the Irish Sea apparently ….so good luck to all on board.  I’m not sure of the exact time table but it will be heading to Greenwich for a short while before being lifted onto a really big container ship for the long voyage down to Adelaide.  If you are interested and haven’t already found it, www.cityofadelaide.org.au is a great website and has masses of information and photos.

Art wise, it’s been a good week too.  I’ve had a week of working on an 80 x 80 cm oil painting.  It is as you can see, a more abstract piece created using a large house painting brush and lots of thick oil paint.  I’ve been enjoying working like this after several weeks of doing finer, tighter acrylic and pastel pieces.  Not sure what to make of it though ….so will have to wait and see.

Work in progress, oil on canvas 80 x 80 cm

Work in progress, oil on canvas 80 x 80 cm

Finally, yesterday I also had a visit from a couple from Edinburgh.  They’ve been following my work on-line for a good while now and decided to call into the studio on their way back from a short holiday on the Isle of Arran.  They left my studio an hour later with two of my paintings …..including one of the new Harris pieces.  So then …a very big thanks to them and I hope they get much pleasure from the paintings once they are up on their wall.

I’m spending today trying to get the press release and photos together to send to the local papers and radio stations in order to promote our Open Studios Weekend on Saturday 5th / Sunday 6th October.  The event posters and flyers have been printed and are starting to get displayed …if you live in the region you may see one soon.  I’ll be sending out flyers and email invitations to all who have left their names in my visitors book, but remember, the event is open to all and is free ….so mark it in your diary and come along and enjoy seeing a great selection of work produced by some of Ayrshire’s leading artists, including; painting, drawing, prints, ceramics, stained glass, hand book-binding, photography and jewellery….one of the artists, Alison Thomas, will even be running some drop-in workshops for children too.  Hope to see you at the studios on Saturday 5th October (11am – 5pm), or Sunday 6th October (12 noon – 5pm).

Invitation 2013

Invitation 2013

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To Beinn Dubhchraig and back ….with an added splash!

Posted by admin on August 29th, 2013
Near the summit of Beinn Dubhchraig

Near the summit of Beinn Dubhchraig

Ten or eleven years ago we went to walk Beinn Dubhchraig, one of the Munros in the Ben Lui group of hills around Cononish. On that occasion the weather was grim. I don’t remember now whether it rained all day but it was certainly very wet to start with and the hill never cleared from the thick mass of grey cloud that hung everywhere. I’m sure we enjoyed it …or at least, made the most of it, but we never saw a thing the whole day ….just grey.

Ben Oss and Ben Lui from Beinn Dubhchraig

Ben Oss and Ben Lui from Beinn Dubhchraig

We’ve been back to Cononish a good number of times since to walk the neighbouring hills and I’ve often thought that it would be worth visiting Beinn Dubhchraig again, (this time on a fine day) to see what it was actually like. The only thing that put me off all these years was the memories of the path in. It ran for a good way up the side of a stream through a section of the old Caledonian Forest before emerging out onto the lower slopes of the mountain. Sounds idyllic I hear you say ….but it was so boggy and wet underfoot ….not just boggy, but really BOGGY! On that first trip we’d made a circular walk of it and descended via the broad north ridge of the hill and then down very steep slopes to reach a bridge over the river close to Cononish Farm and so it was my plan this time to simply climb the hill by this route and return the same way, thus avoiding the boggy route.

Loch Oss and Ben Oss

Loch Oss and Ben Oss

On Sunday, with fine weather forecast, we drove to Tyndrum and headed off ….this time under clear blue skies. The steep slopes above Cononish that I remembered coming down, were even steeper on our way up! Sweat poured, flies buzzed but the views were wonderful. After what seemed an eternity the angle of the slope eased and at last we could see all we’d missed ten years earlier. As we approached the summit Nita asked me what I thought about turning it into a circular walk and descending by the dreaded path through the woods. Nita openly admits that she can’t remember one walk from another and so clearly thought I was making a bit of a song and dance of it and that it couldn’t be as bad as I remembered! So then, sat at the top, taking in the stunning scenery and feeling just great ….I agreed, and twenty minutes later off we headed in the direction of the path.

The idylic woods

The idylic woods

Needless to say, it hadn’t improved over the intervening years, indeed, rather interestingly it had ….well, matured somewhat. It was still just as boggy and difficult but now it was rather overgrown too. It took me an age picking my way down, listening to an almost continuous commentary of guiding instructions from Nita ….she did a brilliant job as guide…the path was narrow in places and dropped steeply away through the undergrowth to the stream. Eventually after what was an age, I heard Nita say …’I hope that isn’t the bridge we have to cross’. Instead of the bridge we’d used to cross over the stream ten years earlier …there were two single steel girders …and no bridge! Ahhhhh!

Shame about the path!

Shame about the path!

It was by this time getting late and we had about an hour of proper day light left. The stream the bridge used to cross looked awkward to ford and only 50 m below the ‘bridge’ …it flowed into the main river. As we couldn’t return up the path in the dark, we either had to wait till morning or cross the stream. At first look, it seemed quite deep and was flowing quite fast, but Nita peered into the water and reckoned there was a shallower path across. I followed Nita and although the water was well above the top of our boots and flowing strongly, it wasn’t as deep as it at first seemed. We were quickly clambering up the bank on the other side, boots completely full of water (indeed, I swear I had a small brown trout in one of mine) and the lower part of our trousers soaked …but we were over and back to a civilized track before it got too late. I guess there must be another path now avoiding the missing bridge but I don’t think we’ll be going back at any point in the near future to check it out!

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Cloud watching – from Mam na Gualainn

Posted by admin on August 2nd, 2013
Layers of cloud from near the summit of Mam na Gualainn

Layers of cloud from near the summit of Mam na Gualainn

Being held up by road works and a red traffic light can be a little frustrating at times, – but not when you’ve been stopped by a traffic light in Glencoe …..as we were at about quarter past eight on Wednesday morning. It was one of those works where they run a convoy system and as we’d just missed the previous convoy, there was going to be a bit of a delay and so Nita turned the engine off. The mountains rose all around us with wisps and heavier banks of cloud drifting at different levels, breaking around the dramatic rocky peaks. As I opened the window to get a better view, we heard the distinctive calls of eagles and Nita and Guy said they could see three of these huge birds high above us. It was a great way to start our day and the convoy vehicle returned almost too soon and we had to leave the birds and these magnificent mountains behind ….but not too far behind.

From Mam na Gualainn

From Mam na Gualainn

We were headed for Mam na Gualainn, a 796 m hill set in a fine location on the north side of the fjord like sea loch, Loch Leven. Nita and I had first walked this hill back in 2005 and had been so impressed with the views from its high grassy ridge that we always said we’d return dragging our friend Guy with us…..he’s not a Munro bagger, but someone who simply appreciate a fine hill in a fine location….regardless of its size or stature. We thought he’d appreciate this one. Have to admit though, that it took a little longer to get back there than we’d originally planned!

Wild flowers on the slopes of Mam na Gualainn

Wild flowers on the slopes of Mam na Gualainn

The views we had on Wednesday from Mam na Gualainn, were spectacular, made even more so by an almost continuous flow of very low cloud drifting in from the west and breaking around and over the big hills of Glencoe to the immediate south of us and the high tops and ridges of the Mamores to the north. We had a constantly changing view all around, sometimes with peaks sticking out above the mists and at other times, the mountains almost completely clearing or disappearing. As we sat eating our lunch at the summit, the cloud rolled up the glen to the north of us, engulfing the West Highland Way far below, and then after another ten minutes engulfing us too. For a while it became very dark and we reached for waterproofs and maps but within half an hour it all passed and we were still dry and back to watching the mountains around us coming and going again.

On the steep slopes of Mam na Gualainn

On the steep slopes of Mam na Gualainn

I often say to visitors to my studio, that the best days on the hill are often not the perfect bright sunny days, but the days where the conditions are constantly changing. These kinds of day with the ever changing light and colours make a great location even greater and provide me with lots of ideas for paintings and drawings. Quite what will come out of Wednesdays trip to Mam na Gualainn, ….well, we’ll just have to wait and see…..but our nine hours of cloud watching have certainly got me reaching for the graphite pencils again and I’m tempted to try and do some new large drawings while the memories are fresh in my mind.

Cloud arriving ...the summit of Mam na Gualainn

Cloud arriving …the summit of Mam na Gualainn

Heavy skies above Mam na Gualainn

Heavy skies above Mam na Gualainn

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    E-mail: keith@keithsalmon.org