´On the edge of Rannoch Moor, December´
Well, as I said at the end of last week’s blog a trip over to the Fisher Gallery in Pittenweem in Fife was planned. We were going to travel on over there after first driving to the Strathearn Gallery in Crieff, but then on the Friday I received a message from the Strathearn Gallery saying that another painting had sold and could they hang on to the two unsold pieces for their next show. That was great news and of course it meant that we could have a much more leisurely trip over to Pittenweem.
Having never really ventured over to Fife before we decided to take in a bit of the coast line on the way and return through the centre to see the landscape there. Weather-wise it wasn’t looking too promising when we left Irvine, with dark heavy clouds and patches of rain but as we headed along the motorway east towards Edinburgh this broke to give bright patches of sun and blue sky. We’d obviously arrived in what my Angus based friend Norma calls ‘the sunny east’! As we crossed the bridge over the Firth of Forth, everything looked great. The plan was to follow the coast road around to the small fishing village of Pittenweem. This bit of the trip was in all honesty a little disappointing. I’d imagined great views out over the sea, interspersed with old villages and small towns…..and in a way, this was what we found. We did get some very big and fine views… ..but only briefly, The coast line was much more built up than I’d expected. That said, I’m sure if we’d had much more time to get off the main road and explore more closely, we’d have found some lovely spots.
Winter Day, Blackmount
Pittenweem was great. It’s a proper wee fishing village with steep little roads and paths winding down to the small harbour. The Fisher Gallery is on the main street and occupies two buildings, one on either side of the street. We were made very welcome and were fed cakes and coffee on our arrival. There was some great work on the walls and I’m hoping the three pieces I took will fit in well. This, their first exhibition of the year, opens tomorrow, Saturday 27th March.
'Above Cononish'
We left about an hour later and this time drove inland by small roads towards Cupar. Now then, this was much more to my liking …wow …great big horizons across gently rolling countryside. With the heavy skies and bright patches of sunlight everything looked particularly grand. I normally paint hills, but this Fife landscape was very impressive and I certainly think I’ll be making a return visit to explore, do some drawing and take some photos. This became even more likely when I spotted two hills. I think they were the Lomond hills. Not too high but they’d offer I’m sure a magnificent view over the Fife landscape. I really was very impressed. We returned using the Kincardine bridge and got some wonderful views towards the Ochil Hills …still holding quite large patches of snow.
In the end, a very worth while day and one that left me plenty to think about and plan for. It’ll probably now be the autumn before I can get back to do a walk, but it’ll be something to look forward to. Anyway, if you get a chance to visit the Fisher Gallery I’d strongly recommend it ….you’ll see some good work and have a great day out.
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