‘From above Cononish’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 40 x 40 cm
Price: £720
Price from 1st September 2015, £1008
This is one of the paintings I’ll be showing in my “Highland walks” exhibition at “the gallery on the corner” in Edinburgh, from August 7th – August 29th 2015.
The painting was created following a walk in the hills above Cononish near Tyndrum. The colours on that late winter afternoon were fantastic and the painting hopefully captures something of the spirit of the place.
There is just a week to go until I deliver the paintings to “the gallery on the corner” in Edinburgh, ready for my exhibition, “Highland walks” which opens on Friday 7th August. This of course means that I’m currently in panic mode!
To be included in “Highland Walks “exhibition
I’ve spent the last couple of weeks slowly deciding which paintings to include and panicking that I might not have enough work…..despite the fact that I know that I have ample. I always want to include the newest pieces and so have been trying to finish several paintings and drawings and get them framed ready for the delivery date. After much thinking and looking I’ve got it down to 29 framed pieces of which I’ll probably take 25 in the end. It’s so difficult to decide and I find the best way is to copy images of the paintings into a separate file on my computer and then just keep on viewing the selection. If helps me root out pieces that look great on their own but might not work with others in an exhibition. It’s very time consuming and I’m a terrible one for changing my mind! I put this down to the visual impairment but in all honesty I’m just terrible at making decisions!
To be included in “Highland Walks “exhibition
Selling three pieces over the last month has actually made the decision making process slightly easier and I now think that I’ve got a good selection. When I last had an exhibition at “the gallery on the corner” a few years ago, the emphasis was probably on the more traditional landscape views. In “Highland walks”, the emphasis will probably be on the slightly more abstract work.
I’m also planning to include a good range of sizes of work, from one of my 125 x 85 cm graphite drawings of Glen Rosa, to five of my small post card size, (210 x 148 mm) paintings. In between, there will be several of the 30 x 30 cm pieces, two 40 x 40 cm pieces and a number of the long thin 76 x 23 cm paintings. Finally, although I haven’t yet decided which, I’ll be taking three of the 80 x 80 cm works.
To be included in “Highland Walks “exhibition
As well as the framed pieces, I’m also creating nine small graphite drawings on board which we plan to display unframed. This is another cause for my current panic…..I have completed six of these but still have three more to do!
Thankfully, Paul the gallery assistant manager, has said that he is happy hanging the exhibition and so once I’ve delivered everything I can start to relax. That said however, I’ve agreed to saying a few words on the evening of the Preview and as I don’t want to say the same thing as I did at my previous show, I’ll have to write something fresh and then get it into my head ….. I can’t read notes, so any speaking at events like this, has to be done without them.
To be included in “Highland Walks “exhibition
I’ll probably start wrapping the work early next week so there is no mad rush on Friday. All I need to do then is send out the email invitations to the Preview on Friday 7th August. This always takes a lot of time and I usually call in my secretary Nita to help. As you are aware, Nita has lots of different hats, including those of art critic, frame painter, secretary, and chauffeur among many others! She tells me that the pay is awful but is always there to help. I really couldn’t do all this without her….so a big thanks to Nita.
‘On Beinn Damh, Torridon’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2015, 148 x 210 mm
Price: £325
Price from 1st September 2015: £455
Over the years, we’ve walked many a hill in thick mist and seen little or nothing from the top. Our walk up Beinn Damh the other year was just such a case. This small painting is based on the only view we had and it didn’t last long before the mists closed in around us again. Beinn Damh is a wonderful peak that rises at the head of Loch Torridon and the views should have been spectacular.
In the last couple of years we’ve been attempting to re-visit some of the summits whose views we missed the first time due to thick cloud…… Beinn Damh is definitely on the list of hills to go back to!
The title for this blog probably breaks most if not all of the trades description act for as most of you know, I don’t actually dash anywhere, especially when I’m on a hill! That said however, our trip to Beinn Ime yesterday was in a sense, a bit of a dash as up until mid afternoon the day before, we had no intention of going walking. The forecasts seemed to have been suggesting wet and very windy weather for Thursday but when Nita double checked early Wednesday evening…. it seemed like the rain wouldn’t actually arrive until the end of the day.
Not wanting a silly early start as Nita had been working a night shift on Tuesday and didn’t get much in the way of sleep on Wednesday, we opted for going for a walk in the Arrochar Alps ….not much more than an hour and a half drive from Irvine. The forecast had actually suggested there would be 90% chances of a cloud free Munro, but when we reached the side of Loch Lomond at just after 9am, everything was dark and gloomy with heavy banks of cloud shrouding all the hills above about 500 metres. I have to say we weren’t at the time too happy with Geoff Monk at MWIS….. but we should have known better as, given another hour and the tops where clear. And we used that hour by stopping at Luss and treating ourselves to a bacon roll and a cuppa ….so not bad after all! My apologies to Geoff and his team at MWIS for ever doubting them!
Our target for the day was Beinn Ime, a hill we’d first climbed back in 1998 and one we’d revisited on five or six other occasions over the years. It makes for a very pleasant wander through spectacular scenery and as you start at sea level and end up at just over 1000 m ….it gives your legs a good stretch. We haven’t actually walked the path up past The Cobbler and Beinn Narnain to Beinn Ime for probably four years and it was amazing to see how much the lower sections of the path had changed in this time. What had been saplings have grown and the big views you used to have out over Loch Long, have for the most part, been hidden behind foliage. What you lose on the bigger scale however, you make up on the smaller scale. Numerous wild flowers decorated the sides of the path almost all the way up to the edge of the forestry and from that point the views of The Cobbler and Beinn Narnain grab your attention. The path itself has eroded quite badly in places despite it only being a little over 10 years old I think. The top surface seems to have been washed away in places but it still makes a pretty easy way to gain height and get up into these spectacular mountains.
I had expected the path to be quite busy at this time of year but in fact we only saw a few other folk throughout the day and the busiest spot was actually the summit of Beinn Ime itself. Even so, there was only a few folk and they soon headed off back down and Nita and I had this lofty quiet spot to ourselves …… with the exception of one lone sheep and a couple of Ravens. It had taken us about four and a quarter hours to the top and so we had plenty of time to sit and enjoy the views which, despite the generally grey skies, were pretty extensive. Nita could make out Ben Nevis to the north but it still had its head in the cloud. Most of the rest of the hills were clear just as MWIS had forecast.
Our return back down to the car was in increasingly gloomy light but the rain held off and I have to admit that I felt quite smug…. our lazy start and second breakfast in Luss paid off…. cloud free tops by the time we started walking and still dry eight and a half hours later on our return to the car. A perfect day in the hills.
‘A January evening in the North Ayrshire Hills’
“A January evening in the North Ayrshire hills”, Acrylic & Pastel, 2015, 30 x 30 cm
Price £485.
Price from September 1st 2015, £675
This new painting is based on a very cold early evening back in January a few years ago. I’d been walking on the hills behind Largs in North Ayrshire with my friend Guy. The snow was quite deep and very icy and it made for very difficult walking. As we descended, the setting sun in the west turned the snow a strange coppery pink colour and although it only lasted for about five minutes it was very impressive.
It’s that time of year again when the annual North Ayrshire Open Art Exhibition takes place. , I entered one of my scribbled pastel drawings and one of my more traditional 80 x 80 cm acrylic and pastel paintings. Both I’m pleased to say, have been selected for the exhibition. A quick look through the catalogue this morning revealed a good turn out from the Courtyard Studios artists this year as well as work by several former Courtyard Studios artists. The exhibition preview is tomorrow evening starting at 7.30 pm and it takes place at the Racquet Hall in Eglinton Country Park, Kilwinning. The exhibition then runs for two weeks. Being an open exhibition with over 100 works on display, there is always something for everyone and it makes for an enjoyable visit…..especially so if you add on a wander through the beautiful surrounding parkland while you’re there.
The last two weeks have been a strange mix for me. I’ve spent many days working in the studio. I have quite a lot of different things on the go at the moment which is nice. I’ve got back to using oil colour again and have been working on three different canvases, all of which I started last year and then put to one side. I’m also creating nine new small size (210 x 148 mm) graphite drawings for my forthcoming exhibition in Edinburgh in August. Busy, busy, busy!
Last Thursday Nita and I drove up to Pitlochry to collect the work at the end of my exhibition at the John Muir Trust wild Space. It was a good experience showing work there and although I only sold one painting, my gift cards sold well ….so as a way of marketing my work and introducing my paintings to a wider audience, it was very successful. The Wild Space is right on the main street in Pitlochry and close to where all the coaches park up. As such the centre gets a large number of visitors both UK and from abroad and so a lot of people will have seen my work for the first time. Anyway, a big thank you to Jane Grimley (JMT Wild Space Manager) and her staff for making me so welcome and for inviting me to show my work with the John Muir Trust. To find out more about the John Muir Trust and the important work it does, visit: www.jmt.org
I’ve just received an email from my colleague Dan Thornton, the photographer and film maker based in Seattle. As you know, he has been making an hour long documentary about my work and we are now in the process of raising the funds to get the editing done. I’ve donated seven paintings and some prints which are now with Dan in Seattle and he is setting up an auction and publicity event to raise awareness of the project. He is also setting up a kick starter campaign for the same purpose and this should be underway around the start of August. I’ll obviously post more details nearer the time.
The next big project for me is my exhibition at “the gallery on the corner” in Edinburgh. I’ll be showing something in region of 30 pieces of work I think and the exhibition preview is on August 7th 2015. The exhibition then runs until 29th August. I’m really looking forward to this show as the gallery is such a great space. The exhibition is on during the Edinburgh Festival so if you’re in the city, you could take a well earned breather from all the festival shows and enjoy looking at some peaceful, quiet paintings of the Scottish Highlands. Full details of this exhibition to follow shortly.
One other plan for the not too distant future is to visit the arts centre in Dumfries. My partner Nita is making some great pieces in porcelain and we are starting to think about holding an exhibition together. A colleague has suggested we look at the arts centre down in Dumfries as a possible venue for the show…..so, early days but visiting the centre would start the process. More on this project as things develop.
Sadly we haven’t been able to get out walking since our trip to Glen Douglas the other week but I’m hopeful we can make it out sometime soon. Fingers crossed, I’m starting to get withdrawal symptoms again!
‘In the Flow Country, Sutherland’
‘In the Flow Country, Sutherland’, Oil, 2012, 80 x 80 cm
In the last few days I’ve started working on a couple of paintings in oil on canvas. With all that has been going on since last summer I’ve not had a chance to work with oil, so it’s good to get back to it again.
This is one of the canvases I did a few years ago and it’s one that I’ve always liked. As with many of the oil paintings I’ve done, I used a very large brush to create this rather abstract landscape. The painting is currently framed and in my studio should you wish to see it up close.
Several years ago Nita and I walked the three hills to the north of Glen Douglas on the west side of Loch Lomond. For what are relatively small hills this is a surprisingly strenuous walk as there is quite a lot of steep ascents and descents. As such, by the time we’d climbed back up to the second hill, we were running a little late and so rather rushed over to Beinn Bhreac, the last and highest of the three hills. We subsequently didn’t have much time to enjoy the big views out over Loch Lomond or to explore the rocky little tops.
Yesterday, with the forecast looking fine, we went back to Glen Douglas, only this time, to walk Beinn Bhreac and to explore it and its neighbour Ben Reoch. We’ve done several walks this year in these hills around Luss and on each occasion it’s been quite dark and hazy. As we arrived in Glen Douglas yesterday things were looking very similar with cloud misting the tops and fine drizzle falling. But even so, the glen was looking fantastic.
The route up from the glen to the summit of Beinn Bhreac is pretty direct and like most of the Luss Hills, steep and generally grassy. As we gained height the drizzle stopped and the cloud lifted, giving fine views back into the glen and across to the surrounding tops. I have to say that it’s been three weeks since we were on the rocky tops around Conival in Assynt and my legs were complaining as we made our way slowly uphill. With the sun starting to come out it was quite warm and it seemed to bring out the wild life…. flies and midges and … a lizard, which was hopefully eating some of the latter!
After so much grass, the summit of Beinn Bhreac is a pleasant surprise, being made up of a series of rocky outcrops and crags, the highest of which gives an amazingly large view over Loch Lomond. You can see a long way north up the loch and right down to the southern end. Directly opposite is the Munro, Ben Lomond which was looking great, although no doubt, it was a lot busier than on our side of the loch! We had seen no-one and that was to remain the same for the rest of the day.
As I said, on our previous visit to these hills, we had kind of rushed on our way over from Ben Reoch and had by-passed it’s more interesting and craggy little subsidiary top. Yesterday, we decided to make our way over to it and enjoy exploring around the crags. On leaving Beinn Bhreac however, we came across an amazing crevice in the rock. It looked like the side of the mountain was breaking away and would, sometime in the distant future, collapse down into Loch Lomond. It was surprisingly deep and offered shelter for many plants which were somehow clinging onto the ledges of the rock.
By the time we reached the rocky top near Ben Reoch, the sun was bright and hot and after picking our way around and through the crags, we settled down for a very pleasant rest, enjoying the views and the sight of four Ravens that seemed to occupy this lofty little top.
It was certainly a fine walk and it was well worth while revisiting and spending time exploring these tops. As you know, I’ve recently been doing some drawings based on our earlier visits to the Luss Hills. I think I may well get a couple more done based on our wander yesterday.
‘The Saddle from Glen Rosa, Isle of Arran, March’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2013, 76 x 23 cm
Price: £720
Price after 1st September, 2015: £1008
Well then, if you’ve just read my current blog you’ll see that we had some very unseasonable weather up in Assynt recently. It wasn’t quite as wintry as this but there was snow falling on the high tops on a couple of days and it was certainly as dark and misty on many occasions.
Anyway, this painting is currently on display as part of my exhibition, “All four seasons” at the John Muir Trust Wild Space Visitor Centre in Pitlochry. If you are travelling up or down the A9 anytime before the 29th June, do call in to see the show.
Saturday May 30th
This middle Saturday of our holiday saw us packing up, cleaning the cottage and moving a few miles south to the beautiful sandy bay of Achmelvich where we’d booked a caravan for our second week. It was kind of strange as we normally stay in one place for the two weeks. As it turned out, it was of course, one of the best days, weather-wise, of the whole holiday but as we had the car packed full of our gear we weren’t keen on leaving it in a lay-by all day while we went on a big walk. Instead we had a very lazy day, visiting the fabulous bookshop and cafe a few miles outside Lochinver and then having a very relaxed lunch at a fine restaurant in the village. By the time we’d finished there and done a bit of shopping for the next week’s food supplies, it was time to move into the caravan. The weather was starting to deteriorate as we unpacked the car and we decided to grab a quick walk along the fabulous beach before the much forecast heavy rain and unseasonable gales arrived!
Sunday 31st May
Rain and much rattling of the caravan as the forecasted winds wiped out any chance of heading into the hills again. More reading, eating and drinking ….well, it was a holiday!
Monday 1st June
Still the forecasts were for high winds up top and heavy showers, so, determined to get some walking done, we headed into the wonderful “rock garden” country just to the north of Achmelvich. It’s a wild, rocky and complex area of low hills and lochs. We clambered up four of these little rocky hills, each one giving fine if rather grey views of the famous Assynt sky-line. Despite the blustery conditions all of these amazing hills were clear. We spent about five hours wandering through and over this strange little landscape and never got higher than about 120m…. just shows you, you don’t always need to be up a big hill to have fine views.
Tuesday 2nd June
Yet more heavy rain, very low cloud and high winds. Another inactive day saw us drive down to Ullapool, for more food and bookshop visiting! Had some amazing views on the way back, with the huge dark clouds eating up the familiar Assynt peaks. Very dramatic at times ….and very wet too!
Wednesday 3rd June
Finally a hint of slightly better conditions, especially on the lower hills to the west. Decided to enjoy the fine views from the path that circles the rocky little peak of Stac Pollaidh. We’ve walked this before and it’s a very popular walk…. but what the heck ….the views are just spectacular. We certainly made the right choice as the bigger hills of Conival and Ben More Assynt were shrouded most of the day and the winds, even at the modest height we reached, were very strong.
On the north side of the hill I stopped and tried to make a sound recording. We’d found a sheltered spot but could hear the wind rushing and roaring around the rocky towers that make up Stac Pollaidh. It would have been perfect…..except that as I said earlier, it is a very popular place and of course, just as I got the recorder working, several other walkers came along, talking at what seemed to be the top of their voices! On my second attempt, I thought all was going well, only to hear the voices of some serious climbers making their way along the ridge above. Hopefully everyone enjoyed their time on or around this amazing hill ….it just wasn’t the place for recording silence!
Thursday 4th June
At last, at last, we had a break in the low cloud, high winds and rain. We decided to head up towards Conival, (one of the two Assynt Munros) but instead of following the main path we’d taken back in 2006, Nita suggested we cut up the side of an adjoining hill and make our way to a prominent point at 850m that I’d painted on several occasions in the past. It would give big views into the north east facing slopes of Conival and Ben More Assynt. According to the forecast, we had until about 16.00 before the cloud and rain returned and so an early start was required. We started walking from Inchnadamph at just before seven o’clock in the morning and after a kilometre or so we left the main path and struck up the side of the hill. As with much of the Assynt landscape the ground was very rough but I always prefer walking across open hillsides and away from paths so this was just fantastic. We quickly got huge views back across the beautiful Loch Assynt to Quinag ….and all this in patchy bright sunshine…..couldn’t believe our eyes!
Higher up, the slopes became very steep and rocky, with Nita picking a careful route through the worst of these. It was a long hard haul before finally the angle of the slope eased and we emerged onto a wild broad rock strewn ridge. It was difficult up there to walk in a straight line as we had to follow leads of grass and moss to get through the boulder fields. Slowly though we got closer to our objective and despite the weather starting to close in much earlier than expected, we got some great views across to the two Munros.
Before the rain started, we grabbed some photos and donned the waterproofs and made our way across to the main walker’s path. This lead down through a very steep rocky little section and we found the rock very slippery here once it was wet. Not sure what the rock was but it was certainly different to the stuff we walked on the previous week just across the way on Canisp …that was like walking on Velcro! Not wanting to tramp back on a busy and eroded path, as soon as we were down the steepest bit, we abandoned it and made a circular route back before regaining the main track not far from Inchnadamph. This wasn’t without concern however as it meant we were on the wrong side of a big stream and relying on the footbridge marked on the 1:25000 to still be in place. As experience on Canisp the previous week had shown ….footbridges aren’t always permanent fixtures. Luckily on this occasion ….it was still there. A great sigh of relief as we saw it and a very pleasant if damp walk back to the car.
Friday 5th June
Yes, you’ve guessed it, more very heavy rain and so a return to the restaurant in Lochinver and then an hour or so packing. Towards the middle of the afternoon the rain finally stopped and the sun came out. We were able to enjoy a final walk along the white sandy beach ….a fine end to a fine, if rather damp trip to Assynt. It was a holiday of much weather which if not so great for the walking, will definitely give me some new subject matter for paintings.
