‘Towards Am Bodach, Glen Coe’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2011, 30 x 30 cm
This is my most recent small painting. It’s a re-working of a piece I did last year, but looks at the view from a slightly different position. The ridge starts as a broad rough grassy shoulder at the point where the West Highland Way crosses at the top of the Devils Staircase. It gradually turns into a more defined ridge and continues over several tops all the way to Am Bodach …and the start of the Aonach Eagach. It makes wonderful wild but easy walking for us lesser mortals who avoid the really serious stuff ahead and the views the whole way along are just spectacular …being as it is, in the heart of Glen Coe. A grand day out, especially if followed almost all the way to Am Bodach before following an awkward little path down to the A82 in the base of the glen and then following the old military road back to your start point. I’m really rather pleased with this little painting as I think it combines the paint and the pastel well. Its first public airing will be at The Strathearn Gallery as part of my solo exhibition, ‘On the hill – impressions of the Scottish upland landscape’. The exhibition runs 12th February – 12th March.