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Posts Tagged ‘blackmount’

Ghlas Bheinn – what a difference a few months make!

It has all been work, work, and work these last few weeks and so it was great to have an excuse to stop for a couple of days last weekend.  Some friends of ours from Germany are over visiting Scotland for a couple of weeks and have hired a camper van for the duration.  On Saturday we drove up into the Highlands with them and did a gentle tour up to Arrochar, over the Rest and Be Thankful, past Loch Fyne and on through Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy to Rannoch Moor.   Our visitors first few days in Scotland, spent exploring Edinburgh, were spent under cloudy skies and in wet conditions but on Saturday the conditions in the West Highlands were superb ….hot and sunny and the landscape looked at its very best.

vacation in Scotland

Andrea, Rudi and Nita on Ghlas Bheinn

Andrea and Rudi were keen to do some walking so long as it wasn’t a huge mountain hike and so our first thoughts were to take them for a wander along the Bridge of Orchy to Victoria Bridge section of the West Highland Way.  The path climbs a little but not much and reaches the most magnificent view point high above Loch Tulla…..we thought that this would be ideal.  And it would have been except that the annual West Highland Way race was taking part that weekend and as we arrived at the Bridge of Orchy…..the runners were passing through.  There were dozens of cars and vans and numerous people and stewards ….all very exciting but not the peaceful place we’d imagined we’d be able to show our friends from Germany!  We extricated ourselves, the camper van and our car from the mayhem and after a short re-think drove the few miles further on to the big view point on the road leading up onto Blackmount.

vacation in Scotland

Away from the crowds, a perfect summer evening in the West Highlands

We normally park here for our annual winter wander along the undulating little ridge leading to Ghlas Bheinn and this suddenly seemed to be the perfect solution for a walk now.  And so it was, with huge views and a good cooling breeze to keep the midges away, this short walk gave Andrea and Rudi a chance to experience a little bit of the Highlands off-piste as it were ….no paths and no other walkers.  For Nita and me it was great to see this familiar place under beautiful summer conditions with different colours and light.  We got back to the vehicles around half past eight in the evening and drove back to the Bridge of Orchy Hotel for food and refreshment ….a perfect end to a very enjoyable day.  My thanks to the staff at the hotel.  They must have been completely shattered by the time we wandered in at just after nine in the evening ….but they very kindly agreed to fix us some food despite us arriving after they had officially finished serving.  Great service and very friendly and if you are heading up or down the A82, this hotel is highly recommended.

A day exploring Beinn Toaig in the Blackmount, West Highlands

About 10 years ago, my good friend Guy, led me on a walk up the Munro Stob a’ Choire Odhair in the Blackmount region of the Scottish West Highlands.  Guy, never one to just follow the standard routes up hills, suggested we climb this Munro by way of its neighbouring top, Beinn Toaig.   We did this and it made for a very good route, but on that day, it was a very good route in thick cloud and we didn’t see very much.  Since then Nita and I had been back on two or three  occasions, and on one of them, we enjoyed hot clear conditions ….but still didn’t see much  because of very thick heat haze!

scottish mountains

‘In the Blackmount, the Scottish West Highlands’

Yesterday, with the weather once again set fine for the West Highlands of Scotland, we decided to go back to Beinn Toaig, but this time, spend a few hours exploring it and enjoying the fine views we expected to get.    That said however, it didn’t look too hopeful as we drove up the side of Loch Lomond at about eight o’clock yesterday morning.  There was thick dark cloud and it all looked very dreary.  We shouldn’t have worried however, the folk at the Mountain Weather Information Service had got it right and by the time we’d had a coffee and breakfast at the Green Welly, the thick cloud was breaking up and clear blue skies were taking over.

scottish mountains

‘In the Blackmount, the Scottish West Highlands’

We parked the car at the end of the road near Victoria Bridge on the West Highland Way and following the broad track through the trees until we reached the open moorland.  The views were already stunning and our hill, Beinn Toaig, looked very inviting with plenty of snow still on its steep upper slopes.   We weren’t really sure what the conditions would be like higher up as, after many weeks of freezing temperatures on the mountains, spring had suddenly arrived and the temperatures were quite high.   After a couple of kilometres on the WHW we turned off and made our way across the edge of the moorland, heading for the lower end of the broad ridge leading from the summit of Beinn Toaig.  I can’t quite say how wonderful it was to be out here with the mountains all around and the huge space of Rannoch Moor stretching out  below us.  Wow!   There was a lot of snow higher up but despite this there were still areas of snow free ground and for the most part we were able to follow these up the steep slopes leading onto the ridge.  By the time we needed to get onto the snow, the slopes were very gentle and the snow underfoot, fairly soft.

scottish mountains

‘In the Blackmount, the Scottish West Highlands’

I had hoped before setting out, that the views from the ridge into the heart of the Blackmount, would be good.  When we gained the height and could see into the main group of mountains ….well, it was just breathtaking, especially so in this clear crisp spring light.  We spent so much time just stopping and looking and taking photographs and our lunch spot was one of the most enjoyable and spectacular we’ve had for a long time …..and that says something.  We could hear the distant roar of the river rushing through the glen below heading for Ba Bridge and Rannoch Moor and there were the occasional sounds of Raven, Plovers and at one point, high up, two Golden Eagles.  Nita watched them for quite a while but they were too high up for me to make out ……but it was great to know they were there.

scottish mountains

‘In the Blackmount, the Scottish West Highlands’

We didn’t quite reach the summit of Beinn Toaig in the end.  We carried on until about three o’ clock and still a short distance from the top, decided it was probably sensible to start heading back ….I really am very slow on the descent!  It was probably a good decision as in the end we only got back to the car at about half past six and the sun was down by then and everything was getting a little dark.  What a day though …… my jaw was aching from smiling so much!

scottish mountains

‘In the Blackmount, the Scottish West Highlands’

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‘Towards the Blackmount, snow, shower’

'Towards the Blackmount, snow, shower', Oil on canvas, 2015, 80 x 80 cm

‘Towards the Blackmount, snow, shower’, Oil on canvas, 2015, 80 x 80 cm

Price: £1750

This is one of the paintings I created last year following our short walk along the undulating ridge of Ghlas Bheinn.  A day of bright sunshine at times, but with heavy blustery snow showers that swept in and left a thin coating of snow on the grass.  This painting is one of the new canvases on which I used thick oil paint put down in large sweeping marks.

The painting is currently on display in my studio so do pop in sometime to see it if you live close by.  If you have far to travel however, do check first (call 07742 437425)….. just to make sure I’m in.  If the weather is good I may be out on another hill!

‘Towards the Blackmount, winter’

'Towards the Blackmount, winter', Oil on canvas, 2014, 120 x 120 cm

‘Towards the Blackmount, winter’

‘Towards the Blackmount, winter’, Oil on canvas, 2014, 120 x 120 cm

It has been such a busy year that I’ve only just got back to working on another large scale painting.  This piece was the last big canvas I did, completing it in the autumn last year.  The painting, done in thick over-lapping brush strokes in traditional oil colour, is based on views we’ve seen while walking the hills around Blackmount.  On this scale the painting tends towards the abstract but hopefully conveys much of the drama, colour and atmosphere of this Wild Mountain and moor-land landscape.

This painting is currently stored at my studio and can be viewed on request.  Visitors are always welcome.

‘Winter, Blackmount’

142 'Winter, Blackmount', Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 76 x 23 cm.jpg

‘Winter, Blackmount’

 

 ‘Winter, Blackmount’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 76 x 23 cm

If you’ve read this week’s blog you will see we were out walking on Ghlas Beinn, on the edge of Rannoch Moor last Sunday.  It’s a short walk we do most winters and so I thought I’d use this painting as my Artwork of the Week this week.  I did this picture after our first ever visit there.  The mountains on that occasion had a lot of snow on them and the conditions were quite wild……making for very dramatic views of the Blackmount.

‘Winter, Blackmount’

142-winter-blackmount-acrylic-pastel-2010-76-x-23-cm

‘Winter, Blackmount’

‘Winter, Blackmount’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 76 x 23 cm

I created this painting after our first visit to Ghlas Bheinn.  I’ve now used the left hand side of it as the starting point for a new more abstract 80 x 80 cm oil painting, (see my latest blog).   Both are based on a scene looking towards Clach Leathad with its huge southern face covered in snow.

Pieces from pieces

Although nearly all my paintings are based on the Scottish upland landscape I do like to try and find new ways of interpreting it. I’ve spent nearly all of the last week working on an 80 x 80 cm canvas in oil.  It’s quite a loose piece and I’ve just used the large horse hair house painting brush to create the marks on it. 

Work in progress, February 14 2014 - Oil on Canvas

Work in progress, February 14 2014 – Oil on Canvas

The starting point for the piece was a section of a painting I did several years ago about the peaks of the Blackmount, in particular Clach Leath and it’s wonderful southern face that always seems to catch the snow .  In the winter months it stands out from most vantage points to the east, especially as you drive across the edge of Rannoch Moor on the A82 and in particular from the gentle ridge of Ghlas Bheinne.  I’ve taken numerous photos of it over the years as it always grabs your attention and in spring 2012 we walked right underneath it on two occasions as we headed up the glen from Ba Bridge.

Since starting to work once again in oil on canvas, I’ve wanted to try and create much more abstract paintings.  I want them still to be about the wild Scottish landscape but in a much looser way. I’ve created a number of these oil on canvas paintings over the last couple of years and am always trying to develop them.   I decided therefore to start from a slightly different place with these new paintings ….instead of using photographs and sketches I’ve selected a section from one of my earlier paintings.  This gives me a far more abstract starting point but one that is still landscape based.

As I say, the new painting is being created using just one brush ….a large coarse haired house painting brush approximately 7 inches wide and at least an inch thick.  I’ve been building the painting up using quite thick oil paint and putting it down in rough, raw strokes and a very limited palette.  This coarse haired brush leaves fine textures in the wet paint that once dry, gives an interesting surface over which to put down the next stroke.  The painting is still not finished but I think it is starting to go in the right direction.  The problem, as always, is trying to get the balance between the need by me to create a landscape painting as well as one that is abstract too……this can so easily lead to a painting that looks false and awkward.  Oh well, I’ve just ordered a load more paint so it’s just a case of keeping on painting and hopefully learning.  That I guess, is what painting for me is all about.

‘Sun and snow, in the Blackmount’

'Sun and snow, in the Blackmount', Acrylic & Pastel, 2013, 30 x 30 cm

‘Sun and snow, in the Blackmount’

‘Sun and snow, in the Blackmount’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2013, 30 x 30 cm

This is one of the four paintings I currently have displayed at The Framework Gallery in Troon in Ayrshire.  If you live in the area and have a chance why not pop in to see it for real ….along with the other three pieces and work by many other artists.  It’s a great little gallery and you’ll always get a warm welcome.

The painting is one of several I did after we’d done what is now becoming an almost annual visit to the wee hill Ghlas Beinn, situated on the edge of Rannoch Moor.  The view across to the bigger hills of the Blackmount is very impressive and with the constant changes of light and atmosphere it always draws my attention.

I guess we’ll be heading back there again this coming December as it makes such a good short winter walk.  With very little ascent and descent it none the less gives you a real feeling of being in the wild.  I suppose we ought to go there in the summer some time and see it under different conditions …..it would certainly be interesting seeing this landscape in summer colours.

Seven drawings

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‘Early morning, Rannoch Moor’

Earlier this week I took the seven new graphite drawings down to my framer in Prestwick. I’ve asked them to mount the drawings only as there won’t be enough space in the gallery to hang them. The drawings though will be on display in a stand and will be available for sale should anyone take a fancy to any of them.

It’s now about 07.15 and I’m rushing to get things completed on this computer as I have to get down to the studio quite early today. Over the last few weeks or so I’ve been posting odd photos of some of the drawings but I thought I’d take this opportunity to show them all together. Of course this has the advantage that I don’t have to write much this morning ….it’s one of those ‘picture blogs’ this week! Anyway, I hope you find them of interest.

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‘East over Rannoch Moor, early morning’

They’re all done on thick off white paper …I think it was 220 g paper and I’ve used soft graphite pencils scribbled down in over lapping layers. I’ve also cut back through the dark areas using a soft rubber and have tried to control some of these marks by light applications of fixative at points throughout the drawing process. They are all A2 size, so not huge …but I think they may well deserve to be taken to a much larger scale.

This is just a thought at present but it would be nice to do something on the scale of the large drawing I did when I was in Speyer in the summer of 2010. That drawing was just over 4 m long by 1.5 m high! It would certainly mean using a lot of graphite sticks.

Anyway, here are the rest of the drawings ….if you can get along to see them for real they’ll be on display at ‘the gallery on the corner’, 34 Northumberland St, Edinburgh EH3 6LS throughout March. The gallery is open, Tues – Sat, 11.00 – 17.00. I must dash now…..

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‘East from Ba cottage, early morning’

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‘Fresh snow, the Ochils’

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‘Winter patterns, Beinn Dorain’

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‘Winter slopes, Blackmount’

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‘In the Luss hills’

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Stob Ghabhar …at last

'The Bridge of Orchy hills from near Victoria Bridge'

'The Bridge of Orchy hills from near Victoria Bridge'

It’s been three weeks since we were last out on a hill and so we were keen to grab the first fine day that came along to get out again.   Tuesday seemed the best chance and so it was simply a case of deciding where to go.  We’ve reached a stage with the Munro’s that the ones we haven’t walked that lie within a day trip of Irvine, are either too challenging for me, or involve a long walk in.  There are however a few that don’t fall into either category ….Stob Ghabhar in the Blackmount being one.  It’s a fairly big hill, rising to 1090m and has a formidable east facing corrie.   One route to its summit takes a ridge leading across from Stob a’ Choire Odhair, but this is narrow and in one place very narrow and exposed …..not a place for me these days.

'From the slopes of Stob Ghabhar'

'From the slopes of Stob Ghabhar'

Our other option was to both climb and descend the hill by its gentler SE ridge….and this is what we decided to do.  This route though still had one potential problem …it involves crossing quite a large stream in order to gain access to the base of the SE ridge.  It certainly needs to be done when the river isn’t in spate and preferably when it’s low.  Thankfully, here in the west of Scotland, we’ve missed all of the heavy rainfall that has been causing so many problems recently in west Wales and the south of England and so we were hopeful of finding the stream crossable.

'Approaching the summit'

'Approaching the summit'

Our trip didn’t start quite according to plan though.  The forecast had predicted 80% chance of a cloud free hill …but as we drove out of Irvine it started to rain and it kept on raining all the way to Crianlarich!  What was more, the cloud was dark and heavy and well down on all the hills around Loch Lomond……it wasn’t looking promising!  With the day light lasting well into the evening at this time of year, there wasn’t a rush to start walking and so we decided to stop at the Green Welly for a second breakfast ….in the hope that an extra 45 minutes might see an improvement in conditions.  We didn’t really believe it but what the heck, an excuse for one of the Green Welly’s superb bacon rolls and a big mug of coffee, well, we couldn’t miss that could we?!  As it turned out, it was an inspired move.  The bacon roll did me a power o good and by the time we emerged again it had stopped raining and the first small breaks in the cloud were starting to appear.  By the time we reached the start point near Victoria bridge, the cloud had all but lifted and there were bright blue patches appearing everywhere …it was looking good.

'Towards Rannoch Moor from near the summit'

'Towards Rannoch Moor from near the summit'

I’ve wanted to climb this hill for a good few years and it proved well worth the wait.  The stream crossing was a little problematic ….the water wasn’t high but even so, getting across it proved interesting for me!  It took us about half an hour to find a place where I could cross without too big a risk of getting a soaking before we had even started going up hill.  Once across though, the going was pretty straight forward up fairly steep grass and then higher up, rockier ground.  The views were stunning all the way up but became superb once we reached the crest of the ridge and could see into the huge corrie that is the main feature of this hill.  Wow …wonderful …it made you feel very small indeed.

'Our route home'

'Our route home'

As is so often the case when walking any other than the famous summits in Scotland, …we didn’t see any other walkers and so we had the summit to ourselves.  We had as I said, planned simply to return by the same route, but now with time in hand and the mountain spread out before us, we checked the map and decided to make a bit of a tour of it, first heading west along a broad grass and moss covered ridge and then down to a beallach where the map showed a stalkers path leading back to the forest and the track back to Victoria bridge.  It was a great decision and made for a really enjoyable circuit of this hill ….always much better than simply going up and down by the same route.

This was only the second ‘new’ Munro we’ve walked since I think February 2008 and takes my tally to 104.  The trouble is that I caught myself thinking …’only one more and it’ll be 105 …and with a bit of effort I could reach 110 by the start of the winter’ ….ahhhhhh ..I might have caught the Munro ‘baggin’ bug again!!!