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Posts Tagged ‘Buachaille Etive Beag’

West Highland Way Work – a plan for the future

I’ve never walked the whole of the famous and hugely popular West Highland Way long distance footpath, but over the last sixteen years Nita and I have walked much of it.  We’ve walked sections of it at a time, usually in the winter when the weather up on the tops is too wild for high level trips and have used the path many times to reach or get back from the foot of a hill.  However you walk this path in a continuous trip from end to end, or as we’ve done, in short sections, there can be no argument that it takes a fabulous route and passes through some superb scenery.

scottish landscape paintings

‘East from Ba Cottage, first light’

This year we’ve used the WHW on several occasions to reach hills.  In the spring we followed it south along the eastern shores of Loch Lomond for several kilometres before climbing steeply up the hillside and heading up to the lonely little summit of Cruin a’ Bheinn.   Couple of months ago we used the path once again to get to the base of Beinn Odhair near Tyndrum and only a few weeks ago we once again set off along it’s well trodden surface, this time heading for the wee hill of Ben Inverveigh.  Back on a really fine day day, we followed it up the famous Devil’s Staircase opposite Buachaille Etive Beag, before leaving it for a fine wander along the ridge.  All of these walks gave fabulous views both on the path itself and from the hills surrounding it.

scottish landscape paintings

‘The Buachaille from the Devil’s Staircase’

Over the years I’ve created quite a number of paintings and drawings based on views we’ve had from or above this famous footpath and I’ve decided that it would be nice to put together a selection of work based on my experiences of the path.  It will mean visiting the sections we haven’t been on before and revisiting other sections, but it’ll be a damn good excuse for doing so ….if ever I needed one that is!

scottish landscape paintings

‘A damp morning, Buachaille Etive Beag, Glen Coe’

There’s a lot of work to be done but when the paintings are complete I’m hoping that I’ll be able to produce a collection of West Highland Way cards and prints from them and maybe even produce a book.  First things first though, more walking, more painting.  Heck, it’s a tough job isn’t it!

scottish landscape painting

‘From the eastern shores of Loch Lomond’

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Refuelling!

I’m late writing this blog again and am sat in my studio this Sunday with Sea Sick Steve blasting out!  Suffice it to say ….I’m the only one here at the Courtyard so far today…. I might get some complaints otherwise.  Oh well, sometimes its great having the music up loud and in a strange way it can be almost as relaxing as being out in a wild and quiet location.

I think I’ve needed a bit of both of these to be honest, after what has been a very busy and quite stressful last week.  It’s been a good one though and very enjoyable too …but I needed a break at the end.   Our plan had been to get up at 5am and drive up to Glen Coe to walk Stob Dubh, one of the Munro summits of Buachaille Etive Beag.  Trouble was that by the time we got to Thursday evening both Nita and I were completely shattered and even the thought of walking in what must be one of Scotland’s finest mountain ranges couldn’t cut through the weariness.  But we did need to get out and Nita suggested we head back to Beinn Odhar near Tyndrum.  It’s a regular in our hill walking diary as it makes for a great half day but with plenty of steep and ‘up’ to give the legs a short but sharp work-out.  It also had the advantage that we didn’t have to drag ourselves out of bed until 08.30!

View from Beinn Odhar of the old mines

From the old mine workings on Beinn Odhar

Have to admit we hadn’t checked the weather forecast for a couple of days but had seemed to remember that there was a nice splurge of high pressure lurking somewhere close to Scotland and so imagined we’d have fine weather.  We did, but not in that clear blue skies kind of way we had expected.  By the time we were driving along the shores of Loch Lomond it was dark and threatening rain and a good number of hills had cloud shrouding their tops.   It was, however, a rapidly changing scene and in the hour it took to drive the remaining way to Tyndrum we’d had a bit of almost everything from bright sunshine to heavy bursts of rain.  This was to be the story of the day.

Part of the enjoyment of a half day in the hills is that you have time to stop for coffee and a snack before setting out and we did just this at the very popular watering hole that is The Green Welly.  And then we were off, heading up the West Highland Way for a kilometre or so before turning off this popular track and making our way up the steep grassy slopes of Beinn Odhar.  There is no messing with this hill.  You gain height quickly and the views behind you are always impressive.  On Friday this meant a stream of fast moving dark clouds passing by at about 850m and the summits of the larger hills regularly disappearing and then re-emerging into bright patches of sunlight.  For me, this was perfect and I felt a painting coming on almost as soon as we gained some height!

View from Beinn Odhar

From the slopes of Beinn Odhar

This is the hill that has old mine remains high up on the slope and it never fails to amaze me to think that people used to trudge all the way up there  before starting a day’s work.  As we picked our way through the rocky outcrops marking the mine workings the cloud descended and it was time to get the water and wind proof gear out ….suddenly it was cold with that very definite hint of winter being just around the corner.

View from Beinn Odhar

Landscape patterns, from the slopes of Beinn Odhar

We reached the wee loch tucked under the final steep and boulder covered slopes leading to the summit and decided to sit and enjoy this incredibly peaceful spot.  We’ve been here many times before and this really is one of my favourite places in the Southern Highlands.  It is so unexpected and despite this being a Corbett it is a rarely visited spot.  I guess we sat sheltering from the wind and occasional drizzle for about 50 minutes…..just watching the clouds come and go.  This really was a perfect place to re-fuel.

‘A damp morning, Buachaille Etive Beag, Glen Coe’

'A damp morning, Buachaille Etive Beag, Glen Coe', Acrylic and Pastel, 2014, 122 x 61 cm

‘A damp morning, Buachaille Etive Beag, Glen Coe’

‘A damp morning, Buachaille Etive Beag, Glen Coe’, Acrylic and Pastel, 2014, 122 x 61 cm, RP £1400

I completed this somewhat more traditional scene a week or so before I went off to Brazil and so with all that followed, didn’t really get much chance to see it before putting it into my latest exhibition at the Harbour Arts Centre in Irvine. I’m glad to say that it looks good and makes quite a change from the square format I usually use.

The painting is based on a damp misty morning as we drove north through Glen Coe towards Loch Leven and the Mamores. It was such a beautiful view with the mists breaking around this wonderful peak, that I asked Nita to stop so that I could just look and then take several photos. I rarely paint this kind of view but in this case made an exception ….especially as I wanted to create quite a large painting. This piece is 122cm x 61cm and would make a good centre-piece for any large wall.

The painting is part of my “In Sun, snow, mist and rain” exhibition at the Harbour Arts Centre, 114 – 116 Harbour St, Irvine, Ayrshire, KA12 8PZ. The exhibition opens on Thursday evening, 27th November 2014 and runs until January 9th 2015. Any paintings purchased for Christmas can be collected from the gallery a few days before ……check with reception at the Harbour Arts Centre.

I hope you can get along to the exhibition either on the preview, 7pm – 9pm, (all welcome, no invitation needed) or at some point before 9th January. Please spread the word!

‘A damp morning, Buachaille Etive Beag, Glen Coe’

 'A damp morning, Buachaille Etive Beag, Glen Coe'

‘A damp morning, Buachaille Etive Beag, Glen Coe’

‘A damp morning, Buachaille Etive Beag, Glen Coe’, Acrylic and Pastel, 2014, 122 x 61 cm

This is one of my latest acrylic and pastel paintings. Based on a view we had as we were travelling north through Glen Coe a while back, it is rather unusual for me in that it is not only a low level view point but also done in a more traditional landscape format. I have to say that I’ve really enjoyed working on this piece although my partner Anita reckons I ought to paint more scenes of bright sunny conditions rather than these mistier, damp ones! She might have a point ….but I do love watching the mists break over and around the mountains. Anyway, this painting although just finished, will be on show at the Open Studios Weekend at the Courtyard studios this Saturday 4th / Sunday 5th October should you fancy coming down to see it for real. We’ll be open Saturday 4th, 11 am – 5pm and Sunday 5th, 12 noon – 5pm. Rumour has it that one of my colleagues will be having chocolate biscuits in his studio although if Nita and I get there first there may not be many left! You’d better arrive early!

Another day…..

It has become increasingly more difficult for me to see what I’m doing when I go to the polling booth on election days and so for yesterdays vote on independence, I decided to register for a postal vote.  As such, I voted about a week ago and so while record numbers of people went to the polling stations, I had a very normal day.

It was in short, very like many other working days for me and started with an hour or so doing jobs on the computer.  Being an artist isn’t just about splashing paint….. It’s also about doing all the things other businesses have to do ….in short, the paperwork!  As my sight has very slowly deteriorated, this side of my work has become more and more time consuming.  I’m currently writing this blog with the screen magnifier on 8x and the screen reader reading each word as I type it.   This is still quite quick but once I’m using email or the internet it gets much more difficult I find.  My morning sessions on this computer usually end up with me swearing at the thing as I make yet another mistake.  Yesterday however, things went quite calmly for once and I managed to place an order for new gift cards.  I’ve sold most of the ones I had printed a couple of years ago and suddenly realised I was down to the last card of one of the four designs…and that sold to a lady who visited the studio with her husband yesterday morning.  With our Open Studios Weekend looming it was time to get some new cards made.

 Once I’d checked my emails, ( and sent one off to the Harbour Arts Centre to arrange a meeting to discuss promoting my forthcoming exhibition) ….well, I’d had enough of this machine and  it was time to do some proper work and get down to the studio.  I grabbed a lift with Nita in the car down to town and then walked the half mile along the harbour side to the Courtyard Studios.  I had a chance to have a close look at the new entrance-way to the Maritime Museum yard.  They have somehow printed their sign directly onto the wall …and it looks very good.  Quite how they got it through the local council planning department I haven’t a clue …but well done to them, it’s quite impressive and I certainly enjoyed standing looking at it.

I arrived at my studio about 11am I guess to find several of my colleagues there working away with Alison and David both running classes I think.  I have to say that I’m not a quick starter when I arrive at work.  First job is always putting on the coffee maker ….one has to get ones priorities right!  Once that is bubbling and gurgling away I can relax, put my sign out and sit in my rocking chair looking at the work I did the previous day.  This usually lasts a good half hour and only then do I start work.   I have four main paintings on the go at the moment and with the paint still wet on the two large canvases, and the 80 x 80 cm acrylic and pastel piece almost finished, I decided I needed to get on with the new 122 cm x 61 cm painting I started about a week ago.  It’s still in its very early stages and is based on a view of Buachaille Etive Beag.  Unusually for me, the view point is from down low in the glen and the painting is in the more traditional “landscape” format.  The early stages of these big acrylic and pastel paintings are pretty methodical work.  I just slowly build up alternating layers of thin paint and pastel and this is quite time consuming.  It doesn’t need too much concentration though and so I often play music or listen to one of my talking books while painting or scribbling away.  Yesterday was just such a day but by the time I left in the early evening I’d got the piece to a reasonable state.  Today, when I get down there, I’ll have to start concentrating and the talking book will be turned off!

My immediate priorities now are to make sure I have a good selection of work ready for my exhibition at the Harbour Arts Centre starting on November 27th.  Of course, before that starts, we have our annual Open Studios Weekend at the Courtyard, on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th October.  This actually involves a lot of work as I have to clear all the surfaces, move the tables and hang all the work ….and paint the floor again as it’s really messy now.  Some years I spend the whole of the week before the event getting the studio ready but this year I have so many other things to do that I may well carry on working until the end of Wednesday 1st October ….and then have two very mad days getting everything done!   If I go down this line I’ll be very tired at the end of it and visitors to my studio over the weekend will probably find me slumped in my rocking chair …oh well, nothing new there!

I left the studio at 7pm and went home to watch the gathering news from the referendum.