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Cul Mor | Scottish Landscape Art - Scottish Landscape Paintings

Posts Tagged ‘Cul Mor’

‘Evening light. On Cul Mor, Assynt’

'Evening light. On Cul Mor, Assynt', Acrylic & Pastel, 2014, 30 x 30 cm

‘Evening light. On Cul Mor, Assynt’

‘Evening light. On Cul Mor, Assynt’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2014, 30 x 30 cm

People often ask me how I create these paintings and whether I just do them from photographs. This piece is an interesting case and kind of answers that question.

When we are walking I do of course take quick photographs. If the weather is good and the midges aren’t too thick, I stop and do very quick sketches. I use both of these as memory joggers ….but most of the work comes simply from the memories of the places we go and the hours and hours we spend each year wandering over the hills and through the glens of Scotland.

Back in May we spent a fine day walking one of the finest hills in Assynt, Cul Mor. We actually had some pretty fine weather for the whole of the walk and had some marvellous views out across this strange and beautiful landscape. As the day went on however, the cloud thickened and it became quite gloomy and threatening. We were well down the hill by the time the cloud started to drop onto the summits but I remember it being a very strange kind of light and scene. This painting then is actually based on a view point high up on the hill, but trying to imagine what it would have looked like if we’d still been up there as the cloud started to descend.

This new little painting will be one of those on display, (and for sale, price £485) in my studio during the Courtyard Studios Open Weekend, Saturday 4th October, 11am – 5pm, and Sunday 5th October 2014, 12 noon – 5pm. I hope you can get along to see it next weekend. Everyone welcome. For more details about the event please see my latest blog.

Back from Assynt

From the summit of Cul Mor

From the summit of Cul Mor

That’s me back in Irvine after a two week long holiday in Assynt in the NW of Scotland.  As usual after we get back from a trip away, I’m madly rushing around trying to catch up with everything.  We were staying at the small caravan site at Achmelvich just a few miles to the north of Lochinver and getting an Internet connection was almost impossible.  We did have access to a couple of different networks but neither was available.  After a bit of asking around we found we could get connected if we went to the small sports centre in Lochinver and this was useful for keeping up to date with emails …..but I decided to take a break from the blog and FB……hence the silence on these pages for a couple of weeks.

I must admit it has been a very relaxing time without the hassle of crashing computers and I’ve come back feeling good for the break.  That said, I did use some bad language a short while ago when my computer screen reader decided to throw a wobbly and then refuse to work at all ….but we’ve got over that so hopefully this blog will get written without any more upsets!

Looking towards Suilvern

Looking towards Suilvern

As you know, we’ve been up to Assynt on a number of occasions in the past.  It’s a wonderful part of Scotland with a very distinctive landscape that I just love.  Over the years we’ve walked many of the fine hills here but these are always worth revisiting and there are  always others just a little further away to be explored.  As it turned out, the weather didn’t really play ball and we had a lot of low cloud, rain and on occasion’s high winds which tended to keep us low rather than venturing onto the tops.    Even so, we got to see some great views and wander through some really wild places.  When it wasn’t raining, I even managed to sit down and get some quick sketches made, a couple of which I’m hoping to develop into larger more finished drawings now that I’m back in the studio.

From Cul Mor

From Cul Mor

We did get a couple of nice days however and on these we headed up –hill.  Back in 2008 we’d had a fabulous day on Cul Mor and I’d always wanted to do a return trip ….so that’s where we headed last Monday.  Have to say that it didn’t look altogether promising as we drove south the few miles towards the hill ….we couldn’t see it at all to start with …thick low cloud was completely shrouding the hill.  There were however a few small breaks in the cloud and as we were putting the boots on we noticed one of the tops  breaking clear of the cloud.  For the next half an hour we had some great views as the hills all started to shrug off their covering of cloud to leave everything bathed in a pale sunshine……it was looking good for the rest of the day.  On our previous visit in 2008 we’d tackled this hill via a steep rocky slope to the north of the hill that lead directly to the summit.  This time we headed into the big grassy corrie between the hills two main summits, and took a gentler route up.  It’s a fabulous  place with the steep rocky summits rising on two sides and a very big view east to mainly empty country and remote hills.   This grassy corrie was like an oven with the sun by this time, fairly blazing down and the hillsides protecting us from the breeze.

From the beallach at the top of the corrie, it’s a short and rather rocky little pull up the main summit but instead of heading there we decided to wander out to the western end of the hill where big cliffs fall down to the loch strewn moor-land below.  It’s a great place to sit for a while with many of the classic Assynt hills all around .   Our walk back from here not only took in the main summit but many little detours to look at some of the strange and beautiful rock formations caused by erosion of the flat beds of sandstone from which much of the upper section of the mountain is formed.  Indeed, much of the soil there is almost completely made up of sand …. you could be on a beach in places!

Suilvern from Cul Mor

Suilvern from Cul Mor

We normally get back from these May holidays a few pounds lighter but this year I think we may well have put some weight on …….we certainly ate out a few more times especially after finding a fantastic bistro in Lochinver that served really excellent food and beer.   They also made a wonderful range of pies which I managed to resist during the holiday only to find that they do a ‘Pies by post’ service …..so I may just have to order a couple next time we have something to celebrate.

Anyway, I’m back in my studio this week and starting to enjoy the painting again.  It’s always difficult after a break away but I’ve started a new 120 x 120 cm painting …..so not a bad start.

‘Below Cul Mor, Assynt’

95-below-cul-mor-assynt-acrylic-pastel-2008-80-x-110-cm

‘Below Cul Mor, Assynt’

‘Below Cul Mor, Assynt’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2008, 80 x 110 cm

It’s that time of year again where we have to decide where to go for our 2 weeks in May.  The original plan had been to go somewhere completely new this year but we keep on thinking about Assynt again.  It is such a wonderful region and although we’ve done much walking there over the last six or seven years, these wonderful hills deserve at least one more visit…..so we may well try and book a caravan at Achmelvich again ….a more peaceful and beautiful spot you couldn’t wish to find.

We’ve stayed there on four different occasions and I did this painting after a very memorable day spent walking the three summits of Cul Mor.  Maybe if we do go back to Assynt this year, I’ll get to do another painting about this spectacular peak.

Where to go?

'North from the summit of Ben Hee'

'North from the summit of Ben Hee'

We still haven’t booked anywhere for our two week long holiday in May.  We’ve been more organised over the previous few years and had everything arranged by this time.  Of course, this has been quite easy as we’ve been going to the same place ….Achmelvich in Assynt.  It is very tempting to once again book one of the caravans at the little ‘Hillhead’ site there.  It is stunningly beautiful, very quiet and surrounded by amazing hills and mountains.

We have though, now walked many of these hills, Suilven, Canisp, Conival, Breabag, Sail Gharbh, Spidean Coinich, Glas Bheinn, Speicin Coinnich, Cul Mor and Cul Beag…..and have started to look further north.  We’ve done forays into Sutherland from our base in Achmelvich ….visiting Ben Hope, Ben Kilbreck, Ben Stack, Arkle and Ben Hee, but it’s a bit of a drive each time and so we’re thinking that this year we may try and find some accommodation somewhere in this most northerly part of the mainland.  I never mind revisiting hills but at the same time I get a great buzz out of walking somewhere I’ve never been before.

'Ben Hope from Arkle'

'Ben Hope from Arkle'

That said of course, we’re leaving it a bit late ….most self catering accommodation is booked quite early and so we may find it difficult to find anything in our price range that is still available for the two weeks in May.  I’m going to start searching the web and will contact the Scottish Tourist Board to get one of their brochures and then it’ll be a case of ringing around …no doubt to be told ‘fully booked, you should have booked back last autumn’!  We’ve been there before …or not ….and have ended up taking a holiday in a completely different part of Scotland!  But the thing about life is ….you have to be flexible, especially when you’re disorganised like Nita and I.  Hopefully though, we’ll see the kind of views we got last year from Ben Hee and Arkle.  But that’s the thing about Scotland…it really doesn’t matter where you go …it’s nearly all beautiful.  Any suggestions?!

'From Ben Hee, a little bit of weather!'

'From Ben Hee, a little bit of weather!'

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Battersea Park Affordable Art Fair – with The Strathearn Gallery, Crieff


'Below Cul Mor, Assynt', Acrylic & Pastel, 2008, 80 x 110 Ref-95

'Below Cul Mor, Assynt'

Earlier this year, Fiona at The Strathearn Gallery in Crieff, asked me if I could let them have six paintings for the Battersea Park Affordable Art Fair. The gallery is taking a stand at the fair this autumn and it seems a great opportunity.

Of course, it’s always difficult deciding quite which pieces to send and to be honest I changed my mind a few times before finally settling on the six paintings. Fiona has asked for two small pieces, three medium and one large. I had the choice of two large pieces but in the end have gone with ‘Below Cul Mor, Assynt’. This is quite a bold piece for me, with bright colours and broad sweeps of paint. It is based on the view of the main rocky summit of the hill from the small loch that nestles below it in an area of beautiful exposed horizontal beds of red sandstone. We sat here for a while a couple of years ago, contemplating the steep and at the top, rocky ascent ahead of us.

The three medium size pieces were slightly more difficult to select. At first I was going to include three of my long thin 76 x 23 cm paintings, but in the end I’ve omitted one of these and have included instead the slightly larger piece, ‘Winter afternoon, Beinn Dorain’. I think this will work well with the Cul Mor painting as it has similar sweeps of paint and is another quite bold piece.

When it came to the two small pieces I was swayed by popular opinion. Last weekend at the Courtyard studios Open Weekend I had a number of my small 30 x 30 cm paintings on display and a couple of them were getting a lot of attention. These were ‘Autumn grasses, Beinn Inverveigh’ and ‘On Beinn a’Ghlo, autumn’.

'Winter afternoon, Beinn Dorain', Acrylic & Pastel, 2009 Ref 137

'Winter afternoon, Beinn Dorain'

I’m currently sat in the kitchen typing this and upstairs Anita has the six paintings. In the past I’ve managed to send paintings to galleries that have on occasions had marks on their frames and on one infamous occasion, even sent one small piece with its glass missing! The joys of limited vision I’m afraid and so now I ask Nita to check all the work before we wrap it up and send it off to the gallery.

So then, that’s us away up to Crieff tomorrow to deliver the work to The Strathearn Gallery. From Irvine it’s about an hour and three quarters in the car I guess and once beyond Glasgow the route goes through some very pleasant country….so it’ll make a nice trip. Rising just to the north of the town, are the hills surrounding Loch Turret. You may remember we were walking up here early this year and we’re now planning another walk in the area one day soon. I’m hoping it’ll be warm enough to sit and do some sketching as I really want to get some paintings done of this beautiful area.

'Autumn grass, Beinn Inverveigh', Acrylic & Pastel, 2009 Ref 136

'Autumn grass, Beinn Inverveigh'

If you’re in London and can get along to the fair, the details are:

The Affordable Art Fair, Battersea Park, London

The Strathearn Gallery stand number is: I 14.

The fair opens on Wednesday evening 20th October.

The last day of the fair is Sunday 24th October.