Suilven from the slopes of Canisp
From Canisp, a bit of a rainbow during a hail shower
-o-o-o-o-o-
‘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.
Posted in Artwork of the Week 
Tags: Assynt', british landscapes, Cul Mor, hillwalking, landscape paintings 
No Comments »
A remnant for the old Caledonian Forest
What a difference a few days make. After last weeks very grey and cloudy walk on Tinto, this week we saw the Scottish landscape at its very best under almost clear blue skies. The colours everywhere were stunning and although we only walked a fairly small hill we managed to spend over nine hours in the process. It was such a stunningly beautiful day that it just demanded that we keep stopping to look and take in the scene.
I really love this time of year with winter still very much around, (we set off with frost covering everything and the bigger hills white with snow) but summer closing in rapidly. It was great too that even setting off from Irvine at just after 06.00 there was light in the sky and the sun rose over the Glasgow sky-line as we crossed the Erskine Bridge heading north.
We were making for Tyndrum but not for Meall Odhar which had been our original target last week, but for its neighbour across the glen, Fiarach 652 m. We’ve never walked this hill and it was only last week while pawing over the map with my magnifier looking for the route up Meall Odhar that I spotted it and started looking for a route to it too. It’s basically the high point of a large area of wild upland ground that is surrounded on all sides by the higher hills, Ben More, Ben Challum, Beinn Dubhchraig and Ben Lui …to name but a few. It’s a fine location that just demands a perfect day ….and what better than a clear, cold early spring Wednesday in March?
Ben More from Fiarach
As we wanted to stretch our legs a bit more this week, we decided to park the car in the village of Tyndrum and walk back along the West Highland Way the few kilometres to the big bridge crossing the river flowing out of Cononish Glen. This is a beautiful little section of the West Highland Way ….a proper little footpath the meanders its way along through mixed woodland and alongside streams . The views from this path alone were superb and we got good views of the hill we were going to walk. From the river bridge we left the WHW and followed an estate track that lead over the railway and then lead around the flanks of Fiarach for a couple more kilometres to a large area of conifer plantation. On the way it went through a fabulous area of the old Caledonian forest that made this truly highland scene even more so.
At the start of the plantation it was simply a case of making our way up the open hillside, at first along side the trees and then climbing above them. I have to say that I’ve never been too impressed with these conifer plantations but on this occasion I was pleasantly surprised. We stopped level with the top corner of the plantation and sat down in bright sun to catch our breath, give the aching calf muscles a rest and to take in the views. As we did we were aware of all of the bird song coming from the dense trees to our left. One bird in particular ….we think it was probably a Thrush, was singing at the top of its voice and it made the place even more special.
Nita at the summit of Fiarach
A little higher up and the steep slopes eased and we came into the first big patches of snow. It’s a hummocky area of grass, moss, small crags and numerous little lochs and pools. The biggest of these, Lochain Fiarach, was almost completely frozen and had varying amounts of snow lying on it …where it was just ice, it was a beautiful shade of blue, green, and grey and this turned paler to white around the edges ….it reminded me of the ‘white’ sandy beaches we saw last year on the west coast of Harris.
Despite the generally featureless nature of the ground up here, the summit itself was a surprise ….set atop a craggy little spine that rose 30 or 40 metres above the rest of the moor. It made a great setting and a wonderful place to stand and take in all the bigger snow capped peaks around. The nearest of these, Beinn Dubhchraig looked particularly massive and Nita could make out three tiny figures plodding up the heavily snow covered slopes towards its summit. We stopped numerous times to sit and look and enjoy the colours, textures and patterns …and were impressed to find two other visitors to this little hill ….a pair of what we think were Golden Plovers.
The summit of Fiarach from Lachain Fiarach
This really was a fine day …..it had a similarity to the wee hill, Ghlas Bheinn on the edge of Rannoch Moor that we tend to visit most years. I definitely think we’ll be back to Fiarach again next spring.
View from Edinburgh castle
It has been a case of ‘hold the front page’ this week. My original plan was to do the entire blog about a visit we made to Edinburgh on Wednesday. Then yesterday I got a very interesting email from a gentleman called Richard Baker…. and I decided that my plans for the blog would have to change a little.
But a bit about Edinburgh first as this really was an important occasion. As you know, back in 2010 I was invited to act as patron to ‘the gallery on the corner’ in Edinburgh. This wonderful gallery, run by Autism Initiative Scotland, not only supports and exhibits work by people affected by autism and other health issues, but it also trains young people affected by autism, in both the creative and retail sides of the business. On Wednesday afternoon I was invited to attend the gallery to help celebrate the successful completion of their training by the galleries most recent five trainees. It was good to meet them all and to be there as they were presented with their certificates by gallery manager Susie Anderson. This is now the third group of young people to have completed training at the gallery and a new group of trainees has just started …..so the gallery staff and trainees are doing a great job and achieving a great deal.
As I’ve said in the past, if you are in Edinburgh at any point, do make it along to ‘the gallery on the corner’. You’ll find a great selection of works, some by established artists and some created by the trainees in the studios below the gallery. It’s well worth a visit and of course your support will help more young people get real practical training both creatively and in business and retail skills. ‘the gallery on the corner’ really is a win win situation …do please support it if you can.
And now, as they say, for something completely different. You’ll perhaps remember that back in August I think it was, we did a magnificent walk up the Corbett, Mam na Gualainn. We’d been threatening to take our friend Guy there for a good number of years and so the three of us finally made it to the top on what was a particularly fine day. It wasn’t clear blue skies, but rather a constantly changing scene as banks of low cloud drifted in from the west and broke around the mountains of Glencoe, the Mamores and….Mam na Gualainn.
Panorama Loch Leven by Richard Baker
A large group of walkers set off up hill a short while before we started but with my slow pace they soon disappeared and we saw no one all the way to the summit. We’d sat for a while just below the summit eating our lunch and watching the clouds come and go and the views change every minute. Our plan was to continue east along the grassy ridge for some way before retracing our steps. As we got up to leave, a gentleman arrived at the summit and we stood and chatted for five minutes or so. At the time it was just one of those meetings you occasionally have on Scottish hills …..you’ve perhaps been walking for three or four hours and haven’t seen anyone and then suddenly someone appears. It’s nice to stop and have a chat before both going on your respective ways again.
Anyway, that would have been that, but a couple of days ago a got this email from Richard explaining that he had been the chap we’d spoken to near the summit of Mam na Gualainn back in August. He said that he’d thought he’d recognised me as we spoke (he had apparently found my website while looking for paintings of Scotland a few months before) but it was only as we headed off that he realised where he’d seen my face before. Richard was in the middle of a lengthy walk and was heading back towards Corrour. Anyway, he sent me this magnificent photograph which he took, looking back towards Loch Leven, with Mam na Gualainn on the right and the Pap of Glencoe in the centre. What a fantastic panorama … I’m going to have to do a walk in that direction myself sometime.
Anyway, thanks Richard, for getting in touch. You say that you are away walking again this coming week …..hope you have a great time and hope to see you at the studio sometime …..or perhaps again by chance at the top of a hill somewhere.
Posted in Galleries with Keith Salmon artwork, Information Updates, Inspiring Mountain Walks, Mountain Photos Tags: Autism Initiative Scotland, Corbett, Corrour, edinburgh, glencoe, hillwalking, landscape paintings, loch leven, Mam na Gualainn, Pap of Glencoe, Richard Baker, Scottish landscapes, Susie Anderson, The Gallery on the Corner, the Mamores No Comments »
Heading for Creag Mhor…just 12 hours to go!
When you get a week of really fine weather, you just have to try and make the most of it. For some that might be having a barbecue or going to the beach but for Nita and me, it’s all about wandering over the hills and using the long day light hours to the full. We would normally only get out once in a week but with the forecast so good we decided to try and get two walks in instead. Taking both of our work commitments into consideration we basically had two possible days to get out, Sunday and Tuesday. Sunday and Wednesday would have been perfect, giving us two days to recover in between walks rather than just one ….but what the heck, you can’t have everything! So then, Sunday to Glen Lochy and Creag Mhor, Tuesday up to Glen Shee and the possibility of walking a lengthy route over four tops.
An early start required for both days and Sunday dawned …..thick grey heavy cloud and drizzle ….everything in the garden was dripping wet when I let the cat out after his breakfast at just after four o’clock! Where was the promised heat wave?! In all honesty though, the MWIS forecasts had predicted these conditions for the west coast and Central Belt but it was still a shock …never good setting out in the rain in the hope of better things to come.
Cotton grass, Glen Lochy
But of course, they did. By the time we were driving up the side of Loch Lomond the cloud was breaking and had all but gone as we arrived in Glen Lochy …it was after all, going to be a baking hot day. Dripping, not with drizzle but factor 50+, we headed off on the long walk up the glen to the base of Creag Mhor.
Into Glen Lochy from the top of the steep!
The previous time we’d been to Glen Lochy we’d been very lax with our navigation ….and in fine weather had ended up trying to get up the hill by the wrong ridge ….and were turned back by some very impressive crags. This time we were going to keep our eyes on the map and make sure we were on the correct ridge. Even so, we had an interesting time getting through the crags on this ridge. We eventually got to the end of the ridge via a rather steep and unpleasant gully, me swearing rather too much as I groped around in my fuzzy world for good hand and foot holds amongst the very steep turf, heather and rocks. Nita was fine of course, clambering up with my walking poles in one hand and offering cheery ‘its fine, you’re fine’ comments to give me confidence …and try to assure me that she wasn’t really trying to kill me! We hauled up onto the broad grassy ridge to see a fine view of Creag Mhor ahead and much to my relief, a very easy descent route for later! We arrived at the summit of Creag Mhor at about half past three and all the effort was well worth while …big hazy views all around …absolutely stunning.
At last ….almost at the top of Creag Mhor
Having taken six hours to get to the summit, it was going to be a very long day. After the excitement of the gully earlier in the day, our descent to the track in the glen, was a doddle ….and very beautiful too, but as we’d come down on the west side of the hill, we’d have even further to walk back. With very little breeze now, it was a hot slog back to the car, arriving there just a few minutes over twelve hours after setting out. At that point we were both asking ourselves whether we’d be up for another long day in the heat on Tuesday.
View of the day!
The answer in short, was ‘yes’, but in even hotter conditions than on Sunday, we quickly down graded our plans and decided instead to do a shorter walk with plenty of stops. It was a good decision as it was just so hot with just an occasional breeze. It turned out a perfect walk….the high-light for me being a short detour to see the wonderful Loch Kander, tucked away in a dramatic and impressive corrie at the far side of Carn an Tuirc. We sat perched on the edge of this steep corrie and just enjoyed the peace and quiet…… perfect, much better than what would have been a forced march if we’d tried to complete our original route. This time we were back at the car about half past five …and back in Irvine while it was still light …..very civilised indeed.
The perfect lunch spot ..above Loch Kander, the Glen Shee Hills
-0-0-0-0-0-
‘Above Largs, late afternoon, January’
‘Above Largs, late afternoon, January’, Oil, 2012, 80 x 80 cm (Work in progress)
I’ve marked this painting as ‘work in progress’, but in all honesty I think it is probably finished and I’ll sign it fairly soon. The painting has been in progress for several months but has been sat lent against a wall for about five weeks while I’ve worked on other pieces. I wasn’t ignoring it though and whenever I was sat in my rocking chair having a cuppa, I’d be looking at it and thinking. Eventually, a few days ago, I started working back into it ….and this is the final result.
A couple of years ago in early January a friend and I were walking the low hills above Largs. It was during a very cold spell and the hills were covered in snow and ice, making walking particularly difficult. As we made our way down in the late afternoon, the low sun cast a strange and beautiful pink light over everything and for a brief period the snow almost glowed. It didn’t last long and as the sun dipped below the horizon the temperatures once again plummeted. This painting tries to capture something of this strange winter landscape.
Posted in Artwork of the Week Tags: above Largs, ayrshire, Brisbane valley, hillwalking, Largs, low hills No Comments »
View from the coire Ben Chuirn
It’s amazing, I’ve been walking in the hills since the age of ten ….introduced to the mountains by my father shortly after we moved to Wales from Essex in 1969. I loved these wild places so much that when my sight went bad back in the early 90’s I was still determined to continue these walks despite the practical difficulties. I’m certainly not an outdoor expert, (I still have much to learn) but I am I guess fairly experienced when it comes to walking in the hills. This said however, every once in a while I have a day when I really struggle, where quite simply I lose my nerve somewhat. Yesterday was just such an occasion.
What should have been another fantastic day, turned into a difficult and quite stressful one for me. The forecast for the Loch Lomond National Park area had improved rapidly over the previous 24 hours and although there was much snow falling over in the east of the country, on the west coast it was dry, bright and cold. We planned to drive up to Tyndrum and walk into Cononish glen as far as the farm of Cononish. Here the track splits, one continuing up the glen to end below Ben Lui, the other heading up hill to the entrance of the small gold mine at the base of Beinn Chuirn…..the hill we were hoping to walk.
Beinn Chuirn
There was a dusting of snow on the ground at Tyndrum but most of the hills around had little or no snow on them. As the path entered the Cononish glen though, we got our first view of Ben Lui …and it was well covered with snow. It looked superb and all of its 1100m. Its neighbour, Beinn Chuirn (880m) was though, virtually clear of the white stuff. It all looked rather strange. Beinn Chuirn has an impressive coire below its summit and we hoped we would be able to walk up into this and then out onto its rim and around that to the summit cairn. This looked fairly steep but as we approached the hill above Cononish, Anita and our friend Guy both said it looked OK.
At this point though we left the track and headed across the rough ground aiming for the coire …and things became pretty difficult. Although there was no snow, the ground was completely frozen in most places, there were numerous areas of solid ice hidden in the grass and heather, some areas were frosted, some in bright sun, some in deep shadow and of course there were numerous rocks.
From the coire, Ben Chuirn
Now then, I’ve walked on ground like this plenty of times before and although it’s difficult I’ve not had a problem. Yesterday however, for whatever reason, I just found it very challenging. I moved exceedingly slowly despite putting on the spiders to help give me extra grip on the icy ground. Nita and Guy were as always, very patient and guided me excellently, but with the prospect of the ground getting much steeper I really wasn’t looking forward to the ascent. At this time of year the days are almost at their shortest and I knew I had to get back to the big track in the glen before it got dark. I looked at the slow pace I was going and realised there was no way that I would be able to get up to the top and back down in time.
We decided instead to carry on into the coire but simply try to get to a point where we could see our route to the top ….then at least we’d know for a future trip. Well then, we did manage this and the coire was dramatic and the views back out, very impressive …but I was really struggling on this patchwork of surfaces. After a lunch break we retreated back down into the glen and arrived back at the car as it was getting dusk. Nita and Guy had enjoyed their day…..I on the other hand, felt rather glum. I honestly don’t know why I found it so difficult yesterday. Perhaps though it’s that on this occasion I thought just a little bit too much about what I was doing.
Dusk, Ben Lui from Cononish
Walking hills and mountains when you have such a limited amount of sight, really is quite difficult. It takes a huge amount of concentration, great guides (which I’m lucky to have in Nita and Guy), and at times a little bit of bottle. Either that or you just need to be completely mad! I think most of the times I’m out in these wonderful wild places; it’s a little bit of all of these. Sometimes though, like yesterday, reality cuts in and I find it quite scary! Next time though I’ll get it right again… with a bit of luck.
Photos by Anita Groves
"Below Mid-Hill, Luss"
‘Below Mid Hill, Luss’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2009, 90 x 60 cm Ref: 129
The walk around Beinn Dubh and Mid Hill above Luss is one of my favourites. The hills aren’t huge but they are steep and in winter can offer a surprisingly challenging few hours. This painting is based on just such a day, when on the tops the wind was gusting 50 mph with a wind chill of around -20C and in the shelter of the glen …it was more like spring. What the difference a few hundred metres can make.
Posted in Artwork of the Week Tags: Beinn Dubh, hillwalking, luss, mid-hill, trossachs No Comments »