‘Snow covered hills, above Largs’, Oil, 2012, 80 x 80 cm
I was working on this painting for many months and only finally finished it a short while ago. It is based on a day several winters ago when I went walking with my friend Guy, on the hills above Largs. It was a bitterly cold January day and I seem to remember the car thermometer read minus ten C when I left the house early that morning. We’d caught the train to Largs and it was still dark as we walked up through the town to the start of the path. It was a great day although the snow conditions were very difficult to walk in and we didn’t manage to walk anywhere near as far as we’d originally planned. But it was incredibly beautiful that day with big views out west over the Firth of Clyde to Bute and beyond. The most memorable part of the day for me though was a short period as we were descending the hill in the late afternoon. As the sun took its final dip towards the western horizon, it turned the snow covered hillside a strange and beautiful kind of pale copper / pink colour. As I say, it didn’t last long, but it made a great impression. This painting tries to capture a little of that amazing colour.
This oil painting can be seen as part of my forthcoming exhibition, ‘In sun, rain, mist and snow’, at ‘the gallery on the corner’, 34 Northumberland St, Edinburgh, EH3 6LS. The exhibition preview is tomorrow, Friday 1st March, 2013, 6pm – 8pm….all welcome. The exhibition runs until 30th March. The gallery is open, Tuesday – Saturday, 11.00 – 17.00. I hope you can get along to see it.