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Loch Lomond National Park | Scottish Landscape Art - Scottish Landscape Paintings

Posts Tagged ‘Loch Lomond National Park’

A sound plan – my new Loch Lomond National Park drawing project …… and more?

Yesterday we were out walking in the Luss Hills again. These fabulous steep sided, mainly grassy little hills are situated on the edge of the Loch Lomond National Park and give fabulous views in all directions. As you know, we are particularly keen on walking the two hills of Beinn Dubh and Mid Hill that sit behind the village of Luss and over the 15 years since our friend Guy first introduced us to the hills, (on a cold, damp, misty day) we must have been back at least a couple of times each year. In the summer they make for a very pleasant short day …perfect for ambling along and sitting just looking and enjoying the scenery. In winter they are a perfect place for the short daylight hours …especially if like me, you can’t see too much and move very slowly.

Beinn Dubh

Beinn Dubh and Glen Luss, Loch Lomond National Park

So then, we were back there yesterday in what was, for this last few months, a rare day of calm and bright conditions. This time though, we didn’t just go for the walk and the scenery; this time it was for me, a working walk.

Glen Luss

Overlooking Glen Luss from Beinn Dubh

Since completing the big Glen Rosa drawing project at the end of 2014, I’ve been keen to do another large drawing project and as you may know, I’ve been starting to work on using sound with my paintings and drawings. I was very kindly lent a sound recorder by a local theatre sound engineer and told to go out and just see what happened. For most of last year I was taking the recorder with me on our walks into the hills and just seeing what kind of sounds I captured. I didn’t really have much idea of what I wanted or what I was doing ….just that I wanted to capture sounds that conveyed something of the place we were in. I have to admit that I made many really poor recordings during last year but that said, I have started to have a better idea of what I’m after now and have several quite interesting recordings.

Beinn Dubh summit

From near the summit of Beinn Dubh

I decided a few months ago that it was important for me to fix some kind of actual project so that I wasn’t just going out making random recordings. I wanted to do a piece of work that was based on somewhere I knew really well and that we could reach fairly quickly without too long a drive …. and somewhere that we could go throughout the year and in all sorts of conditions. Beinn Dubh and Mid Hill seemed to fit the bill and so this new large drawing / sound project is to be based on these hills.

Loch Lomond

Over looking Loch Lomond

With the Glen Rosa piece I wanted it to be one large drawing and this meant ‘borrowing’ the local Harbour Arts Centre gallery wall to do it. That drawing was done in graphite and as it turned out only took 17 days to complete. But of course, I can’t keep on borrowing the HAC gallery wall every time I want to do a big drawing and so I’ve decided that this new project (to be completed in pastel rather than graphite) will be done in sections or panels, each one being based on view points on Beinn Dubh and each one based on the scene viewed under different light and conditions.

I started the first section back before Christmas and am about to start the second piece shortly. I think that the completed work will be made up of around 7 sections. I am now in process of trying to gather sound recordings and to work out exactly how I might use them when the finished work is finally exhibited. At the moment I’m working along the lines of having a different recording for each section of the drawing and these to be played as a loop during the course of the exhibition. But, as you know, most of my work evolves and so these early plans may well change. I haven’t yet got a way to share these early recording with you but am planning to seek advice soon.

art project

Section 1 of new drawing

Finally, as you know, I’ve been working with US landscape photographer and film maker, Daniel Thornton over the last couple of years. He is making an hour long documentary about my work and this project is still in progress. A few months ago he put me in touch with some colleagues of his who work for a very big software company and who are working on new technology to help blind and visually impaired people appreciate two dimensional images ….. paintings, drawings, photographs etc. They are keen to work with an artist and when Dan told them about my own work they were interested in discussing some kind of collaboration. The discussions are at an early stage but I think we all feel that there is huge potential. It would be great to have the opportunity to create another large sound / drawing work based on a landscape in the US and combines it, not just with a background sound but also with different levels of audio that would help other visually impaired people enjoy the work. Perhaps the new Loch Lomond NP / Beinn Dubh work could be exhibited alongside a new American work? A long way to go in more ways than one, but it is really interesting and it may allow me to continue working as a professional artist even if my sight deteriorates further in the future. I’ll keep you updated with developments.

Light and subtle sounds …….back on the hill again

It’s damp, grey and dark here in Irvine today, but on Sunday last, Nita and I caught the end of the fine weather and made the most of it with a working walk in the hills.

We hadn’t been out for a week or two so it was with a real sense of excitement that we drove north through the beautiful scenery of the Loch Lomond National Park.  Huge banks of fog lay over the loch, sometimes shrouding everything including the road, sometimes pulling back out onto the water to give amazing views of the summit of Ben Lomond sticking out above it.  The colours were superb in the bright early sunshine and I had the feeling that even if I didn’t get any sound recordings made during the day, I’d certainly see some great views and maybe get some new ideas for paintings.

Hills around Bridge of Orchy

The Bridge of Orchy Hills, morning

But that said, you do have to get your priorities right and as we drove through this spectacular autumn landscape our minds were firmly fixed on breakfast at the Green Welly and one of their fine bacon rolls!  Once this was accomplished I’d put my mind to work ….but not before!

One of the problems I’ve encountered during my first attempts at making sound recordings in the wild is that there can often be a lot of background man-made noise.  I decided therefore to head back to a small hill we’ve walked several times in the past and one that is set well back from the main roads and isn’t an ‘anything’ …like a Munro or Corbett or Graham.  Being unclassified it, tends to be less frequented by other walkers.   The wee hill in question was Ben Inverveigh……rising between Glen Orchy and Loch Tulla.  I hoped that from its broad rough summit ridge I might be able to capture something of the wild in a recording.   It’s difficult to explain quite what I’m after except that there are wonderfully subtle sounds of space and quiet when you’re up in the hills ….and these are what I want to try and capture with the sound recorder.

View from Ben Inverveigh

From Ben Inverveigh

Ben Inverveigh is only around 650m high but even so its upper slopes were periodically shrouded with cloud and it made for quite a strange atmosphere as the mists came and went, sometimes reducing the visibility considerably and sometimes breaking so that we could see the bigger hills around us.   We stopped by one of the two small cairns marking the official top and after a quick bite of lunch, I set the sound recorder working…..propped on a small rock with its microphone sheltered from the cold breeze.  Over the ten months I’ve had use of this recorder, I’ve made quite a lot of recordings, but most have failed to capture quite what I want.  Many of them have as I said, captured the background noise of traffic or passing aircraft…..or me sneezing or Nita eating a bag of crisps as happened on one occasion!  Recording sound is not easy you know!  Anyway, on Sunday we did seem to have perfect conditions and when I switched the recorder on I felt rather more optimistic about the results than normal.  I’d have to wait until I got home to have a listen to the recording, if for no other reason than that it was bloody cold up there and we needed to get moving.

WHW & Beinn Dorain

Beinn Dorain from the West Highland Way, late afternoon

The walk back saw conditions improve considerably and before we were half way down we found ourselves in bright late afternoon sunshine.  The colours were once again, very beautiful and quite intense.  The spiky clumps of grass that made up much of the covering vegetation on this hill were a strange mixture of colours, ranging from a reddish brown at the tips, to a rich straw colour and to a vivid yellow green at the base of each blade of grass.  This meant that the overall colour seemed to change depending on which way the breeze blew.

By the time we got back to the car the light was fading fast but we’d had a great little day.  Not only did I get some ideas for new paintings, I also, it turned out, managed to get my first half decent sound recording.  I haven’t worked out yet how I’m going to use these recordings ……but it’s a step forward and quite an exciting one too.  At some point in the future I’ll get some of these recordings on-line so that you can get an idea of what this crazy painter is trying to do!

‘Ptarmigan, early spring, Loch Lomond National Park’

'Ptarmigan, early spring. Loch Lomond National Park'

'Ptarmigan, early spring. Loch Lomond National Park'

‘Ptarmigan, early spring, Loch Lomond NP’, Acrylic & Pastel, 30 x 30 cm

Despite having walked this hill a good many times over the last few years, I’ve only tried to do a painting of it a couple of times.  This little painting, completed several years ago, is based on the view I had looking through my monocular towards the steep upper section of the Ptarmigan ridge on Ben Lomond.  We’d actually been walking on a different hill and had stopped for a meal at Tarbet on our way back.  The early evening sun was catching the snow on the higher slopes of the hill and it looked superb across the waters of Loch Lomond.

Having recently returned from walking the Ptarmigan ridge of Ben Lomond, I’m thinking it’s about time to do another painting based on this wonderful hill.  I’ll be heading down the studio after lunch and so may even start work on it this afternoon.

A day on Beinn Chuirn …..but not on good form

View from the coire Ben Chuirn

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

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

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

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