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North Ayrshire | Scottish Landscape Art - Scottish Landscape Paintings

Posts Tagged ‘North Ayrshire’

“A January evening in the North Ayrshire hills”

'A January evening in the North Ayrshire Hills'...from Largs

‘A January evening in the North Ayrshire Hills’

“A January evening in the North Ayrshire hills”, Acrylic & Pastel, 2015, 30 x 30 cm
Price £485.
Price from September 1st 2015, £675

This new painting is based on a very cold early evening back in January a few years ago.  I’d been walking on the hills behind Largs in North Ayrshire with my friend Guy.  The snow was quite deep and very icy and it made for very difficult walking.  As we descended, the setting sun in the west turned the snow a strange coppery pink colour and although it only lasted for about five minutes it was very impressive.

‘From Carn Chois, above Loch Turret’

173 'From Carn Chois, above Loch Turret', Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 30 x 30 cm

‘From Carn Chois, above Loch Turret’

 

‘From Carn Chois, above Loch Turret’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 30 x 30 cm

I was recently asked to add a couple of paintings to the selection I have hanging in Braidwoods Restaurant near Dalry.  This is one of the five pieces they now have and it is based on the hills above Loch Turret just to the north of Crieff.  This is an excellent walking area and a wonderful place to see mountain hares.

Anyway, Braidwoods is one of the top restaurants in North Ayrshire and so if you’re visiting it, do look out for my paintings while you’re there.

Braidwoods is around half an hour’s pleasant drive from Glasgow towards the West Coast of Scotland and It is based in Dalry, Ayrshire, KA24 4LN

You can contact the restaurant on 01294 833 544

Rosa not Rannoch

Below Cir Mhor, Glen Rosa

Below Cir Mhor, Glen Rosa

Well then, all our plans to go and walk some of the paths out over Rannoch Moor on Tuesday, came to nothing ….the bad weather that has been causing mayhem in most of the UK, finally caught up with us here and although it didn’t sound like it would be anything like as bad as elsewhere, we certainly didn’t fancy setting out on the 90 mile drive north with snow forecast and the roads likely to be bad. Instead then, after a quick rethink, we decided to go across to Arran and do a low level walk there. We’re very lucky here in North Ayrshire in that if ever the road conditions look to bad further north, we can nearly always get the few miles to Ardrossan and catch the ferry over to Arran and its fantastic mountains …some of the finest, south of Glen Coe.

Glen Rosa ...a wild and beautiful place

Glen Rosa …a wild and beautiful place

We got up at 04.00 to find a couple of centimetres of snow everywhere …but it seemed to have stopped and once out of the estate where we live the roads here were fine. First a quick detour to Kilwinning train station to pick up Guy at just after 06.00 and then on to Ardrossan and the ferry terminal …where we had a brief surprise …the ferry wasn’t sitting waiting where it normally does! Instead it was in a second space further away. After getting out tickets we were told that we would be boarding by way of the vehicle ramp …not a gangway. Different. Even more different when we emerged from the car decks to find that the layout of the ship seemed to have changed!!! When we wandered into a completely re designed café, finally it dawned on us that this was a different ship! Apparently the normal ferry was in dry dock having some work done. The breakfast though was up to its usual high standards and we were soon on our way.

My patient guides!

My patient guides!

Guy had been planning on catching the bus to Sannox and then walking up Glen Sannox, then up and out onto the Saddle and down Glen Rosa back to Brodick. When I heard his plans I have to admit that I said a very loud ‘No’. Nita and I had done this a number of years ago on a perfect summer day and although 97% of the route is a straight forward walk, the final section oft the climb up to the Saddle is interesting to say the least, and proved challenging for me even in good summer conditions. The route climbs steeply at the head of Glen Sannox up a very well made path …but it’s a bit misleading. High up this little motorway ends abruptly and the only way to continue is to scrabble up a very steep and eroded gully and then out to gain the final small path onto the top of the Saddle ….the col between North Goat Fell and Cir Mhor. With the prospect of climbing this gully with snow and ice in it …well …No! As Guy said, he can always go back and do that himself sometime. Instead, with forecasts of strong winds higher up, we opted for the gentle route to the Saddle …from Glen Rosa … returning the same way.

Snow covered slopes below North Goat Fell

Snow covered slopes below North Goat Fell

Although we’ve done this walk several times over the years it is always very beautiful and this would be the first time we done it on a real winter day. The snow wasn’t right down in the base of the glen at first but we reached it higher up. Near to the head of the glen, the point where you cross the stream and go up easy slopes to the Saddle, we stopped. We’d spent so long stopping and looking, taking photos and generally enjoying the complete peace and quiet that we were running a little behind time and decided it was far enough.

Looking down Glen Rosa

Looking down Glen Rosa

The mountains look wonderful in the snow, their upper slopes disappearing into the clouds. I snapped away with the camera and more importantly spend long minutes just stood looking and trying to fix in my mind the subtle colours and tones created under these wild and wintry conditions …I’m looking forward to trying to create some paintings or drawings based on what I saw. My two guides, Nita and Guy had a good day spotting wild life too. There were plenty of deer to see and Nita spotted a couple of Golden Eagles …confirmed by a very interesting local gentleman who we met …and who spent quite a bit of time trying to point them out to me. Alas, I never did get to see one of them this time …but with all the excitement of the others …I feel like I did. I’m not sure who the chap was, but he spoke with so much enthusiasm and passion for the glen. He was pointing out the colours and telling us about how they change over the year ….he was a man after my own heart …he might have been a painter too. Hopefully we’ll meet up again another time when we’re wandering the hills or glens on Arran …and I can remember to give him one of my business cards!

A good week

'From the slopes of Beinn Griam Beg, Sutherland'

'From the slopes of Beinn Griam Beg, Sutherland'

Once again, this is going to be a rather short blog.  This evening we’re going to the preview of the annual North Ayrshire Open Art Exhibition.  I entered two works for this show and luckily both were accepted, (images of the two paintings are shown here).  My partner Anita also entered two of her small new porcelain pieces and these too have been included in the exhibition.  The show normally includes around about 120 works I guess and it’s always worth paying a visit.  There is always a huge variety of work to see and you can almost guarantee to see something that you really like.

One added bonus for me is that I’ve just been told that one of my paintings, (‘A frozen February afternoon, Beinn an Dothaidh’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2012, 80 x 80 cm) won one of the prizes at this year’s exhibition ….the Miller Prize.  Sponsored by Millers in Glasgow the prize is apparently £150 worth of vouchers to be spent at Millers.  Wow!  I’m already looking forward to spending them….it’s a great art materials shop!  I’ve been thinking about treating myself to a couple of really big canvases …so this might be my excuse!

'A freezing February afternoon, Beinn an Dothaidh'

'A freezing February afternoon, Beinn an Dothaidh'

Anyway, the exhibition is at the Racquet Hall, EglintonPark, North Ayrshire.  It runs from July 7th – July 21st and is open10 am – 4pm each day.  As I say, it’s always well worth a visit and after seeing the exhibition, you can always enjoy a walk in the country park.

Light relief

Fairly moor

Fairlie moor

If you’ve been reading these blogs over the last month or so you’ve probably gathered that there’s been one thing very much on my mind …the exhibition at The Strathearn Gallery.  Getting all the work finished, framed, photographed, catalogued and wrapped …has been quite a lot of work.

On Monday we went into town and hired a Transit van, and went back to the house to load all the pictures.  Of course, after several weeks of generally mild weather, Monday morning dawned very wet but cold …just 3 C here in Irvine and the forecast of snow for the Central Belt of Scotland …great!  The rain was really heavy here and we decided we could afford to wait a while to see if it would ease before loading the paintings into the van.  Thankfully it did improve and we were able to get everything on board in a relatively dry state.  The journey up to Crieff though was interesting. The rain turned to snow on the M77 and we had a mixture of rain, sleet and snow all the way.

Towards Arran from Whatside Hill

Towards Arran from Whatside Hill

By the time we reached Stirling the ground all around was white and on leaving the A9 to take the smaller road to Crieff ….well, everything was really quite white, including the road!  This particular road goes up quite high at one point and Nita found herself driving a hired Transit van containing almost a years worth of work, along a snow, slush, ice and water covered road.  At one point we went through a huge pool of water that sprayed up onto the screen and made it impossible to see.  No sooner had the wipers cleared this than a large lump of snow fell from an overhanging tree and once again covered the screen!  At this point, Nita just started laughing …well, it was rather funny.

Overlooking the Firth of Clyde

Overlooking the Firth of Clyde

We got to Crieff unscathed though and quickly had the work unloaded and into the gallery. What a relief, now it was in somebody else’s hands.  Mind you, I still fretted for a couple of days about whether the work would look any good but was most relieved to receive an email from the gallery yesterday to say it was all up and looking great …phew!  Oh, and they’d sold a piece as well …so a fine start.  I’m really looking forward to the preview tomorrow.

After all this, I really needed to take a wee break and yesterday in clear sunny calm weather I went for a smashing little walk with my friend Guy.    He’d plotted a nice route that led up onto Fairlie Moor and along its western edge over Whatside Hill before descending into and then walking through Kelburn Glen and on along the shore to Largs.  It made a great little day, catching the train to Fairlie and then returning by train in the evening from Largs.

Overlooking Great Cumbrae

Overlooking Great Cumbrae

As we were right on the edge of the North Ayrshire coast we had superb views out over the Firth of Clyde, across Great Cumbrae and Little Cumbrae islands to their bigger neighbours of Bute and Arran.  From this location you get an interesting view of the Arran Hills.  In the bright sunshine, the colours looked lovely and it was definitely very spring like.

Both Guy and I tend to like the bigger hills and the wilder places but this really was an excellent walk and one to be recommended to anyone living in North Ayrshire.  For me, the surprise came towards the end.  On descending into Kelburn Glen, we followed the path that led down the glen through beautiful woods and above the roar of the river as it poured over a whole series of waterfalls.  It was really quite spectacular especially with the late afternoon sunlight illuminating all the trees and rocks.


In Kelburn Glen

In Kelburn Glen

Kelburn Glen Waterfall

Kelburn Glen Waterfall


A fish supper while waiting for our train home finished off the day nicely and I’m now already thinking about the next walk.  With the exhibition opening tomorrow morning, I can now just get back to the painting and getting some more walks done.  I’ve started a new piece of work based, not on the hills, but on the view across the river and saltings outside my studio.  It’s a bit different but still Scottish landscape.  I’m quite enjoying this slight tangent and it’ll be interesting to see where it leads.