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Pitlochry | Scottish Landscape Art - Scottish Landscape Paintings

Posts Tagged ‘Pitlochry’

‘The Saddle from Glen Rosa, Isle of Arran, March’

5 'The Saddle from Glen Rosa, Isle of Arran, March', Acrylic & Pastel, 2013, 76 x 23 cm

‘The Saddle from Glen Rosa, Isle of Arran, March’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2013, 76 x 23 cm

Price: £720

Price after 1st September, 2015: £1008

Well then, if you’ve just read my current blog you’ll see that we had some very unseasonable weather up in Assynt recently.  It wasn’t quite as wintry as this but there was snow falling on the high tops on a couple of days and it was certainly as dark and misty on many occasions.

Anyway, this painting is currently on display as part of my exhibition, “All four seasons” at the John Muir Trust Wild Space Visitor Centre in Pitlochry.  If you are travelling up or down the A9 anytime before the 29th June, do call in to see the show.

‘Above Glen Coe, spring’

'Above Glen Coe, spring', Acrylic & Pastel, 2015 30 x 30 cm

‘Above Glen Coe, spring’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2015 30 x 30 cm

This is one of my latest 30 x 30 cm paintings and it is currently on show as part of my exhibition at the John Muir Trust Wild Space Visitor Centre in Pitlochry.   For more information about this exhibition see my latest blog.

The painting is based on a view we had the other spring when we walked the ridge north from the Devil’s Staircase in Glencoe.  We’d taken a mate of mine there but during the drive north and for the first hour or so of the walk; it was thick cloud and steady rain….. I don’t think he was too impressed!  Thankfully as we got higher the rain stopped and the cloud started to break off the tops.  Large patches of snow lay around the edges of the escarpment and by the time we reached the summit the cloud had lifted completely and the views across the bigger snow capped summits of the glen were amazing.

“All four seasons” – Exhibition at John Muir Trust Wild Space Visitor Centre, Pitlochry

“All four seasons” – An exhibition of work by Keith Salmon at the John Muir Trust Wild Space Visitor Centre, Pitlochry,  1st May – 29th June 2015

'Passing shower, Lochnagar'

‘Passing shower, Lochnagar’ — On display at JMT Wild Space Centre

Trying to come up with titles for exhibitions is always a difficult one I find. My current exhibition at the John Muir Trust Wild Space Visitor Centre in Pitlochry is called “All four seasons” and I think it sums up what my work is about quite well.  The paintings in this show do I think cover all four seasons  and the scenes vary from the Western Highlands and Islands to works created after trips to the Cairngorms, Lochnagar and the Drumochter Hills last year.  The works vary in size from small postcard sized paintings (210 x 148 mm), to the largest at 80 x 80 cm and with prices ranging from £325 – £1250.  I also have a range of prints for sale in the exhibition as well as a number of gift cards.

 'From Gael Charn, the Drumochter Hills'

 ‘From Gael Charn, the Drumochter Hills’ — On display at JMT Wild Space

Nita and I travelled up to Pitlochry last Friday in order to deliver the works and to hang the exhibition.  As I wasn’t too sure how long it would take for us to hang the show, I wanted to get to the centre for 10am when they opened and this meant a fairly early start.  I had spent the previous few days madly wrapping and packing 26 works and so 05.45 saw us at my studio packing them into the car.  It’s quite a time consuming task as with the majority of the works framed behind glass, we couldn’t risk them moving during the drive up north…… arriving with a car full of broken glass wouldn’t have been too good!  We got away from Irvine at about half past six and cleared Glasgow before the roads got too busy.  After that, it was a very pleasant drive on to Pitlochry.   At the time, the skies were almost cloudless and the Perthshire countryside looked really beautiful in its spring colours.  To the west however the mountains of Stuc a’ Chroin and Ben Vorlich looked very wintry with plenty of snow on them.   We arrived in Pitlochry with almost an hour to spare and so had time for a late breakfast before the work began.

'Memories of a winter day, the Cairngorms'

‘Memories of a winter day, the Cairngorms’ — On display at JMT Wild Space

In all honesty, I haven’t hung too many exhibitions in the past and so I was very grateful for the help and assistance we got from Jane, the centre manager.  She obviously knows the space well and made some good suggestions about how the work might be placed.  Even so, it took us until about 15.30 to get the exhibition on the walls.  I’d taken 25 paintings, not really knowing quite how many I’d need and in the end we hung 19 of them.  The Wild Space sells work directly off the walls so having a few spare pieces to replace any ones sold is quite important.

Getting to the Wild Space

Tower House, Station Road, Pitlochry PH16 5AN
(Find us off the A9, on the corner of Atholl Road and Station Road)

Opening hours for May 2015

Monday               10am – 4.30pm
Tuesday               CLOSED
Wednesday         10am – 4.30pm
Thursday             10am – 4.30pm
Friday                  10am – 4.30pm
Saturday              10am – 4.30pm
Sunday                11am – 4pm

Additional Opening  / Closing on the following days:
Sunday 10 May    Closed

Find out what’s on at the Alan Reece Gallery

For more details about Wild Space and the John Muir Trust visit; https://www.jmt.org/wildspace.asp

Keith Salmon Exhibition - John Muir Trust

Keith Salmon Exhibition – John Muir Trust

‘Autumn hillside, above Crieff’

177 'Autumn hillside, above Crieff', Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 76 x 23 cm.jpg

‘Autumn hillside, above Crieff’

 

 ‘Autumn hillside, above Crieff’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 76 x 23 cm

I’m starting to put together a selection of paintings for my forth coming exhibition at the John Muir Trust “Wild Space” gallery in Pitlochry.  I want to include a good selection of paintings based on walks we’ve done in areas closer to Pitlochry.

This painting, based on an autumn afternoon as we descended from the hills above Crieff, is one that I may well include in the show in May and June.  The piece is currently on show in my studio should anyone want to get a preview!

Full details of the “Wild Space” exhibition coming soon.

Blog 250 staggering at times, but not quite out!

Wow, I can’t quite believe I’ve written 250 of these blogs …but well that’s what the records say. My first blog was posted on 3rd March 2009 and talked about the exhibition I’d just had at Great Glen House in Inverness. This is the headquarters of Scottish Natural Heritage and it was a very interesting place to exhibit my work. I have to say that it doesn’t seem like over five years since Nita and I hired a van and drove up to Inverness with the paintings.

Exhibition at Great Glen House, September 2009

Exhibition at Great Glen House, September 2009

A lot has happened since that show in 2009. The following summer saw me living and working as guest artist with the Künstlerbund in the city of Speyer in southern Germany. I worked there for four months and had a really enjoyable and exciting time, creating I think, 14 paintings and 3 pastel drawings. One of these drawings was the large 4.5 m x 1.5m drawing based on the vast great cathedral that dominates the centre of the city.

Just before leaving Scotland to travel to Speyer, I was asked to act as patron to “the gallery on the corner” in Edinburgh. This magnificent little gallery is run by Autism Initiative Scotland and works both as a professional gallery supporting artists affected by autism and other health issues, and as a place for young people affected by autism to learn new skills in retail gallery work and / or practical art …in the workshops attached to the gallery. It was a fantastic launch in April that year and since then; the gallery has gone from strength to strength. Many trainees have completed their apprenticeships and are producing some excellent work. I’ve been privileged to be part of this project and try and visit several times each year to follow the progress of the gallery ….and indeed to exhibit some of my own work there. In 2013 I was invited to hold an exhibition there and it was during the preview for this show that I first met Dan Thornton ….the Seattle based landscape photographer and documentary maker

Talking at the gallery that night, Dan and I quickly realised that although we worked in very different ways, we both thought very similarly about the landscape. Before the evening ended, Dan and his colleague David Feeney asked if they could join Anita and me on our next walk into the hills.

Exhibition at Great Glen House, September 2009

Exhibition at Great Glen House, September 2009

As it happened, the next walk we’d planned was to go back to Glen Rosa on the Isle of Arran. Just a couple of months earlier we had been walking in this magnificent glen with our friend Guy. It had been a very cold day with snow on the higher slopes of the hills and large patches right down to river level at the head of the glen. As I walked up the glen that day I first started to think about doing another Speyer sized drawing. Where as that drawing had been based on the idea of walking around the cathedral, I thought I could do another based on walking through Glen Rosa. When Dan and David joined us for this second walk in the glen….. I started to tell them about my plans for the drawing.

As you know, my plans came to fruition and just a few months ago I created this new large 4.5m x 1.5m drawing. After the walk that day, Dan had asked if I’d be interested in him making a full hour long documentary about my work and its close connection to the Scottish landscape. He was particularly interested in focusing it on the big Glen Rosa drawing project. Since the walk in 2013, Dan has made a number of visits to Scotland and has taken many hours of footage for the documentary. As I write we are now at the stage of seeking sponsorship to cover the costs of editing and producing the film. It’s all come along way since our meeting at “the gallery on the corner” in Edinburgh.

Of course, much else has happened since my first blog. I’ve had plenty of exhibitions and have walked many Scottish hills and glens in this time. It’s been a very exciting period of my life and this last six months with the trip to Brazil and the subsequent commissions has continued in a similar way. And it’s still going on.

Just last week, my colleague Alex Boyd, told me that he had been speaking with the people at the Isle of Arran Distillery and had told them about my work and the big glen Rosa drawing. They’ve been in contact with me and have asked me if I could hold an exhibition in their exhibition space during September and October. They are particularly keen to show the large Glen Rosa piece and have a perfect 5m long wall for it. I’m really delighted with this opportunity as I’m very interested in seeing the big drawing touring around Ayrshire…..and in particular going to the Isle of Arran. The distillery really is the perfect place for it as it is located beneath the very mountains on which the drawing is based. A very big thanks to Alex for opening up this opportunity for me.

So then, there’s lots of work to do to get ready for the three exhibitions that I have lined up this summer. First though, is to get 3 large pieces ready for the “Ailsa Gallery” who will be taking the work to the Glasgow Art Fair at the end of April. After that, I have my exhibition at the John Muir Trust “Wild Space” in Pitlochry during May and June and then quickly followed in August with an exhibition at “the gallery on the corner” in Edinburgh again.

Exhibition at Great Glen House, September 2009

Exhibition at Great Glen House, September 2009

Right then, that’s the end of blog 250. Here’s hoping that there will be many more things to write about over the next five or so years as I creep my way towards Blog 500!

 

Link to Press Releases and Information created over the last few years.

Lochnagar

The NE facing corrie of Lochnagar

The NE facing corrie of Lochnagar

When I visited the John Muir Trust centre in Pitlochry earlier this year to discuss my exhibition there in May / June 2015, I was asked whether I might include some paintings of that region. In the past I’d walked and created paintings of Ben Vrackie, Beinn a’ Ghlo and the Drumochter Hills but I’d always fancied heading a little further east and north to explore beyond Glen Shee. If ever I needed one, this seemed the perfect excuse to do some walking around Lochnagar and the White Mounth ….with the hope that I would get some interesting ideas for paintings.

Enjoying a day on the hill

Enjoying a day on the hill

The main reason we’d not been to this area before is that it is just a little too far away from Irvine. We would need to stay over night somewhere in order to walk any of the hills here. When we were a little younger and sprightlier, Nita and I would take my old light weight Saunders tent and camp and walk ….but we gave that up a good few years ago. Indeed, the last such outing was back in 1999 not long after we’d moved to Scotland and we spent a few days out on the Isle of Jura and after that the wee tent was put into retirement!

Lochnagar

Lochnagar

Now, fifteen years later, we decided the best way for us to get walking in these more distant regions of Scotland, was to get ourselves another small tent …..and hope we were still agile enough to get in and out of it! Several weeks ago we went up to the large Tiso in Glasgow and bought ourselves a small light weight Vango tent…..and on Sunday afternoon did the drive up to Ballater and pitched it for the first time. It’s a great little tent and most importantly for me, very easy to pitch. We’d chosen the easy option for the first outing and had booked a couple of nights at the Ballater caravan and camping site…..and it proved a very good choice.

The summit of Lochnagar

The summit of Lochnagar

Although quite busy it was also quiet and had excellent facilities including a washroom, toilet and shower for disabled visitors. This might sound daft as my sole reason for being there was to try and get to the summit of Lochnagar, but when you’re visually impaired it’s often the simpler things that cause problems …like finding your way around public conveniences, camp site shower blocks etc. Suffice to say, I used the disabled facilities and it made my stay there so much easier. …. I would strongly recommend this site.

At the summit of Lochnagar

At the summit of Lochnagar

Anyway, on to the walk itself. We’d got up first thing and driven the 10 miles to the start point in Glen Muick where there is a good car park, toilets and the Balmoral Estate Visitor Centre. We arrived just before 08.00 and eating a quick breakfast headed off up the main path. Low cloud shrouded the hills and although it had been raining when we first arrived, this had stopped by the time we were walking and we were pleased to see the clouds rising and breaking as we gained height. The path led up to the beallach between the main bulk of Lochnagar and Meikle Pap and this overlooks the great NE facing corrie of Lochnagar. As we reached this point the cloud finally lifted off of the summit and a bright patch of sunshine lit up half of the corrie. This really is a fine view point with the huge cliffs dropping into the corrie and its beautiful small dark loch. We stood for a good time just taking the scene in…..and thinking of potential paintings. The rocks seemed to drop in vertical bands with several big gullies obvious and lower down there were several large chevron shaped patches of snow…..what a great hill ….what a great mountain.

Retreating ....and wet!

Retreating ….and wet!

From this point, the path led up steeply through boulders of all sizes and shapes. Being a very popular hill, the path makers had been busy and done an excellent job of creating a winding staircase up onto the plateau at around 1070 m. From this point on it was just a pleasant walk around the rim of the corrie to the summit at 1155m. The views didn’t last all the time as clouds rolled in on a couple of occasions, but thankfully lifted again as we approached the small cone of crags that marks the summit ….and we arrived in bright warm sunshine. The views were even bigger from here and mile after mile of Scotland lay all around us, a wonderful patchwork of colour, line and texture.

Rain and cloud clearing from Meikle Pap, evening

Rain and cloud clearing from Meikle Pap, evening

Not really fancying the descent back through the steep boulders, we decided to follow another path down, although this led eventually to a steep section by the side of waterfalls and when we reached this I decided it was going to be very difficult for me to get down safely ….especially as by this time it had become very dark and was raining heavily. We retraced our steps a half kilometre to where another path led back around the side of the hill and eventually back to our outward route ….but avoiding the steep boulders! This did add an hour or so onto our walk but when you can’t see too much it’s better to adapt your route and take a little longer than to risk having an accident. As it turned out, we got some great views later as the rain and low cloud once again broke and lifted off of the higher ground. The one big problem though, was that we got back to Ballater too late for a pub meal ….and had to make do with a couple of pints of ‘Trade Winds’ and a packet of crisps for our evening meal…..what a hardship! What a day!

‘From the summit of Ben Vrackie’

127 'From the summit of Ben Vrackie', Acrylic & Pastel, 2009, 60 x 30 cm

‘From the summit of Ben Vrackie’

‘From the summit of Ben Vrackie’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2009, 60 x 30 cm

With our walks starting to take us further east this summer, I thought I’d try and select something for the Artwork of the week that matched.  I chose this piece which I’ve always liked and although it’s not as east as Glen Shee, it’s certainly heading that way!  This painting, based on a view we had from the summit of Ben Vrackie, looks north towards I guess, the Beinn a’ Ghlo hills.

As you know, I’ll be holding an exhibition of work at the John Muir Trust Wild Space in Pitlochry next May / June and I think I’ll have to try and create another painting based on this fine hill before then…..we’ll just have to go back and walk up it again …..It’s a tough job, but….!

A long day

Kinloch Rannoch

Kinloch Rannoch

It’s a great time of year. The day light is lasting longer every week and it makes for longer days on the hills. On Monday, with another settled forecast …at least for the central and eastern parts of Scotland, we decided to drive up to Kinloch Rannoch at the eastern end of Loch Rannoch. Just to the north east of the village is Beinn a’ Chuallaich and it was this hill that we aimed to walk. Nita and I had been here before three or four years ago and had found a very pleasant circuit to walk taking in the hills fairly prominent south ridge and then returning by a slightly meandering route over high featureless grass and heather ridges. I remembered the ground being fairly tame …at least not too rugged underfoot and so once again thought that this might be the ideal next step for our friend Guy (he of the recovering leg). We gave him a shout on Saturday and he was more than keen to join us again.

It’s quite a long drive from North Ayrshire up to Kinloch Rannoch and we guessed it would probably take us about three hours. A relatively early start was needed and we arranged to meet Guy at 06.30 ….not quite as sedate as the previous week. As the route involves taking the motorways through Glasgow and then up the A9 ….it kind of means that whatever time you set out in the morning …you’re almost certain to get caught in rush hour traffic at some point ….and sure enough, we did….first on heading north out of Glasgow and then on arriving at Perth, where we were stuck in a 25 minute long jam. Further delays north of Dunkeld and a delay of our own making in Pitlochry (we couldn’t find the public toilets!), meant that the three hour journey was being extended somewhat! From Pitlochry to Kinloch Rannoch is a beautiful drive west on small roads for just under 20 miles …..and on getting to within about six miles of our start point …the road was closed …aaaahhh! An eight mile detour followed by another set of road works and traffic lights had us arriving at our start at 10.30 …an hour later than planned….and we were all exhausted before we even started!

Kinloch Rannoch

Kinloch Rannoch

As I said before, our planned route was a rather circuitous one, not the way suggested in the Corbett’s Guide. On our last visit we’d found a small path, unmarked on our map, that wandered up the steep hillside from near the road and onto the southern flanks of the hill. We aimed to find this path again but after walking the few hundred metres from the car, everything looked a little different from how I’d remembered it …it must be an age thing! In my defence though, the landowner had been doing some work with a small JCB and a new fence (thankfully with an opening gate) had been erected since we were last here. Looking up the hillside beyond the gate, Nita and Guy could make out a wee path higher up and we decided that that must be the one. I wasn’t totally convinced at first but it was leading uphill so that was a good start. Higher up and I started to recognise things again and once above the small areas of forestry and onto the open hillside, well, it didn’t really matter ….and the path decided the same thing and gradually faded away into the heather.

From this point we made our way in an easterly direction aiming for the lower end of the south ridge of the hill. The views at this stage were already impressive, especially out across the glen to Schiehallion, the big Munro that seems to dominate the skyline from almost everywhere. Sadly however, despite the forecast giving a 70 per cent chance of a cloud free Munro ….the cloud here was heavy and at times quite low….down to about 800 m….all the higher tops were cut off by a straight dark line of cloud. There were occasional breaks in the cloud and the sun did appear briefly now and then, but it wasn’t really a day for interesting photos. Even our hill, at around 890 m had its head shrouded and so we stopped for lunch just below the cloud and enjoyed the views we did have.

Now then, Beinn a’ Chuallaich is a fine hill, but not perhaps fine enough to deserve the huge cairn that marks it’s summit. There must be some reason for the monster cairn …it must be eight or even nine feet high ….certainly it makes anyone standing beside it look ridiculously small! As we arrived at the summit the cloud thinned just enough for a very weak glimpse of the sun above …but no views I’m afraid …so nothing for it, just check the maps, set the compass and carry on. We didn’t have to descend too far before we were once again in clear air, now heading across a wide flat barren ridge. There were a few large snow patches on its flanks that we all but avoided but after that it was fairly easy walking. The cloud by this time was starting to rise and the views around were becoming more impressive….we could see a long way west out over Loch Rannoch and Rannoch Moor. It was great being out in this big expanse of empty hill country with no one else around but by this time I was starting to become just a little concerned about the time. We weren’t moving fast and I knew from our previous visit that we still had a long walk back …ending in a steep path descending through woods to the village. After another stop to take photos I decided I’d better air my thoughts on the subject ….don’t panic but we may not get off this hill before it gets dark …we need to speed up a bit! It’s all to easy to enjoy your surroundings and forget that the time is going by. This did the trick and Guy headed off at a brisk pace. This allowed Nita to concentrate on guiding me at this new quick pace. With the heavy cloud cover the light was fading quite quickly as we headed down the hill but as we reached the path leading down through the trees, there was still some light in the sky. I had wondered whether I should get the head torch out but thought that this might make matters worse, so carried on listening for Nita’s instructions and feeling my way carefully down the path. The last twenty minutes was difficult …I could see virtually nothing but we suddenly bobbed out of the trees and were at the edge of the village ….wow …cutting it fine or what?! I thought I’d done really well but then walked into the back of Nita who’d stopped …perhaps not so good after all! It had been a great day, a proper hill walk..now all we had to do was get back to North Ayrshire. After dropping Guy off at his house in Troon, we got back to Irvine at about 11.30pm ….as I said at the start …a long day.