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Diary of a trip to Assynt – week 2

Saturday May 30th

This middle Saturday of our holiday saw us packing up, cleaning the cottage and moving a few miles south to the beautiful sandy bay of Achmelvich where we’d booked a caravan for our second week.  It was kind of strange as we normally stay in one place for the two weeks.  As it turned out, it was of course, one of the best days, weather-wise, of the whole holiday but as we had the car packed full of our gear we weren’t keen on leaving it in a lay-by all day while we went on a big walk. Instead we had a very lazy day, visiting the fabulous bookshop and cafe a few miles outside Lochinver and then having a very relaxed lunch at a fine restaurant in the village.    By the time we’d finished there and done a bit of shopping for the next week’s food supplies, it was time to move into the caravan.  The weather was starting to deteriorate as we unpacked the car and we decided to grab a quick walk along the fabulous beach before the much forecast heavy rain and unseasonable gales arrived!

Sunday 31st May

Rain and much rattling of the caravan as the forecasted winds wiped out any chance of heading into the hills again.  More reading, eating and drinking ….well, it was a holiday!

Monday 1st June

Still the forecasts were for high winds up top and heavy showers, so, determined to get some walking done, we headed into the wonderful “rock garden” country just to the north of Achmelvich.  It’s a wild, rocky and complex area of low hills and lochs.  We clambered up four of these little rocky hills, each one giving fine if rather grey views of the famous Assynt sky-line.  Despite the blustery conditions all of these amazing hills were clear.   We spent about five hours wandering through and over this strange little landscape and never got higher than about 120m…. just shows you, you don’t always need to be up a big hill to have fine views.

Assynt sky line from a hillside

Assynt sky-line

Tuesday 2nd June

Yet more heavy rain, very low cloud and high winds.  Another inactive day saw us drive down to Ullapool, for more food and bookshop visiting!  Had some amazing views on the way back, with the huge dark clouds eating up the familiar Assynt peaks.  Very dramatic at times ….and very wet too!

Towards Cul Beag,

Heavy weather, towards Cul Beag,

Wednesday 3rd June

Finally a hint of slightly better conditions, especially on the lower hills to the west.  Decided to enjoy the fine views from the path that circles the rocky little peak of Stac Pollaidh.  We’ve walked this before and it’s a very popular walk…. but what the heck ….the views are just spectacular.  We certainly made the right choice as the bigger hills of Conival and Ben More Assynt were shrouded most of the day and the winds, even at the modest height we reached, were very strong.

From Below Stac Pollaidh

From Below Stac Pollaidh

On the north side of the hill I stopped and tried to make a sound recording.  We’d found a sheltered spot but could hear the wind rushing and roaring around the rocky towers that make up Stac Pollaidh.  It would have been perfect…..except that as I said  earlier, it is a very popular place and of course, just as I got the recorder working, several other walkers came along, talking at what seemed to be the top of their voices!  On my second attempt, I thought all was going well, only to hear the voices of some serious climbers making their way along the ridge above.  Hopefully everyone enjoyed their time on or around this amazing hill ….it just wasn’t the place for recording silence!

Stac Pollaidh

Stac Pollaidh

Thursday 4th June

At last, at last, we had a break in the low cloud, high winds and rain.  We decided to head up towards Conival, (one of the two Assynt Munros) but instead of following the main path we’d taken back in 2006, Nita suggested we cut up the side of an adjoining hill and make our way to a prominent point at 850m that I’d painted on several occasions in the past.  It would give big views into the north east facing slopes of Conival and Ben More Assynt.  According to the forecast, we had until about 16.00 before the cloud and rain returned and so an early start was required.  We started walking from Inchnadamph at just before seven o’clock in the morning and after a kilometre or so we left the main path and struck up the side of the hill.  As with much of the Assynt landscape the ground was very rough but I always prefer walking across open hillsides and away from paths so this was just fantastic.  We quickly got huge views back across the beautiful Loch Assynt to Quinag ….and all this in patchy bright sunshine…..couldn’t believe our eyes!

Overlooking Loch Assynt, June 4th 2015

Overlooking Loch Assynt

Higher up, the slopes became very steep and rocky, with Nita picking a careful route through the worst of these.  It was a long hard haul before finally the angle of the slope eased and we emerged onto a wild broad rock strewn ridge.  It was difficult up there to walk in a straight line as we had to follow leads of grass and moss to get through the boulder fields.  Slowly though we got closer to our objective and despite the weather starting to close in much earlier than expected, we got some great views across to the two Munros.

The rocky landscape of Conival and Ben More Assynt

The rocky landscape of Conival and Ben More Assynt

Before the rain started, we grabbed some photos and donned the waterproofs and made our way across to the main walker’s path.  This lead down through a very steep rocky little section and we found the rock very slippery here once it was wet.  Not sure what the rock was but it was certainly different to the stuff we walked on the previous week just across the way on Canisp …that was like walking on Velcro!  Not wanting to tramp back on a busy and eroded path, as soon as we were down the steepest bit, we abandoned it and made a circular route back before regaining the main track not far from Inchnadamph.  This wasn’t without concern however as it meant we were on the wrong side of a big stream and relying on the footbridge marked on the 1:25000 to still be in place.  As experience on Canisp the previous week had shown ….footbridges aren’t always permanent fixtures.  Luckily on this occasion ….it was still there.  A great sigh of relief as we saw it and a very pleasant if damp walk back to the car.

Below Conival, a steep descent

Below Conival, a steep descent

Friday 5th June

Yes, you’ve guessed it, more very heavy rain and so a return to the restaurant in Lochinver and then an hour or so packing.  Towards the middle of the afternoon the rain finally stopped and the sun came out.  We were able to enjoy a final walk along the white sandy beach ….a fine end to a fine, if rather damp trip to Assynt.  It was a holiday of much weather which if not so great for the walking, will definitely give me some new subject matter for paintings.

Diary of a trip to Assynt – week 1

Saturday 23rd May 

Had the perfect start for our trip and drive north, with clear blue skies and the hills of the Southern Highlands looking stunning in their spring colours.  Warm too, it being 17 C when we stopped for breakfast at the Green Welly in Tyndrum.  But the bright conditions weren’t to last, even by the time we were a few miles up the road driving across Rannoch Moor, we could see the high grey cloud moving down from the north west.  By the time we were in Glencoe village it was grey all over and just 9°C!  Little did we know that this was a taste of things to come?  The remainder of the trip north to Assynt was under increasingly dark skies and the final few miles along the single track road to the cottage we’d booked for the first week on the Storr peninsular, saw the rain start falling.  We’d picked a beautiful spot to stay all the same and even in the gloomy light and rain of the first evening, Nita could see wild geese grazing the rough pasture outside the cottage window.

Sunday 24th May 

Woke to bright sunlight and beautiful views across the land to the sea.  In between, in the hollow in these small hills, lay a wee loch and a short wander from the cottage took us to its shore.  I was surprised to find small banks of reeds growing around the edge which made for interesting patterns and possibly, some drawings in the future.

Monday 25th May  

Quinag, Assynt

Below Quinag, heavy shower

Heavy showers and high winds forecast, so decided on a lazy day checking out access to the ground leading up to below Sail Gorm on Quinag.  I’ve wanted to try and get up to below this part of the hill for some years in order to do some sketching and perhaps make a recording or two.  We found a convenient parking place and access, at least to start with seemed good …..we just needed a little dry weather.  Even the water proof drawing pen my colleague Alex Boyd had given me, would not do too well in the very  heavy showers that kept racing in from the north west.  Got some great views of Quinag as it was engulfed in one of these showers.  Time to head for lunch at the Scourie Hotel!

Tuesday 26th May

Assynt, Sutherland

The Old Man of Storr

More heavy showers and strong winds and so not a day for the high tops.  Instead, Nita suggested we walk the few kilometres from the cottage, out to Storr Head and the Old Man of Storr.    The 1:25000 map showed no fences all the way from the road near the cottage but we soon found  our way blocked and we had an annoying  hour and a half trying to find our way as two more tracks were blocked by fences and gates.  We did finally get to the open ground and had a fine walk out to Storr Head via a small hill that even at I think, 169m, gave impressive views.  The Old Man of Storr, a huge sea stack, was well worth seeing and the roar of the sea crashing against its base, made for some interesting recordings hopefully.  We returned along the cliff tops to the Storr lighthouse and then back to the cottage along the single track road in bright early evening sunshine.  Despite a few heavy showers early on, we arrived home dry!

Wednesday 27th May

Heavy rain and gales all day.  Feet up, heaters on, food, drink and much reading  / listening to books.  It finally eased around 21.00 and a few bursts of late sun had us driving the couple of miles to the nearest beach.  Big waves and very strange light …but good to get an airing.

Thursday 28th May

Scotttish Landscape

On the lower slopes of Canisp, 28th May 2015

No let up in the cold, showers and wind ….but it did seem that conditions would be a little better, so we decided to go for a proper walk and we headed for Canisp.  We’d done two big walks on this hill in the past.  One of them, on a fine hot day, saw us reach the summit of this fine hill.  The other attempt saw us do a circular walk up to a point about 600m on the hill before being turned back by high winds.  It seemed that conditions would be similar today and so we planned to walk the same route.

Sutherland, Scottish Landscape

Between showers, Canisp, 28th May 2015

This involved crossing a large footbridge over one of the streams flowing from below Canisp.  When we got to it though ….well, it was there ….but not crossing the stream.  At some point in the past it had been swept away and was left high and dry on the bank of the stream!  All was not lost though as we were walking in one of Scotland’s finest limestone areas ….and this stream simply disappeared underground a few hundred metres up-stream!  With the water levels being so high, it hadn’t completely disappeared and we spent quite a time picking our way through and across small but luckily narrow rushing streams.  Back on course we had a fabulous walk.  At first, enjoying some bright patches of sunlight but then becoming engulfed by a series of huge hail showers that blasted down with real force.  The landscape around Canisp is so wild and rough  and these conditions really made you feel quite isolated …..there was no-one else stupid enough to be out  that day, not on this hill anyway.

Friday 29th May

Suilven, Scottish Landscape

Suilven from the near the Stoor lighthouse, 29th May 2015

After the long walk the day before, we decided to head back to the Storr lighthouse so that I could do some sketching and try and make some more sound recordings.  It was still cold but the sun was shining and the cliffs and churning waves looked great.  Had a well earned cup of tea at Living the Dream …. sat with our mugs of tea looking out over the sea…. a magnificent end to a very enjoyable first week in Assynt.

We headed a few miles south for our second week, staying in one of the caravans close to the beautiful beach at Achmelvich.  More about this second week in Assynt in my next blog.

A week of work

216 'Breaking cloud, near the Pap of Glencoe', Acrylic & Pastel, 2012

‘Breaking cloud, near the Pap of Glencoe’

It would be nice to be able to report on another good walk this week.  Instead though, it has just been a week of work and the fine weather on both Tuesday and again today, went by without a boot being laced or a rucksack lifted.  Oh well, that’s the way it goes sometimes and we’re now looking ahead anxiously to Sunday in the hope we might catch another fine day.

The good weather, has though, brought folk out for a walk along the harbour side and this has been good for business.  Yesterday a gentleman visited my studio and seemed very interested in one of the small post card sized paintings.   This afternoon, he returned with his wife and after much looking, they decided to buy the piece.  Thanks to them if they’re reading this and I hope you enjoy the painting.  I’ve had a few other very positive enquiries these last few weeks and so it certainly gives me a little confidence during what are quite difficult times for everyone.

Work wise it’s been a slightly up and down few days. Last weekend I tried to develop the large drawing I had started the previous Friday, but instead of finishing it and having something to be pleased with after my three days work …I wrecked it!!!  That’s the way it goes sometimes but mighty frustrating even so.  This was the second largish drawing I’ve done this year, based on sketches I did of Quinag …..and both have ended up in the bin after what seemed like a promising start.  It’s got me thinking though and I may start another one but using graphite sticks or pencils rather than oil pastel.

The paintings have been coming on slowly.  Until today I’d spent the remainder of my time this last week working on the smaller (30 x 30 cm and 76 x 23 cm) acrylic and pastel pieces.  I have I think completed one, though will leave it to stew for a few days before I get excited and photograph it.  The other one is about three quarters finished but will now be left for a while …until I have an idea of how to finish it!

Today, I went back to the larger oil on canvas paintings.  I have four on the go but decided this morning to tackle one of the less worked on pieces.  I had a good day and it was good to get the large six inch brush out again after much work earlier this week with small paint brushes and magnifiers.  No photos of any of this I’m afraid …so this week you’ll have to make do with just the one image …of the small painting I sold today.

 'Breaking cloud, near the Pap of Glencoe'

‘Breaking cloud, near the Pap of Glencoe’

 

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A somewhat uneventful week!

'Working drawing - on Braebag'

'Working drawing - on Braebag'

It’s amazing to think that this is the eighty second blog …and there may have been a couple that never got a number.  Whatever number it is …it’s quite a lot.  Number eighty two though, isn’t I’m afraid, going to be a classic …just a short ramble about not very much!

It’s just over a week since we were out on the hill near Loch Tay and apart from yesterday (Thursday) I’ve spent nearly all my time either doing work on the computer or painting down the studio.  We had hoped to get out onto a hill again this week, but the weather has, like in most of Scotland and Northern Ireland it seems, been pretty horrendous.  My sister living down in Shropshire is complaining about how dry it is there and how she’s watering the garden with the washing up water.  No such problems here this last week – I think it rained most days.   Add to this a very strong wind including a real gale on Monday and well it doesn’t do much for passing trade at the studio.  Surprisingly though I did have one couple visit at the height of the gale on Monday.  Donned in waterproofs, they’d made the walk up the harbour side to the sea and I think may have come into the studio to get a break from the wind more than for the art!  However, I am doing them an injustice, as it turned out they were sailors and were indeed sheltering from the storm …so, no doubt used to wet and windy weather.  Compared with many folk across Scotland and Northern Ireland, we were I guess, quite lucky that day.  We retained our power supply and train services and there seemed to be very little damage done …with the exception of a beautiful cherry blossom tree on Bank Street that was split in two during the storm.

'Working drawing - Quinag'

'Working drawing - Quinag'

I had planned to go and collect ten framed pictures from the Waverley Gallery on the Monday but decided this might be a little foolish …get caught carrying and 80 x 80cm painting by and 80 mph gust of wind and I’d probably have ended up in Kilmarnock!  We picked the work up the next day instead and I’m very pleased with the way it looks.  I still have one painting to complete and about five others to go into empty frames ready for the show at Blairmore Gallery.  While I’m doing the painting, Nita has kindly agreed to put the other pieces into their frames …so we should have everything ready in time.   We’re delivering the work on Thursday 9th June ready for opening on the Friday 10th.  I haven’t quite yet decided the exact number and selection to go up but it will probably be around 18 – 20 paintings and drawings.

Last week I said I was hoping to get some ideas worked out for new paintings and I spent one of my days last week playing around with some drawings.  I am keen to try and get some paintings done based on both Quinag and Braebag in Assynt.  They are very different hills, the former being steep sided and quite complex, the latter just a simple quartz covered whale back ……but both quite magnificent in their own ways.  Here are two of the working drawings I did the other day.

Back to the studio now and back to the painting.  I have I admit been struggling somewhat with one of my paintings.  I think I really ought to leave it sit for a while and get on with new work …but, I may just have to have another go when I get down there in an hour or so!  We’re hoping to get out for another walk on Sunday so long as conditions aren’t too bad, so maybe next week I’ll have a little more to report on.

 

Filling in the gap

Arkle, approaching weather

Arkle, approaching weather

Well, firstly I guess I’d better apologise for the lack of a blog last week.  I had planned to write one but in the end never quite got around to it!   But I do have a slight excuse ….. we’ve been away on holiday to Assynt for the last couple of weeks and I decided that a short break would do me good.  I am as I write, sitting in the caravan we’ve rented at Achmelvich just a few miles to the north of Lochinver in the north west of Scotland.  This is the final day of the holiday and we’re heading back to Irvine and work tomorrow.

Anyway, we’ve had a great time and have done particularly well with the weather.  Indeed we’ve had many days of hot sunny weather, especially the first week and even this week has been pretty good too, although it’s gone decidedly cool today.

This is the forth time since 2006 that we’ve stayed here and yet this amazing region of Scotland never ceases to impress.  In early May there are a few visitors but places are generally quiet and so everywhere is very peaceful.  Two weeks up here gives me the chance to relax and  re-charge my batteries while at the same time get some serious walking done and gather information for my new paintings.  And that just about sums up what we’ve been doing this last 13 days …well with some nice meals and some excellent local beer thrown in for good measure of course!

Arkle, Sutherland

Arkle, Sutherland

Taking advantage of the particularly fine weather in our first week here, we climbed two of the local hills – Sail Garbh ….one of the summits of Quinag and Braebag, a long high quartz covered whaleback of a hill that lies close to its rather larger neighbours, Conival and Ben More Assynt.  We’d climbed Sail Garbh about four years ago but it was great to get back there again …the views being especially fine from its rocky summit.  As we weren’t planning to go on and climb either of the other two tops of  Quinag we were able to take our time and we spent a good hour at the summit just enjoying the silence.  We’d never visited Braebag before and this turned out to be a wonderful walk.  It is, as I said, just a big long broad stony ridge, but when you get up there you find these great piles of quartzite blocks and rubble laid out in long ridges with large areas of moss and grass separating them.  It was really quite a strange and beautiful landscape especially with the bright sunshine reflecting off of the quartzite.  To be honest, we weren’t really expecting to see anyone on this hill but not long after we’d sat down to eat our sandwiches by a wee cairn marking one of the stony tops, another couple appeared on an adjacent pile of boulders.  At this point we started to wonder if ‘our’ top was actually the summit ….their top now looked a wee bit higher.  There was nothing for it, after lunch we’d just have to wander over and see …and it was a metre or so higher …and marked with a slightly bigger cairn.

Assynt 2011, from Braebag

Assynt 2011, from Braebag

During this our second week, we decided to head north and try and climb a couple of these wild hills.  We headed for Arkle on Monday and had another wonderful day.  It is quite a striking hill, once again covered in quartzite but with much steeper sides and a wonderful curving ridge leading up to its summit.  This, according to the guide book is rather narrow in one section and so a definite ‘no’ for me unfortunately.  That said we could still climb up to the 750m top at the SE end of the ridge and from there had quite stunning views both of Arkle and it’s higher neighbour Foinaven….oh to have a bit more sight and to be able to wander these wild and dramatic ridges.  I can’t complain though, to sit there on this lonely wind swept top was very special indeed.

Our final hill of the holiday was Ben Hee and we were once again treated to fine weather.  This hill, rising to 873m lies a few miles to the east of Arkle the terrain is much softer.  Most of the lower slopes are a mixture of grass, moss  and heather and it was hard work getting up to the top of Meallan Liath Mor, a 680m top on route to the main summit.  Higher up there were areas of broken rocks and boulders that made for difficult walking but most of these could be avoided.  Again we had the hill to ourselves for the whole day and were able to sit at the top taking in the huge views out over Sutherland and Caithness.  Ben Hope, the most northerly Munro, stood out well not too far to the north east of us and with my monocular I could make out most of these northern hills.

Assynt 2011, from Sail Garbh, Quinag

Assynt 2011, from Sail Garbh, Quinag

You’ll be glad to hear that I have done some drawing while I’ve been away and have ideas for new paintings and drawings.  It’s been good to get away and to visit new bits of Scotland and to get away from the studio for a short while but I’m starting to look forward to getting back to the painting now.  So then, I’d better go and start putting things back into bags ready for the drive back to Irvine tomorrow.  Hopefully this will be posted by Sunday or Monday and everything will get back to normal!

Ben Stack from Arkle

Ben Stack from Arkle

East from the summit of Ben Hee

East from the summit of Ben Hee

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‘Assynt 2011, Quinag sketch’

assynt-2011-quinag-sketch

'Assynt 2011, Quinag sketch'

 

‘Assynt 2011, Quinag sketch’, Graphite pencil on paper

This is one of the quick sketches I did while up in Assynt and Sutherland during the last couple of weeks.  In the past I’ve always used a black drawing pen, but decided this year to use a soft graphite pencil instead.  The marks are I guess slightly more fluid and less scratchy and I like the quick feel about this little drawing.

Quinag is a big and quite complex hill with a number of tops and three main ridges.  From all sides it looks impressive and I’ve started to think about doing a large drawing or painting based on this hill ….perhaps doing it along similar lines to the large drawing I did of the Dom in Speyer last summer.  In this piece you may remember, I tried to draw the cathedral from different positions as I walked around it.   I’ll try to post up a few more of these simple sketches soon.

A quick trip to Crieff


'Above the Rest and Be Thankful'

'Above the Rest and Be Thankful'

A couple of weeks ago The Strathearn Gallery in Crieff took six of my paintings with them down to the Battersea Park Affordable Art Fair. They sold two of the paintings and so on Thursday we drove up to Perthshire to collect the unsold pieces and deliver two small pieces (shown here) for their forthcoming Christmas exhibition.

I’m sure I needn’t remind you but the weather that day was pretty vile. The thought of lugging several big paintings from the gallery to the car park a hundred or so metres away, in heavy rain and gale force winds was not a good one, but as Anita was working Friday and Saturday and the gallery was closed on the Sunday, we didn’t have much choice.

'On Quinag, May'

'On Quinag, May'

It didn’t look to promising as we set out from Irvine in the morning. There were dark threatening clouds to the east and we thought the worst. ….but as we approached Glasgow the sun came out (who said it was rainy in the west?!) and we seemed to follow the bright blue patches in the sky all the way to Crieff. It made for a lovely journey, especially once past Stirling and into the Perthshire countryside. The trees looked great in the bright sun and the colours were really intense. As we approached Crieff though there was really dark heavy cloud sitting on the hills behind the town ….where we’d been walking only a few weeks before ….and it didn’t seem likely that the sun would last that much longer.

It remained long enough though, to get the paintings down the street and into the car without getting a soaking and we were soon heading off back in the direction of the A9 and Glasgow. I had broached the subject of driving back via Crianlarich …the scenic route, but Nita said it was going to rain and we wouldn’t see anything …and she got it right. We’d not got more than a couple of kilometres out of Crieff when the rain started …and it quickly turned into a deluge. It was horrible ….really wet and very dark …I couldn’t see a thing ….good job they don’t let me drive ey?! Well, it remained like this all the way back to Glasgow but by the time we were getting into Ayrshire there was a bit of sun appearing again and we were able to unload the paintings from the car into my studio in the dry ….quite amazing.

Anyway, The Strathearn Gallery Christmas Exhibition opens on Saturday 20th November 2010 with a private view from 11am – 3 pm.

Exhibition opening hours Monday – Saturday 10 am – 5pm, Sunday 1pm – 5pm

January 2011 opening hours: Thursday – Sunday, 12 noon – 5pm

There are works by many artists in the exhibition so it should make for a great show.