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Southern Highlands | Scottish Landscape Art - Scottish Landscape Paintings

Posts Tagged ‘Southern Highlands’

Refuelling!

I’m late writing this blog again and am sat in my studio this Sunday with Sea Sick Steve blasting out!  Suffice it to say ….I’m the only one here at the Courtyard so far today…. I might get some complaints otherwise.  Oh well, sometimes its great having the music up loud and in a strange way it can be almost as relaxing as being out in a wild and quiet location.

I think I’ve needed a bit of both of these to be honest, after what has been a very busy and quite stressful last week.  It’s been a good one though and very enjoyable too …but I needed a break at the end.   Our plan had been to get up at 5am and drive up to Glen Coe to walk Stob Dubh, one of the Munro summits of Buachaille Etive Beag.  Trouble was that by the time we got to Thursday evening both Nita and I were completely shattered and even the thought of walking in what must be one of Scotland’s finest mountain ranges couldn’t cut through the weariness.  But we did need to get out and Nita suggested we head back to Beinn Odhar near Tyndrum.  It’s a regular in our hill walking diary as it makes for a great half day but with plenty of steep and ‘up’ to give the legs a short but sharp work-out.  It also had the advantage that we didn’t have to drag ourselves out of bed until 08.30!

View from Beinn Odhar of the old mines

From the old mine workings on Beinn Odhar

Have to admit we hadn’t checked the weather forecast for a couple of days but had seemed to remember that there was a nice splurge of high pressure lurking somewhere close to Scotland and so imagined we’d have fine weather.  We did, but not in that clear blue skies kind of way we had expected.  By the time we were driving along the shores of Loch Lomond it was dark and threatening rain and a good number of hills had cloud shrouding their tops.   It was, however, a rapidly changing scene and in the hour it took to drive the remaining way to Tyndrum we’d had a bit of almost everything from bright sunshine to heavy bursts of rain.  This was to be the story of the day.

Part of the enjoyment of a half day in the hills is that you have time to stop for coffee and a snack before setting out and we did just this at the very popular watering hole that is The Green Welly.  And then we were off, heading up the West Highland Way for a kilometre or so before turning off this popular track and making our way up the steep grassy slopes of Beinn Odhar.  There is no messing with this hill.  You gain height quickly and the views behind you are always impressive.  On Friday this meant a stream of fast moving dark clouds passing by at about 850m and the summits of the larger hills regularly disappearing and then re-emerging into bright patches of sunlight.  For me, this was perfect and I felt a painting coming on almost as soon as we gained some height!

View from Beinn Odhar

From the slopes of Beinn Odhar

This is the hill that has old mine remains high up on the slope and it never fails to amaze me to think that people used to trudge all the way up there  before starting a day’s work.  As we picked our way through the rocky outcrops marking the mine workings the cloud descended and it was time to get the water and wind proof gear out ….suddenly it was cold with that very definite hint of winter being just around the corner.

View from Beinn Odhar

Landscape patterns, from the slopes of Beinn Odhar

We reached the wee loch tucked under the final steep and boulder covered slopes leading to the summit and decided to sit and enjoy this incredibly peaceful spot.  We’ve been here many times before and this really is one of my favourite places in the Southern Highlands.  It is so unexpected and despite this being a Corbett it is a rarely visited spot.  I guess we sat sheltering from the wind and occasional drizzle for about 50 minutes…..just watching the clouds come and go.  This really was a perfect place to re-fuel.

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.

Hot, hot, hot…..too hot

On Beinn Each

On Beinn Each

After what had been quite a busy week already, Nita and I decided to make the best of the fine weather and go for another walk.   For quite a few years now I’ve wanted to climb Stuc a’Chroin, the neighbour of Ben Vorlich in the Southern Highlands.  I decided that I would like to climb it via the smaller top of Beinn Each to the south and then along the broad, knobbly connecting ridge.  It would make quite a long day as the only way back would be to retrace your steps back over Beinn Each.

At the summit of Beinn Each

At the summit of Beinn Each

Well then, yesterday was going to be the day.  We started quite early and drove up to the hill under almost cloudless skies ….it looked perfect.  Perhaps though, in retrospect, it was a little too perfect for a long day!  I’d forgotten just how steep a pull up it was to reach the summit of Beinn Each.  Hardly surprising really seeing as we’d last walked this hill perhaps eight or nine years ago and if I remember rightly, it was a grey and misty damp day with little or no views higher up.

Stuc a' Chroin from Beinn Each

Stuc a’ Chroin from Beinn Each

The path itself isn’t a bad one when you can see, but for me it was quite difficult and about half way up where it scouted around the edge, above some good size crags; we went off paste and made our way straight up.  The going was much easier underfoot as we were on a mix of grass and heather but it was very steep in places.  The views were spectacular though in the bright hot sunshine it really was quite sapping on the energy.  As we approached the top and saw the view towards our main hill, Stuc a’ Chroin, our spirits flagged…..it looked a long two and a half kilometres in this heat.

Towards Ben Ledi

Towards Ben Ledi

Having spent the last 20 years learning how to adapt how I do things, I decided that it was perhaps time to adapt our route…..we’d call it a halt here at the top of Beinn Each and instead of having a tiring, hot and sweaty haul to Stuc a’ Chroin and back, we’d make camp here and sit and enjoy the views of it for an hour or so!   I have to say, that Nita was in full agreement and would possibly have mutinied if I’d even suggested trying to carry on!    We sat down, dug out the lunch packs and simply enjoyed the views ….although Nita later suggested I had done so for a short while ……while snoring!

And that is really about that, except for a rather disturbing incident on the way down.  We’d stopped to take some photos of Stuc a’ Chroin when we suddenly had a large insect buzzing around us.  It definitely wasn’t just a large bumble bee as it had a much deeper louder bussing sound.  And it was very persistent.  Nita said that it was large and torpedo shaped…..and it seemed pretty aggressive.  We tried to move away as quickly as possible but this wasn’t too easy for me on what was quite steep ground, especially as I was also flailing my walking poles around trying to fend the bug off!!!   For anyone who was watching it must have looked like that scene out of Mr Bean when he was bothered by a wasp!   The thing came back repeatedly for about five or six minutes I guess before finally losing interest.  Phew!

‘Towards the Lawers group’

‘Towards the Lawers group’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2006,

'Towards the Lawers group', Acrylic and Pastel, 2006, 91.5 x 34 cm, sold_1

‘Towards the Lawers group’

I was talking about hills with a visitor to my studio the other day and they mentioned Ben Lawers Nita and I have walked this big hill a good number of times over the last 15 years and it always makes for a fine day, especially so if its lofty summit is clear.  At a little under 4000 ft you certainly feel like you’re on top of the world when you’re sat at its sometimes busy top, with spectacular views all around the Southern Highlands.

Anyway, I found myself thinking about this painting and thought it’d make a good ‘Artwork of the week’.  It is based on a view we had looking towards the group of hills of which Ben Lawers is the dominant peak.  It made a fine scene from a neighbouring Corbett and I remember standing for a good few minutes on this frost covered hilltop just staring at this amazing winter scene.

‘Below Beinn Dorain, a February afternoon’

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‘Below Beinn Dorain, a February afternoon’

‘Below Beinn Dorain, a February afternoon’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2011 – 13, 80 x 80 cm, Price £1250

I originally started work on this painting a little over two years ago and at the time, thought that I’d finished it satisfactorily.  However, once it was in its frame, doubts started to creep in.  The painting is based on a view I had several years ago of the side of Beinn Dorain in the Southern Highlands.  I’d been away for the weekend walking with our local club in Kinlochleven but the weather conditions were so severe that we decided to cut our losses and head back home early, on the Sunday.  As we pass Beinn Dorain near the Bridge of Orchy, we had this amazing view of the steep side of the hill with snow higher up and the gullies with snow in them too.

The original version of this painting was bold; especially the lower half of the painting and it was this area that always caused me problems!  Finally after much thought, I decided last week to get the painting out of its frame and rework it.  It’s more subtle now but better captures the cold light of that early February afternoon.  I think that now, finally ….finally, it is finished!

‘Mists clearing Beinn Dubhchraig, winter’

31 'Mists clearing  Beinn Dubhcharig,winterr', Acrylic, 2005, 30 x 30 cm, sold

‘Mists clearing Beinn Dubhchraig, winter’

‘Mists clearing Beinn Dubhchraig, winter’, Acrylic, 2005, 30 x 30 cm,

If you’ve seen my Face Book page in the last few days, or read the latest blog, you’ll know that on Sunday we walked Beinn Dubhchraig near Tyndrum in the Southern Highlands.

I thought then that it would be appropriate to use this small painting as my Artwork of the week.  I did this back in 2005 and it was based on a view of the mountain we had on a very wintry day from Ben Challum.  The snow everywhere was quite thick and the early morning mists were breaking and lifting from all the big hills around.

Getting high, (on a hill)….. the easy way!

On Meall Corranaich ...the first signs of brightness in the sky

On Meall Corranaich …the first signs of brightness in the sky

When we were on Harris earlier this month, the combination of wild weather, very rough terrain and my very poor sight, meant that I found the walking there very difficult.  As I’ve said before, when you walk in the hills with a visual impairment, the mental effort is almost as tiring as the physical exertion and so for our first walk since returning from the holiday, I was looking for something during which I could to some extent, relax a little.  The obvious choice would have been to head back to the Luss Hills, but I had a fancy to get up high and with a bit of luck, get some big extensive views.

The perfect lunch spot near the summit of Meaall Corranaich

The perfect lunch spot near the summit of Meaall Corranaich

After trawling through my memories of walks in the Southern Highlands, I remembered a walk I had done probably 8 or 9 years ago with a group from our local club Air na Creagan.  On a fine summer day we’d done a relatively easy circuit over two Munros that lie close to Ben Lawers, Meall Corranaich and Meall a’ Choire Leith.   The first of these, Meall Corranaich, is quite high, its summit cairn perched on a flat grassy top at 1069 m ….it would offer the big views I was looking for and both are almost completely grass covered …giving easy and therefore for me, fairly stress free walking.  The final thing going for these two hills was their location.  They can easily be reached from the high point on the single track road that leads past the site of the old Ben Lawers visitor centre and on over into Glen Lyon.  As the high point is around 500 m, even the walk to the top of Meall Corranaich doesn’t involve vast amounts of ascent …..as I say, getting high without all the effort!

Guy at the summit of Meall Corranaich

Guy at the summit of Meall Corranaich

So then, that was our plan for Tuesday and all we needed was for the better of the two weather forecasts we seen, to be right.  One of them had predicted cloud on the tops much of the day, the other …from the MWIS, had predicted that any low cloud would lift and break with an eighty per cent chance of a cloud free top…..we went with this one!!

We asked our friend Guy if he’d like to join us and as he’d been doing quite a lot of low level walks recently, (checking out a route for some cadets he works with) he jumped at a chance to get up on the tops again and was waiting to be picked up at Kilwinning station almost as soon as we’d asked him!

On top of the world... ..well, almost!

On top of the world… ..well, almost!

It was, quite simply, a perfect little day.  The MWIS forecast proved correct and although when we’d started walking there were dark clouds covering all the main summits in the area, within an hour this had lifted and we could see our route ahead.  The air was very clear and the views even to me were extensive.  Needless to say, we took our time …stopping occasionally to sit and look and enjoy this spectacular scenery.  The mountains still had patches of snow on them and this added to the grandeur of the scene.  As we reached the main ridge leading up to the summit of Meall Corranaich, the views became even bigger, looking out over Loch Tay and nearer to hand, across a high bealach to Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers …the latter being just a few feet short of the 4000 foot mark.  We avoided the path leading directly up to the top of Meall Corranaich and instead headed for it via a very steep slope of grass and stones, but one that was sheltered from the wind and was therefore much more pleasant.  As I neared the top, puffing and sweating ….I glanced behind me to see Guy stomping up the slope ….and I suddenly remembered that he is now 80 …and still has more ‘umph and go’ on the hills than I do!  As my friend Norma always says about Guy…. ‘what a man’!  I hope I’m still climbing hills with as much energy and enthusiasm as he has, when I’m 80.

Descending from Meall Corranaich

Descending from Meall Corranaich

Our efforts were rewarded at the top by the sun coming out and big patches of blue sky emerging all around …it was spectacular.  We had another long break sat out of the wind just enjoying the place.  After a bit, we decided that this top was enough and instead of carrying on to the second hill, we’d just have a relaxed walk back.  This was just the kind of day I’d wanted.

Well worth waiting for

Ben Lomond from the slopes of Beinn Dubh

Ben Lomond from the slopes of Beinn Dubh

It’s been over two weeks since we last had a day off to go walking….on that occasion, a wander up Glen Rosa over on the Isle of Arran.  Since then there seems to have been a continuous stream of gales racing in off the Atlantic  There have been a couple of quiet and fine days in between but one or both of us have been working!  This last week has been another busy one and with Nita working this weekend it looked like we wouldn’t get out for a walk until next week at the earliest.

Earlier I’d spent quite a bit of time getting images and text ready for the invitation cards for my exhibition, two new business post cards, and four new greetings cards.  For a number of years I’ve been asked by Steve and Sylvia up at Blairmore Gallery, if I’d have a few greetings cards made for sale at their gallery.  I’d never really got around to looking into it until now but as I had to go to our local printer for the new business cards I thought I might as well ask.  In short, not only could they print the greetings cards, they could also supply them with envelopes and packed in clear cellophane bags.  I’ve decided to have four different cards printed and have ordered 100 of each.  This will allow me to pass some onto the Blairmore Gallery, have some for the forthcoming exhibition in Edinburgh and also have them for sale at my studio and possibly on-line through my website too.  Anyway, as you can imagine, all this took quite a lot of time …probably the reason I’d put off doing it previously if I’m honest.  I got the proofs back from Kestrel Press on Thursday and they look quite good I think ….so have given the go ahead and am now waiting to see what the actual things look like when they’re printed and packaged.  Exciting stuff!

Loch Lomond from the slopes of Beinn Dubh

Loch Lomond from the slopes of Beinn Dubh

As I said, I got the 8 different digital prints back on Thursday and I’m pleased with the majority of them.  A couple haven’t quite come out as I’d hoped but the other six look great and I’ll be taking two copies each down to my framer to get them mounted ready for the exhibition.  Like the greetings cards, this is all rather new and so will be a learning process for me.  It’ll be interesting to see if I’ve made the correct selection of images for the prints and cards….whether the more abstract images are as popular as the others.

In the Luss Hills, from Beinn Dubh

In the Luss Hills, from Beinn Dubh

I’ve now almost decided on the 17 pieces to be included in my exhibition …although to be honest my choice has changed several times already!  I’ve got four paintings waiting at the framers to be collected so once they are back and I have all the work in the studio it should be easier to decide.  One of the big questions is whether to have two of my new A2 drawings framed and on the wall …instead of two of the paintings.  I had planned just to get the drawings mounted and displayed in a stand.  Ahhhhhh …still can’t decide!

The Luss Hills, from the summit of Beinn Dubh

The Luss Hills, from the summit of Beinn Dubh

Loch Lomond from Beinn Dubh

Loch Lomond from Beinn Dubh

With all this on the go, it was a great pleasure to hear my partner suggest that we take advantage of a dry day on Friday to get away from it and out into the hills for a few hours.  As you know, we like the Luss Hills and they are about the closest to get to from Irvine.  They’re steep but not very high so they make an excellent work-out even though you can still have quite a short day.  This was just what we needed.  With Nita working 12.5 hour shifts today and Sunday, she didn’t want a long drive or a too exhausting walk.  We’re regulars to Beinn Dubh and Mid Hill but the views out over Loch Lomond and the surrounding hills of the southern Highlands are just so good you can keep on going back time after time.  Yesterday there was a little snow higher up which made everything look extra special and we had a slow haul up to the top, avoiding much of the path so that we could get better views into Glen Luss.  This also had the advantage of keeping off of the increasingly frozen and quite slippery path.  Higher up though we were back to the path and I came a cropper ….slipping on some ice hidden under some powdery snow.  I landed rather heavily on my backside but thankfully I was just shaken …nothing more.  I should have stopped to put on my ‘spiders’ earlier but had planned to do that at the top so that I had them for the more difficult descent.  What a prat …I should have known better after all these years.  There we are, no real harm done. except perhaps to my confidence and pride!  Back out again next week if we can catch another good day.

‘Breaking cloud, Beinn Odhar’

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‘Breaking cloud, Beinn Odhar’

‘Breaking cloud, Beinn Odhar’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2012, 30 x 30 cm

This is a recent small acrylic and pastel painting based on a day a few years ago when we walked Beinn Odhar ….a 900 m hill just to the north of Tyndrum in the Southern Highlands.  It is only a short walk to the top ….even I can get there and back in just over four hours, but this is not the point.  It is particularly steep and so is a good short work out ….and is one that offers great views.  Well, it does if the cloud is not down.

On the day that this painting is based on, we started off in damp grey weather and with the cloud well down on the hill. Indeed, all the way up the steep slopes to the summit we saw nothing.  However as we reached the summit we noticed that it had become lighter and although we sat there eating our lunch in mist, we did have the feeling that not too far above our heads the sun was shining.  Sadly it didn’t clear while we were at the top …a real shame as the views are extensive, but as we started to descend the first few hundred feet of steep rock strewn ground, we saw a big break appearing in the cloud.  As we watched the break led to blue sky and we had a glimpse of the hill on the other side of the glen …just sticking out of the cloud.  After a short while the cloud lifted completely and we were suddenly in bright sun with the higher mountains around clearing too.  By the time we were down to the car the sky was completely blue …what a transformation.

Back and busy

Anita near the summit of Ben Loyal

Anita near the summit of Ben Loyal

Well, as the title says, I’m back from Sutherland ….and it’s been a busy week.

Our holiday up north ended in grand style with our finally walking Ben Loyal on our last day.  It turned out to be a long day …eleven and three quarter hours to be exact and we got back to the car about a quarter past eight in the evening.  It was worth every minute though, despite it being another cold and for a large part of the day, grey affair.  We had the routine heavy snow shower at the top which we sat out, sheltering for about 45 minutes behind one of the huge rocks that mark the top of this wonderful hill.  After that we wandered along its broad summit ridge before finally descending from Carn Tionail and walking back to the car.  As I say, it was a long day and a lot of it over very rough ground.  It was amazing and when the sun finally came out in the early evening, it made for a perfect way to end the holiday.

Rough ground below Ben Loyal

Rough ground below Ben Loyal

Evening sun, Ben Loyal

Evening sun, Ben Loyal

Of course, it’s been hot and sunny most of  the time since we returned to Irvine and so despite being pretty busy this week, we still decided to get out walking again …this time to walk a couple of hills in the Southern Highlands.  One of them, Cam Chreag (884 m), sits quite a long way off the road and so we’ve never visited it before.  The walk in to it though was along a good track and through some stunning scenery with the Munro Ben Challum rising steeply above us on the other side of the glen.

Like many of the hills in this area, Cam Chreag is a mainly grass covered hill in the form of a long broad ridge.  The ridge is littered with small crags and rocky outcrops.  By the time we gained this height it was a very warm and sunny day …the early morning cloud having disappeared to leave a hazy and hot landscape.  It was so peaceful up there, no other walkers and far enough from any road to be perfectly quiet …and we had time enough to lie down in the sun and have a kip for almost an hour …perfect.  The route back took us over a neighbouring hill Beinn Chaorach ….another high grass covered ridge offering easy and relaxing walking.  It turned out to be another long day though …almost eleven and a half hours this time and in the heat we were both pretty tired.

Ben Challum from Beinn Chaorach

Ben Challum from Beinn Chaorach

On Cam Chreag

On Cam Chreag

Ben Challum from Cam Chreag

Ben Challum from Cam Chreag

Apart from the walk, this week has been one of painting and delivering and collecting paintings.  On Wednesday we popped down to the Waverley Gallery in Prestwick to collect four of the new small postcard sized paintings that they were framing for me.  Then up to the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock to collect the paintings that had been in the ‘Six into 12 plus Hornell’ exhibition.  Today we’ve been up to the Blairmore Gallery near Dunoon to deliver some new paintings and collect some old ones.  It was another hot day and the drive along the Firth of Clyde and the short hop on the ferry over to Dunoon, was very enjoyable.   Tomorrow we’re heading up to The Strathearn Gallery in Crieff to deliver five paintings for their forthcoming ‘summer exhibition’. ….Full details to come.

Finally, just to let you know that a number of the artists at the Courtyard Studios in Irvine will be holding an informal ‘Open Studios Weekend’ on Saturday / Sunday 2nd / 3rd June, as part of the Irvine Harbourside Cultural Festival.  There are a lot of events being organised at venues along the harbour so it should make for an interesting few days.  Our studios will be open:

Saturday 2nd June,11am – 5pm

Sunday   3rd June, 12 noon – 5pm

Entry as usual is free.

Artists taking part include, Alison Thomas (painting), Anita Groves (ceramics), Margaret Carslaw (painting), David Reid (painting), Sheila Kerr (jewellery), Chick McGeehan (painting), Brian Craig (painting & photography) and myself, Keith Salmon (painting).

So then, if you live in the region why not head down to the harbour side in Irvine that weekend and call into the Courtyard Studios …it is a great opportunity to see and buy the latest work.