Sketch from Torlundy Mart today. I've cropped some of the trucks and vehicles in the foreground . It was a dull cold day until the evening when the sun came out and we enjoyed a jog up towards the north face of Ben Nevis .
Yesterday we had a great run from Bridge of Orchy to Fort William, cold and dull weather but the Glencoe mountains looked dramatic and moody . We met several other members of the WHW family.

One of my favourite places in Scotland - the Braeriach plateau in the Cairngorms. I 'painted' this picture some years ago in coloured pencil. The plateau is a vast tundra like area above 3000 feet. Its Eastern edge( shown here) precipitously drops away into the Lairig Ghru. It's one of the most dramatic views I know.Many times I have jogged across the stony expanse and continued onwards on to Angel's Peak and Cairn Toul. Happy Days!

Two pictures I painted today, the second is loosely based on the southern end of the Lairig Ghru, the first is entirely made up, so neither are sketches done from life.. The advantage of making up a scene is that it forces one to make decisions on tone and lighting rather than slavishly copying reality.Both pictures started off as watecolours but I added  acrylic body colour.I had difficulty deciding the tone of the river in the lower picture and I don't think I've got it quite right.

At last it seems that Spring is coming- there have been some lovely balmy sunny days. The above shows the view down Loch Linnhe whilst waiting for the Corran Ferry on Wednesday. Waiting for the ferry is always a good opportunity for sketching although  time is  very limited- the ferry runs every 30 minutes and doesn't wait.

Sketch from memory of stormy weather over the Grey Corries.There was hint  of sunny blue skies beyond the violent squally showers that swept over the mountains. I received a good soaking as per normal. It was not a good time for sketching out of doors so I painted this at home once I was warm and dry.

Yesterday I ran from Fort Augustus to Inverness along the Great Glen Way. It's the first time I have done this. It's actually a very nice route with lots of variety and scenic beauty- forest and upland as well as lochside. It's also very undulating, so I was quite slow. . The weather was pretty dire- cold heavy rain interspersed with snow showers and the occasional dry interlude. I became quite chilled at Drumnadrochit after stopping for a coffee, but fortunately I was carrying extra clothes which I duly put on  and soon warmed up on the climb beyond the village.
.All winter it has been extremely wet but relatively mild and last week I saw my first frogspawn of the year.  Now it has turned very wintry just to mark the onset of Spring!.On the way back from Inverness the snow started in earnest making driving conditions quite treacherous.
 The above picture was painted today from the Commando monument. As ever the cloud was shifting and the light changing minute by minute making it very difficult to paint a consistent picture .Hopefully I have captured some essence of snow covered hills half obscured by cloud.

Guillemot found at Kinlochleven. There appeared to be nothing wrong with this bird so after a meal of sprats it was released. I believe that they struggle to take off from flat land - normally either launching themselves from cliffs or taking off from water- so if they land in a field or as in this case in  a village they are unable to get airborne. Despite being one of our commonest seabirds most people are not familiar with them close up. My poor sketch certainly doesn't do justice to the beautiful grey plumage which is just darker than dove grey (guillemot grey?)  .

This picture s a bit of a mess, but was painted last Sunday in fairly wild conditions with  the wind almost blowing the sketch book out of my hands. I had to stop painting when the rain got too heavy. Perhaps such a sketch incorporating the effects of the weather conditions in its making is a truer record of reality than a more measured execution from the comforts of a car or building.
Last Saturday I took the train to Bridge of Orchy and had a good jog back to Fort William along the West Highland Way.It's the first time I have done this route this year so I'm quite behind with my training.  At the start I felt tired and slow ,but before long the trail worked its magic on me . I began to enjoy myself despite fairly grim weather- persistent rain and low cloud.. I arrived in Fort William decidely damp but happy in plenty of time for the 5.37 train home. A soak n the bath and a good dram rounded off a very satisfying day.

A picture I painted from a photo taken on a sea kayaking holiday on the West Coast . Why have I posted this ?  I was really sad to hear that Tony Benn the politician died today. He was a man of real conviction who gave up a peerage in order to stand as an M.P. . He was  always entertaining to listen to on Radio 4 especially on "Any Questions?" even if one didn't always agree with everything he said. Anyway my only connection with him was landing in his garden with my Dad in our Canadian canoe about 35 years ago.  It was one of the great adventures of my childhood .It was just like one of the stories I loved reading at the time ( many in books with thick yellowing pages  and fascinating line illustrations from my Dad's schooldays) . We canoed from our home town to the mysterious Osea Island in the Blackwater estuary, camped on the beach , cooked over a driftwood fire and slept under the stars.It all went perfectly well until we attempted to return ; it proved impossible to paddle into the strong headwind that had developed . Instead we were forced to canoe towards the open sea but made landfall at Stansgate Abbey an isolated house and home of Tony Benn.The great man was not in but his housekeeper allowed us to use the telephone to get my Mum to come and pick us up.
 In retrospect we were  lucky not to have got into difficulties .The estuary was very rough, not a good place to be in in an open boat. For me though it was a formative experience- my father with his tales of canoeing expeditions and cycling exploits from his youth and trips such as this , instilled in me a sense of adventure that  has lead me to spend an awful lot of my free time as an adult exploring the mountains of Scotland and abroad.  Thanks Dad.

 Two sketches of a similar view from the Inverness Road.One done today , the other  on a misty day a month ago.
 I have had a busy week and consequently not much time for sketching . I was out to Kilchoan on Monday; for once the the weather was good and the scenery was achingly beautiful. None of the trees are in leaf yet but the buds are forming , the birch trees have an even deeper red tinge to their thin branches than normal . I longed to paint the rugged coastline but had no time . Similarly on Tuesday in Glen Garry the loch was an incredible deep blue and there was hardly a cloud in the sky but I had to rush on past. It's so annoying when work interferes with my sketching habit! Now the weekend is here the weather has returned to its normal form -rain and wind, still the couple of days of good weather were great whilst they lasted.

A dull rainy day in Glen Nevis, still a stunning place though. This was sketched from the Braveheart car park.

View from the Commando Memorial looking north west, sketched on Friday but added to at home so possibly not the most accurate depiction of the scene.
 Today  a DVD by David Curtis arrived in the post. He is one of my favourite contemporary watercolourists .I'm amazed how he manages to apply wet paint so loosely but accurately , producing realistic pictures that also show off the beauty of watercolour- gorgeous variegated washes and glowing glazes, soft edges and sharp accents He must also be physically very tough painting outside in all weather except the pouring rain.To me he seems to just strike the balance between looseness and brevity versus detail and accuracy. I struggle to make my pictures loose and not to overwork them, I have so much to learn.
This scene sketched late this afternoon in Fort William

This is a sketch done from memory of the view in my rear view mirror as I drove back from Strontian. I would have loved to have stopped and painted the view there and then but I was trying to catch the 6.30 ferry.The sun was illuminating the western hills with a golden glow whilst a storm was travelling fast up the glen. The waters of the loch reflected the dark forbidding clouds.

Quick sketch of Loch Linnhe - rain again. This was done in my moleskine watercolour sketchbook.
 I'm always in a quandary as how to render the pale bark of the birch trees, painting around the trunks is difficult and time consuming when sketching, using masking fluid also requires time for the stuff to dry. Wax resist might work but recently I have either been adding acrylic back a home or as here using distress markers. The picket fence white will produce an off white when placed over washes. When you use the pen it takes a few seconds for the whiteness to develop so at first you cannot tell where you've drawn.I also like some of the other colours- they are water soluble so you can blend them and the colours are muted so  not too insistent. In the sketch above I added some of the dark tones in the sky with the beige distress marker. I'm sure its cheating but when sketching I'm always looking for short cuts to apply colour or tone quickly. I sometimes use derwent graphtint pencils  dry, then blend with a brush and water.The problem with these pens and pencils is that they lead to sketch kit inflation - not so good when you are running with a rucksack. A small watercolour set is still the most versatile, and lightweight way of rendering colour sketches.

Two pictures painted yesterday. The first a view of Loch Arkaig, the second a quick sketch of the Sound of Arisaig. The weather was typical of winter on the west coast. We awoke to some slushy snow and a bitterly cold wind.As the morning wore on the sun came out and it was actually quite warm but then heavy rain returned in the afternoon. Then when I was at Arisaig the calm returned and it became  a beautiful evening. What ever the weather the scenery is stunning. I feel extremely privileged to be able to live and work in what must be one of the most beautiful places in Britain. The temptation to stop and paint is sometimes overwhelming !

Yesterday we ran from the Braveheart car park to Kinlochleven and back.For once it was a nice day and hardly rained at all. The Mamores looked magnificent with a good coating of snow. We met some friends just before Kinlochleven who were running from Tyndrum to Fort William - we were happy with 28 miles  rather than 43! Today we had an easy day H helped out with a race up to the vitrified fort whilst I sat in the car and  painted the above picture. After an initial heavy shower of rain the sun came out. The view is of the south side of the Ben from Glen Nevis I use my A4 moleskine watercolour sketchbook. I'm not sure if the moleskine paper is as well suited to the larger size sketchbooks- it doesn't hold layers of washes very well overlying ones  push the lower layers out of the way. However it is probably just a case of getting used to the paper and adapting one's technique accordingly
Over the years I have used a variety of sketchbooks. I used to like the smaller moleskine notebooks ( not the drawing sketchbooks which have a coating which doesn't hold washes well). The notebooks have thin paper which can take light washes and are good for ink, I quite like the charm of these little sketches:

The originals of the above are 14cm by 9cm.
More recently I have used watercolour moleskines of the same small size.

At the moment my favourite is the A5 Moleskine watercolour books however I did have a Strathmore sketchbook with  grey toned paper which I loved using especially with watercolour pencils.

Another view from the track on the commute home. This one sketched last summer in watercolour and watercolour pencils.

The track between home and the Nevis Range access Road. I'm so glad that the mornings are becoming lighter after months of running to work in the pitch dark. It will be a while before I can run home in daylight too. This sketch was done last Autumn when the colours of the hills were particularly beautiful with vivid hues of red orange and brown.