In the 70's and 80's I used to read a comic called Look and Learn . It was a wonderful mix of factual articles and fantasy serials including the superlative Trigan Empire illustrated for a while by Oliver Frey. I remember reading a series about cowboy artists in particular Remington and Russell Apparently Russell kept his paints and brushes in an old sock in his saddlebag whilst out riding on the range. As a an impressionable young boy I was inspired to take my paints out in to the Essex countryside to paint from life. Both my sister and I did a lot of art - mainly colouring in competitions  which although leaving little scope for imagination, were a useful source of pocket money. We rarely tried painting from life. I got together some acrylics and some brushes and put them in a sock and went in search of a subject.
 I selected a copse a few miles from home and excitedly got my paints out . To my dismay I found I had lost my brushes. They had slipped through the weave of the sock! With nothing to paint with I trudged back dejectedly

 . At home I was in deep trouble for my foolishness, as brushes were deemed very expensive . Grown ups did not seem to realize the importance of the sock-  of emulating  my heroes from  the pages of Look and Learn.
 I never took my paints out again- at least until very recently. I remembered this sorry little tale as I was getting my paints out to paint the above picture and this time I hadn't lost my brushes!
The view is of Aonach Mor with a great wave of cloud rolling over the summit.

View of the famous Parallel Roads  in Glen Roy, sketched this week. These linear 'roads' puzzled 19th century scientists . Darwin thought that they might have been the coastline when sea levels were higher, but no  seashells were found.Eventually it was postulated that they  were left by the shoreline of inland lakes formed when the valley was dammed by a glacier.Thus they were the first concrete evidence of the Ice Age and glaciation.Today Glen Roy is a beautiful valley stretching north from Roybridge.

Melantee early yesterday morning.

Melantee from the opposite direction  in the evening, half obscured by cloud.

Melantee and Ben Nevis this morning from Camaghael. These last three all done in my moleskine watercolour sketchbook.