Recent Paintings

On the way back from Acharacle- Loch Sunart

Grey Corries -Stob Choire Claurigh

Looking back towards Stob Choire Gaibhre

I haven't done much  outdoor sketching recently . The days are shorter and the weather has been  wet and windy; not ideal for painting watercolours. However I have done some paintings from photos .

The bottom two pictures are from photos taken on a beautiful afternoon in the Grey Corries two weeks ago . It is a long slog up fom the Leanachan Forest to the ridge but once there the views are stupendous. Because the Spean Bridge is hidden in the valley all one can see in every direction is rank after rank of pristine mountains. There are no towns, no houses, no roads nor indeed any sign of man's mark on the landscape visible. It is a wonderful  playground of glens, hills and forests and I'm lucky enough to live in the middle of it.

The top picture is a view from the road  between Strontian and Acharacle on another fine day.The road is single track and twists and turns along the lochside and through  beautiful oak woodlands. It is always a treat to drive there although concentrating on the road rather than the scenery can be a challenge !

One swallow doesn't make a Summer

On Tuesday I saw my first house martins at Acharacle  and today I saw a swallow.I was almost as excited as when I heard my first cuckoo  2 weeks ago.
 The leaves are starting to appear on some trees but the oaks are still bare. I sketched the trees above today; they are broken and battered but full of life, green with mosses and lichens, studded with bracket fungus  and with ferns growing in the crooks of the branches.

Today is election day.
.I'm not a fan of politics or politicians but for once there is more choice and the result is not a foregone conclusion.Perhaps if no party gets a clear majority they will have to co-operate with each other. Maybe they will even have to achieve a consensus. All will be revealed tomorrow!