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.