Melantee

Very quick painting of the view from the office window - the only sketch I found time to do this weekend.The snow is starting to disappear from the lower hills close to Fort William although there is still plenty in Spean Bridge.

More beautiful frosty days and moonlit nights . Yesterday as I jogged past Inverlochy castle on the way to  work there was the first glimmer of dawn from behind the Ben- a turquoise blue tinge to the dark sky- and I heard birds singing. This was almost a dawn chorus and must be the first sign of spring on its way ! This evening after a busy Saturday at work there was the most gorgeous sunset. The whole of Loch Linnhe was ablaze with a brilliant orange red reflected from the sky  which was also suffused with pinks and purples. I took some photos on my phone which I would like to paint  but the colours look garish and outlandish. If I didn't know otherwise  I would have said that a filter had been used to get some weird special effect.

 A lovely day like today draws walkers and climbers to the hills . Sadly all too often this leads to the familiar drone of the rescue helicopter over Fort William . There were at least two incidents in Lochaber this afternoon, I hope and pray that those injured are all OK. Thank goodness for the wonderful mountain rescue team .

For the last week the weather has been stable - some snow but mainly dry and frosty and very cold. Running has been harder work with the snow cover and icy patches but it has been gorgeous ; starry clear nights and  sunny days . I had to go to Glenuig on Tuesday . The combination of coast and mountains is always beautiful but in the snow it was out of this world. I did a quick sketch from a layby on the way back. The sky was turquoise and there were ultramarine shadows on the hills. It would have been great to spend the whole afternoon sketching but sadly I had to get back to the office.
On Wednesday morning running to work before dawn there was an amazing halo to the full moon just like an Atkinson Grimshaw painting. I tried to memorize the view as it would have made a tremendous though technically  difficult watercolour.

Painted this view of the route home from work. It's from a photo taken at sunrise and is to be a present for a friend.
The last few days have been very snowy. We have had some wonderful runs in the forest this weekend lovely powdery snow underfoot, crisp, bright weather. The mountains look amazing. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful area. A tougher artist would be painting the views en plein air but it is just a tad too cold for me , I prefer to keep moving!

Today I had the day off . We ran to Gairlochy and then along the canal . The weather wasn't good - bitterly cold, high winds and showers of driving snow. Running into the head wind was tough and so we popped in to the Moorings Hotel at Banavie for a warming bowl of soup. Above is a quick sketch of the view from their window . The hills disappeared behind a snow shower when we arrived but reappeared shortly afterwards.The lamp post looks incongruous but it was there so I included it. Running home through the forest was far more comfortable with the wind behind us.
 Back to work tomorrow.

Sketch form the Pine Martin Cafe at the Nevis Range ten days ago - lots of snow but the cable car was not running due to the high winds- hence the man snowboarding at the bottom of the mountain bike trail. We ran through the forest and warmed up with an excellent Americano coffee topped with cream in the cafe.

View near Arisaig 22/1/15

We have been having some wintry weather over the last few weeks.As is normal in this part of the world no two days are the same. One day of high winds and driving cold rain will be followed by clear frosty weather or snow. Last week I had  my hardest run to work yet . A terrific headwind at times brought me to a standstill , the rain was unrelenting and ferocious. I was in serious danger of hypothermia but knew that there was a hot shower and coffee waiting for me at work. In contrast the next few days were dry underfoot but very cold. The slope up to the Nevis range access road was thick with ice on Friday and despite taking great care I slipped onto my bum and slivered half way down the slope ! Today it was back to rain and wind.