Return Of Daylight

After months of running to and from work in the dark I was thrilled to see the first glimmers of sunrise as I reached Fort William one morning last week.
 I don't mind runnng in the dark as such - Running along in the pitch black (and often lashing rain and wind), hood up, music or radio on, head torch illuminating a small patch  of ground in front of you ( hopefully  enough to allow one to dodge deep puddles, slippy cow dung or cows themselves lying  on the track) is strangely comforting. One feels cocooned by the darkness.If there is a good programme on radio 4 I can be transpoted to another world, leaving my legs to dutifully trudge through the miles. Whereas one might think that running 10 miles in the dark and cold would be physically hard there can be a sense of sensory deprivation; the rain and the wind (muffled by ear phones, hat and hood) presenting little in the way of auditory stimulation, and the intense blackness of the night rendering anything but the patch of rain studded light from the head torch invisible. Sometimes,but rarely in cloudy wet Lochaber the sky is clear - then one is dazzled by the moon and the stars, a beautiful aerial display marred only by the light pollution from Fort William. More often ones surroundings are a uniform black.
But now all that is about to change ! The days are rapidly getting longer. Yesterday on the run to work I coud clearly see the Ben Nevis through the gloom . Soon there will be proper daylight and birdsong - time to ditch the head phones and enjoy the dawn chorus!
In addition to this we have been having some lovely crisp cold weather  recently .The top picture is from a photo I took on the road to Arisaig last week . Below that is another sketch of Ben Nevis fom Banavie

Plein Air Painting

 I had a day off today so I began painting this view of Loch Linnhe from a photo. However for once it was nice outside - it wasn't raining and there was a glimpse of blue skies and warm sunshine.  I went up to the Commando Memorial and painted the stunning view across to the Grey Corries.As always it was a challenge painting the light effects because they were constantly changing.The weak sun glinting on the snow was exquisite.

 After completing that I went a little way down the Gairlochy road and painted the view to the west showing Stob a Ghrianain the far end of Druim Fada . It looked gorgeous with its fine cap of snow. It is a hill I have never climbed -another one for the to do list.

Then I had time for a run in the forest before dark (and the almost inevitable onset of rain).

Back to work tomorrow.

Ben Nevis from Banavie

This weekend we have had a lot of weather! Snow and wind. We went for a run in the forest battling it out against the driving snow. We nipped in to the Pine Marten cafe for a coffee which was very welcome. Running home with the wind at our backs was far easier.
Today the weather was more clement, and we were surprised that there was only a thin covering of snow on the hills- not much more than in our back garden, I suppose it must have all blown off. I did this quick sketch of Ben Nevis from Banavie. As is so often the case the top of the mountain was hidden in cloud and the other details kept appearing and disappearing in the murk.

Folio Competition

 Anybody who visits my house will realise that I love books as the the walls are lined with shelves crammed with books. My poor wife wonders where it will end as I keep buying more and we only have a small house! One of my ambitions would be to write and illustrate  books .
 The main reaon that I haven't done a blog post  for a few weeks is because I have been working on an entry for the Folio book illustration competition . Folio are publishers of beautiful hardback books. and to be able to illustrate one of their books would be a great honour.
I recently discovered that they have an annual  competition; the brief for this year's competition was to create three illustrations and a cover for Michael Morpugo's War Horse. I really enjoyed researching and painting the pictures although it took a lot longer to do than I anticipated. The chance of getting anywhere with the competition is slim but it was fun to try.
Here are some of my recent sketches.

 This is a view from town with a covering of snow on Melantee and Lidl's supermarket in the foreground painted last week

 Above is a sketch of the road back from Kingairloch ; the road is squeezed between dramatic cliffs and the sea, it's a single track road with not much room for error .A farmer told me that he didn't get post for 3 days last week because the road ( which has a hill at the end ) was too icy for the postman to get through. Fortunately the weather was much milder when I was there.

Glencoe from a photo taken a few weeks ago.

A Sunny Day

 After what seems like weeks of rain yesterday was frosty and bright. Snowfall overnight on the hills meant that he ski slopes were open . In the morning the sunlight caught the steep eastern slope of Aonach Mor; I sketched the above view from our house.
 Later we had a wonderful  run up to the north face of Ben Nevis, which look magnificent with its plastering of  fresh snow.
 Meanwhile in other parts of Britain there was extensive flooding . We are very lucky that despite a  high annual rainfall, flooding rarely affects our area.

Today it was dull and then wet again. We stopped for a coffee on the way to Inverness and I painted this view of Loch Ness..

Glen Etive again

Hills between Glen Etive and Glencoe

I had another trip to Glen Etive on Thursday. It was cold ,windy and  wet. Passing through Glencoe it was very moody with cloud shifting across the hills and intermittent vicious showers of sleety snow. It was dramatic to see but I was quite happy to be in a warm vehicle rather than climbing the mountains.

More paintings

Waterfall in Glencoe

Red deer hind in Glen Etive

 The estates often feed in the winter so some deer loose their fear of people and vehicles. This can make driving hazardous but does mean you can take good photographs. The picture above is from a photo I took on my phone last Friday. Up close the red deer often look quite bedraggled . Their size is impressive and  they have a regal bearing but I think roe deer are sleeker and more beautiful.