Looking for Blue Sky
Back in early March, we found ourselves with time off mid-week and the lure of blue sky only a couple of hours away in Glencoe.
Who doesn’t want a slice of blue sky with their mid-morning coffee?
Mesmerising Moor
I’m under the spell of Rannoch Moor every time I visit.
Grasses bending in the wind, heathers, pools of water reflecting the sky, and that day the low hills seemed to skim the March clouds.
I imagine this place has changed little since the Ice Age ended. I am in awe of the elements and time that formed this landscape, its beauty, power and indifference to mankind.
Sketching the Buachaille
We had coffee at the Kings House Hotel, the huge windows framing The Buachaille.
A crack opened in the clouds and we glimpsed our coveted blue sky. I sketched briefly on my home-made concertina sketchbook: the outline of hills, the suggestion of a road, sometimes in pencil sometimes in my new toys (tools!) …
W&N watercolour markers.
Blue sky in the west
The largest patch of blue sky was in the west towards Loch Etive, so we headed off on the narrow single-track road to Glen Etive.
You might recognise the narrow road from the iconic photo of James Bond by his Aston Martin in the film Skyfall.
There is something eternal about the place, like time stands still. Maybe it’s because there are very few human elements to anchor a date, and that really fuels my imagination and inspires me.
At last Loch Etive kept the promise of blue sky and treated us to beautiful sunshine and warm temperature. We left our coats in the car.
After weeks of low light and busy days, our day trip felt like lotion on dry skin. I felt such elation at the warmth of the sun and the wall-to-wall blue sky.
Flow
A day like this creates flow
It reignited the hope that spring and longer days, are just around the corner. What that means is the vibe of the experience, the colours, shapes and sometimes textures appear in my work.
The paintings Roam Free and Elation came to fruition a few weeks later.
Fortinghall Art Exhibition
You can see both these paintings, and more, at Fortingall Art Summer Exhibition from Saturday 22nd July to Sunday 6th August, 2023 at the Molteno Hall, Fortingall, Perthshire PH15 2LW.