Autumn on The Union Canal – Watercolour in a Watercolour Moleskine
Just a small painting to try to capture the season’s colours while keeping my hand in at the same time. This is about 1 mile from our house in the towards Edinburgh
latest updates: Scotland
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2010Nov 24
tags: Scotland | Union Canal -
2010Oct 7
tags: Cairnpapple Hill | Scotland
Towards Edinburgh from Cairnpapple Hill – Watercolour in a Watercolour Moleskine
This is the view, towards Edinburgh, from the top of Cairnpapple Hill. Cairnpapple Hill has been used by the ancients for almost 4,000 years as a place of worship and a burial site. It is situated in the Central Lowlands of Scotland near the towns of Bathgate and Torphichen. Although not the highest point in this area the summit, at just over 300m gives impressive views. In this case Arthur’s Seat, in Edinburgh can dominates the view even at around 18 miles and, on a clear day, North Berwick Law is visible, to the east 37 miles away and the isle of Arran to the west is visible at a greater distance of 65 miles. The main reason is the flatness of the land around this landmark giving these unobstructed views which is probably why it was chosen in the first place
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2010Oct 6
tags: Orkney | Scotland | standing stones | Stenness
Orcadian Sunset – Watercolour in a Watercolour Moleskine
It never really gets too dark around midsummer in the Orkney Islands. This is from a photograph I took some years ago just after Midsummer Day. It is 11.30pm. The building, in the foreground, is the Standing Stones Hotel where we stayed. It is named after one of the many Neolithic features on the Orkney Islands, in this case – the Standing Stones of Stenness. Follow this link and you will see the stones as well as the hotel in the background:
http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/standingstones/
Although my scene looks placid it was a different picture the next day as the wind had risen and there were huge waves on this small loch. It gets very windy in Orkney. We were due to take a small ferry to Sanday later that morning, which is one of the remoter islands. Fortunately the wind dropped and my breakfast stayed down.
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2010Sep 2
tags: Edinburgh Festival | Scotland
Its Festival Time – Ink and Watercolour in a Watercolour Moleskine
Another Edinburgh Festival draws to a close. The Festival started after WW2 and has grown into, arguably, the largest arts festival globally. Although it is known as “The Edinburgh Festival” there are, actually, many different gatherings. The whole of the city is transformed for three weeks and its population increases dramatically. WE are lucky, staying on the outskirts of Edinburgh, as we can pick and choose when to visit but it can be a bit wearing for folks who live and work in the town.
This is a view of East Prince’s Street Gardens, lit up with powerful lights to highlight the Scott Monument. This was a bit of a challenge but I think I’ve managed to convey the general mood.
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2010Aug 21
tags: Aberlady | Coastal Defences | East Lothian | Scotland
Near Aberlady Nature Reserve, East Lothian – Watercolour in a Watercolour Moleskine
This flat sandy area lies to the East of Edinburgh. The background shows the distant shores of Fife across the Firth of Forth while the headland, on the right, is where the famous Gullane golf courses are. Just beyond these lies the Muirfield Golf Course which is home to the “Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers” where the Open is sometime played.
I was speaking to a friend, recently, who has suffered from back pain. I told her about the large concrete blocks which litter this area and mentioned that my mother had fallen against one, in 1942 and injured her back. She suffered from back trouble from then on. You understand I was trying to cheer my friend up, nice guy that I am. These blocks, measuring about 8ft-10ft each way, were scattered along this coastline to deter enemy landing craft. This must have constituted a huge effort. Many of these obstacles are still with us and have become part of the local scenery, reminding us of those dark days. My painting shows just three of them.
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2010Aug 20
tags: Fishing Boats | Mull | Scotland
Routine Maintenance, Isle of Mull – Watercolour and Acrylic in a Watercolour Moleskine
From a photograph taken earlier this year. When the locals need to carry out routine maintenance and repairs on their small fishing boats , rather than hire expensive lifting devices, they merely allow the larger “Spring Tides” to lift their craft above the normal high water mark. This gives them about 10 days to do the work and, of course, they cannot get the boats back into the water before the next large tide. No problem. Life passes at a leisurely pace here. They reckon that there are about 12 words, in the Gaelic language which mean the same as the Spanish “Mañana” but none of them convey the same sense of urgency .
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2010Aug 8
tags: Almondell Park | Scotland
An Old Friend – Watercolour and Gouache in a Watercolour Moleskine
Nothing special about this except it was started last Sunday on a sketching trip to Almondell Park. I had planned to leave the main path, next to the suspension bridge which is at the play area/barbecue facility but the noise – and the mouth watering smell of grilling burgers suggested I should go no further. This is the scene, just before crossing the bridge. The canopy of trees is so dense, at this time of year, I didn’t realise that it had been raining heavily until I left the shelter of this tree, one I have sketched many times. I wondered why the smell of food had ceased and the children had become quieter.
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2010Jul 28
tags: Scotland | Stormy weather
After the Storm – Gouache in a Watercolour Moleskine
Done with a limited palette of three colours, this is from a photograph of Scotland’s west coast just south of Oban. The prevailing weather is from the west – in this case the right hand side of the page I’ve tried to show how quickly things can change over here. One minute there is bright sunshine then a squall flies in and it is hard to escape the heavy rain which is usually accompanied by strong winds. Then, as quickly as the weather moved in it becomes clear again with the remnants of the storm vanishing eastwards. I can just about smell the clean, clear air resulting from this quick cleansing. Goes to show why we have so many green landscapes.
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2010Jul 14
tags: North Berwick | Scotland
North Berwick Golf Course, West Links – Watercolour in a Watercolour Moleskine
This is the first hole of North Berwick’s West Links or Course. The history of the club goes back to the 1830′s so its well established. This hole is named “Point Garry – Out which means your tee shot is aimed at the point which is just on the very right of this painting. Just over this hill is the green with the beach adjacent on its right – a true seaside links course. The first drive can be a terrifying experience – especially when there are folks with sketchbooks just over the wooden boundary fence. This course has evolved in a true natural way. It has been fitted into the landscape rather than the land being altered to suit the course. There are two outstanding holes here. The 13th, called “Pitt” needs two good shots the second across a stone wall just in front of the green. The 15th, the “Redan” is 190 yards long and is a brute of a par 3. Arnold Palmer, no less, described this as one of his all time favourites. The hole has been copied all over the world. The word “links” has come to mean the useless piece of land between good farming ground and the sea – the piece that links the two. Changed days! It costs £80.00 for a round during the week. Some piece of useless land! The most famous links are those of the Old Course of St Andrews, just north across the Firth of Forth and where this week’s Open Championship will be contested.
I used a bit of artistic license in this painting as my short video of North Berwick shows.
In order to get some contrast between the building in the distance and the sky I added some more trees and made the sky more stormy. You won’t tell – will you?
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2010Jul 8
tags: Angus | Glen Clova | Red Craig | Scotland
Red Craig, Glen Clova – Watercolour in a Watercolour Moleskine
This was the first “real hill” I ever climbed – at the age of six. We camped at the foot of this modest hill, at the start of Scotland’s Grampian Mountains, and ascended it that evening. Its about 2000 ft high. I remember two things about that climb. There was the remains of an old forest halfway up. The wood, left was a dry fossilised grey colour and looked as if it had been there for centuries although a great storm, in the 1950′s, flattened huge amounts of trees and this was probably part of that. There also seemed to be thousands of rabbits which fled, in every direction, as we approached. Strange the things we remember. These days the rabbits have been much eradicated although they are on the increase while fresh forests, planted soon after my epic achievement, are now filling the land. Massive amounts of trees were planted after the war to replace the thousands needed for the war effort.
My scene shows another phenomenon, not entirely Scottish. One of the reasons for the huge amount of rainfall is the prevailing west winds, from the Atlantic, sweep up the hills resulting in increased precipitation. I believe this is known as “Orographic” precipitation resulting in “Adiabatic” cooling and condensation – is that correct, John? Whatever it’s called it can get very wet and windy as the scene tries to show. Just after the initial sketches for this painting, the sky darkened and the wind increased followed by a few inches of the wet stuff. Scotland, especially west facing Scotland, doesn’t have a climate. It has weather.
This is a painting study reproducing the lovely work from a...
