En Plein Air in the Western Highlands

Just got back from a week's holiday in the western Highlands around Torridon on the west coast of Scotland! It was a great family holiday, and lovely to get away from it all in a starkly beautiful area. In 6 days we've covered something like 35 hilly miles of walking but there was still time for a bit of en plein air' work, as well as a fair bit of sketching. Some people have asked me what I mean by sketches, so I might just publish an example in a future post. For the time being here's a small but fully developed painting: 'Slioch', 11 x 7.25". It shows the mountain 'Slioch' towering balefully above Loch Maree just west of Kinlochewe. This mountain is 700,000 years old and was formed when the stresses of the collisions between continental plates pushed older rock over the top of younger rock - in depths of thousands of feet! Now that's power... This area feels ancient, and Slioch has an imposing dark colour which adds to the majesty. This was painted by the loch shore near Torridon with a bubbly and rapidly changing sky which seemed to highlight the mountain. The sun kept highlighting the far shore which I hope forms a bright centre to the painting and a striking highlight against the monolithic grandeur of the mountain. I just love the west coast! 'Slioch' is in my new 'Highland Gallery'. I'll show you one of my sketches as soon as I get it photographed! All the best, Rob.

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