Reflections

I live in Lochcarron a village, in the North-West Highlands of Scotland.  Wikipedia gives a little more information, it states that: 'The name Lochcarron is also applied to the collection of small settlements strung out along Loch Carron, a sea loch on the west coast of Ross and Cromarty. The village stretches for almost 2 miles, meandering along the shore of the loch.

It's another glorious summer evening and I know I am very lucky to live such a beautiful place and to be able to take time to paint it.  There is inspiration wherever I look, all of these photos were taken within feet of my studio.

Slumbay

Tamsin on the beach

 

Double rainbow at Attadale

The light is always changing.  Since I started this post it's gone from warm and pinkish, to grey to back to warmer oranges, to deep ultramarine blue, so I take my camera and sketchbook with with me wherever I go and try to capture an impression of it.

Lately I've been fascinated with reflections, my biggest problem is trying to capture the ever changing light and colours of the landscape, and much of that is reflected in water

flowers on the loch

 Loch Carron is a sea loch, but that loch is often very still, mirroring the sky and the hills on the other side of the loch. Flowers on the loch, tries to capture that stillness. The sky is pale and the hills are mirrored in the loch

Granella on the shore

There is a large tidal range on the loch and, when the tide is low, puddles and pools of water reflect the light, Granella has been moored in Lochcarron for a vey long time.  In this painting I focused on the boat, and tried to capture the paleness of the sky and sea and the reflections on the beach

Wednesday sailing

Every Wednesday and Sunday, Lochcarron Sailing Club takes its dinghies on the loch.  The club has taught hundreds of children to sail over the years on waters which can be quite difficult.  Sailing in light airs (as in my painting) is quite a challenge.  I liked the contrast of the white boats against the dark greens and browns in the reflections on the loch

Lochcarron Triptych

This piece is of the village from the beach.  This is a triptych and I tried to portray the coolness of the day.  It was painted in August, after we'd had a lot of stormy weather, at one end of the village the skies were a dark grey.  Further along the sky and the reflections in the pools on the beach was a warm blue

Red sail on a still loch

 There is a small Drascome Lugger, which is moored on the loch, I've painted it in several weather conditions, this was when the loch was still and reflecting the hills on the southside of the water.  I liked the bright red of the sail against the dark green of the hills behind

Lochcarron village and Wellington's Nose

Fuar Tholl, is the moutain that dominates the eastern side of the village, it's a particularly striking mountain, which is also known as Wellington's Nose, because of its resemblance to a man's face.  This painting was also done in August on a still, clear day.  I tried to capture the rapidly moving clouds and the still waters of the loch

Sailing at Attadale

This painting was done on a Sunday, I painted the hills and the loch first.  It was painted rapidly from my studio window as I tried to capture the incredible light on the hills and reflected in the still waters of the loch.  I added the boats in later as I felt they added contrast and a focus to the centre of the painting

Kayakers

The final painting was done from a couple of sketches and some photographs taken from an upstairs window of my house.  I loved the bright colours of the kayaks reflected in the still clear waters of the loch.

I still don't think I've managed to adequately capture the beauty of this amazing place, but I do keep trying!  The trees are beginning to change colours now and I shall definitely be out trying to capture the flavour of this time of stunning beauty.