30 in 30: Day 30 - Scottish Landscape

Scottish Landscape

9" x 11" - acrylic on paper - SOLD

When I visited Scotland last June, one of the things that struck me were the rich and varied blues, purples and greens I saw in the landscape. This painting is based on several photos I took, but is more a memory of those colour sensations. And finally, this is painting #30 of the 30 paintings in 30 day challenge. Done. Phew!

30 in 30: Day Seven

Day Seven 

20" x 30" - acrylic on canvas - $400

This is today's painting, number seven in the 30 paintings in 30 day challenge. I will admit, however, that I have been working on this for a few weeks and today made the last change, for better or for worse. The composition was inspired by one of the photos I took on my Scottish road trip last June, though at this point I can't tell which one as I have simplified the composition so much that the specific landscape elements have all but disappeared. Oh well. Below are two earlier stages. 

This was stage one which I lived with until earlier this week. I wasn't totally sure about all the red and the black, but I did quite like the top third of the painting.  Here is a detail....

 In stage two above, I toned down the red (to a muddy burgundy), eliminated the black and painted that area over with a toned down grey-green.  I also changed the sky, and the colouring of the top of the hill.  After a considering this version over the last few days I decided to paint over over the grey-green with a toned down blue-violet, and I think it's now finished. I will rename it as soon as I can figure out where in Scotland it, in some small way reflects. 
If you have any thoughts about what I should or should not have done, I would love to hear them! Cheers!

The Scottish Landscape

To move, to breathe, to fly, to float, to gain all while you give, 

To roam the roads of lands remote: To travel is to live.  

Hans Christian Anderson

I spent the last week of June travelling in Scotland, a place I have wanted to visit for a long time. It was a short and fast trip in which we covered 1200 miles in 7 days, starting outside of Glasgow, travelling north and west to Skye, then up along the western coast to the northern coast and then down through the middle to Inverness, and finally Edinburgh. We stayed off the busy roads (safer too as we were on the wrong side!) and revelled in the grandeur of the coastal and highland landscape. My camera was a poor tool to record what I saw, but we were moving fast, saying 'we'll come back someday', and spend more time. 

I am now sifting through my hundreds of photos trying to figure out how to respond and interpret what I saw in paint, using line, shape and colour. What the photos can't convey is the incredible sense of space from so many vistas. Sounds like a challenge, doesn't it. 

 In the meantime, here are some more photos.....enjoy!