Tag Archives: Loch Pooltiel

The sea, the sea and the dehumidifier

plein air oil sketch, Howgill fells

small oil sketch painted crouching in the bracken looking north across the Howgill fells, 6×8 inches on canvas.

Summer became a bit abstract … at least while painting in the hills. Maybe the real hills lost their appeal or I couldn’t hear them calling any more. After Cornwall the sea has been in my ears and a September visit to Skye with unexpectedly lovely weather meant that afternoons and, even better, evenings could be spent perched on the rocks wrestling with slippery oil paints while the silvery light took on pale colours. The first pictures were sketchy but the paintings changed as the days went on, leaving me a bit exasperated that I had to stop at the end of a week spent getting going. The sea project will be continued though.

plein air sketch of Loch Pooltiel

plein air sketch in oils carried out while sitting on the shore of Loch Pooltiel, Skye. Oil on canvas, 6×8 inches.

plein air sketch in oils, Loch Pooltiel, Skye

another go at painting Loch Pooltiel from the shore, 6×8 inches, oil on canvas.

Back at home our flat seemed to have developed its own affinity for water as the walls became damper and the atmosphere more dank. In October it was too cold to move around and the backs of some of my canvases were suspiciously mottled. Perhaps the sea business was going too far? It felt like it had invaded the fabric of my living space. Some kind of balance was required. I bought a small robot machine, a dehumidifier, and set it humming away to itself in the heart of the flat. It seemed to draw the sea into itself and I emptied waves of crashing water down the sink every evening. The Cornwall and Skye paintings looked brighter on their respective walls and the air felt warmer and more pleasant.

oil painting looking across Loch Pooltiel as the sun started to set

the first colours of the sunset reflected in Loch Pooltiel on a pale silver evening, 6×8 inches in oils on canvas.

small plein air painting in oils of a sunny day at Loch Pooltiel

Loch Pooltiel painted in the warmth of a sunny day, sitting on the rocks, oil on 6×8 inch canvas.

sunset and swelling waves at Loch Pooltiel, small plein air oil sketch on canvas

swelling waves at sunset. Oil on canvas, 6×8 inches, painted from the rocks at Loch Pooltiel.

second plein air painting of sunset at Loch Pooltiel

a second attempt to capture Loch Pooltiel’s waves at sunset, oil on canvas, 6×8 inches.

painting of Loch Pooltiel seascape, in oils on small canvas

Loch Pooltiel painted from the rocks before sunset, oil on 6×8 inch canvas.

So where is the sea? In Cornwall, in Skye, in my mind or inside a whirring water collector? Maybe all of these places. It certainly hasn’t gone away and the sketches feel as if they are leading somewhere. A large canvas is taking shape on the easel but it feels, at the moment, as if it’s treading water.

Loch Pooltiel, silvery evening light, quick plein air oil sketch

a final, hurried attempt to sketch the scene in the silvery evening light of Loch Pooltiel. Oil on canvas, 6×8 inches.

Over the sea and under the sky on the island of light

sea view from Neist Point, Skye

sparkling sea, looking west from Neist Point

We just came back from a trip to Skye. It’s a cold island with beautiful silver light that many artists try to capture in paint. I think Winifred Nicholson managed it but I haven’t seen any other painters succeed. Still, that was no reason not to attempt a few sketches of my own, with a possible bigger studio work in mind. The sea shimmered and the coral beach looked like a tropical lagoon.

This was a hasty plein air attempt carried out on a beach miles from anywhere. I sometimes wonder about such places, visited after hours of walking, and wonder if I’ll ever visit them again.

Dibidal beach sketch, mixed media

remote beach at Dibidal, Skye, with white sand and surf, mixed media, sketchbook work, approx 8 inches square

The tropical shores of Skye.

photo of coral beach, skye

the coral beach

On the Durinish coast there are many outlandish rock formations, including MacLeod’s forbidding Maidens, seen in the distance, waiting to surprise unwary travellers.

Sea of the Hebrides sketchbook painting

Sea of the Hebrides, mixed media sketchbook work, approx 8 inches square

On the way to the sparkling sea views near the lighthouse you pass through the otherworldly landscape of Waterstein.

at waterstein on the isle of skye

Waterstein

The local beach, virtually ignored by tourists, is just as delightful as any of Skye’s more famous locations.

loch Pooltiel watercolour sketch

watercolour sketch of loch Pooltiel painted from the beach at Glendale, approx 5 inches square