Grey clouds heavy with rain hang over loch Fyne and the sun remains hidden for hours on end. Walking in a Scottish rainforest, rain drenched oak and beech trees bend their branches towards the moss covered ground while leaves begin to cascade into the fast flowing river. We tread carefully along the footpath, swallows fly low and fast – catching their last meal before the end of the day. As summer becomes autumn they will leave us for warmer lands.
A stone circle appears in Temple Wood, in Kilmartin Glen, close to standing stones and cairns. A ritual landscape with hidden meanings, still not fully understood.Rock art has been discovered in this ancient place of mountains and moors – was it art for arts sake or has it a deeper message. This is a mystery.
I touch the moss, I touch the bark, I touch the stones.
At last the clouds disperse and give way to gentle sunlight and a hint of pale blue sky. The golden leaves glisten and the mountains reflect their beauty in the loch.
The landscape is an enigma to me, a complete contrast to the chalk hills and ridgeways of Dorset but the moors and forests remind me of the Studland Peninsular in the Purbeck Hills where the heath meets the dunes. Where dark green conifers mingle with silver birch and hazel. Brown bracken covers the heather, no longer purple. This is a place I am always inspired to paint but maybe the muted tones of a wet autumn in Scotland and wild skies will somehow find their way into my art. We shall see.