Gathering Inspiration: Scotland
Travel is fundamental to my creative practice. I have found a lot of joy in turning the places I have visited into works of art. This year as I have dived deeper into a regular and consistent painting practice, I have dived into my archive of photographs from past trips - many of which are languishing in file folders and external hard drives - and I have also tried to gather inspiration on the camping and hiking adventures we have had this year. Most of my paintings have been landscapes, but there are a number of still lifes sprinkled throughout the year.
Walk along the river in Fort William Scotland.
In October, I was lucky enough to take nearly three weeks off from work to travel to Scotland with my husband and my parents. The trip was a long time in the making, but all of the kudos have to go to my mom for the planning. I didn’t have any real agenda for this trip, which might be the first time in my life that I traveled with practically no plan. It has been a busy year thus far, and our departure date in October practically came out of nowhere. Honestly my only goals while away were to:
Rest and recharge, top of my list was being able to sleep.
I wanted to eat really good food and explore the local brew scene (which for me was hard ciders).
I wanted to take lots of pictures.
I generally do not paint or draw when I am on a vacation. Often I will bring some supplies with me thinking that I will want to draw or paint, but it honestly doesn’t happen. This trip was no different. I brought a small homemade sketchbook and a few pencils and black pens in the hopes that maybe inspiration would strike, but it did not. I just spent the trip moving the supplies around my suitcase the whole time. I know that drawing from life and painting plein air can be really great for developing skills, but at this point in my creative practice, it is just not for me. I can never get comfortable sitting outside and honestly I am too distracted. I would spend more time observing my surroundings and other people than actually spending time sketching and I’m perfectly fine with that. I much prefer to be sitting at my art desk with all of my supplies and a podcast or a movie on in the background while I paint.
Iconic Highland Cow
While I might not like to draw or paint while traveling, I love photographs. While we were in Scotland, I tried to stay really present in the trip and take pictures of what interested me in hopes that I might have something fun for later. I take pictures of everything. Landscapes (obviously) take up the majority, but I also love photographs of buildings and city scenes, animals that are unique to where we are (highland cows, anyone), different flowers or mushrooms, the way the light might be different, and new textures. Sometimes the scale is huge or sometimes I have focused on something small. Another first for a long trip: I did not bring my camera. Instead I shot everything on my iPhone.
Since the trip was so extensive, I came back with a ton of photographs that I then sorted into folders that were “good” or “for painting.” Here are a few of the shots that made it into the for painting category and my current thoughts on how I might use them in the future. It will be interesting to see if I stick with my ideas or if I go in a completely different direction.
Thistle
Did you know that the thistle is Scotland’s national flower? In addition to growing all over the place, visually they are a component to so many things from fabrics, to family crests, to weaponry. I painted a thistle before, but I have an idea of painting this one very zoomed in, where the purple thistle itself takes up almost the whole paper.
The Clachan Pub
While landscapes are my jam, I am always drawn to architecture as well (hence my love of house portraits). I loved the bright blue color of this pub in Dornie. I see this painted in an illustration style. I think it could make a neat holiday card, perhaps with glowing lights in the snow.
Glenfinnan Viaduct
A true highlight of the trip for me was getting to do the short hike under and around the Glenfinnan Viaduct and getting to see the Jacobite steam train crossing the viaduct. This is the iconic train from the Harry Potter movies and a key part of my childhood (books and movies). We also got to take one of the last train rides of the season from Fort William to Mallaig. To put it mildly, it was AWESOME. I took so many pictures of the viaduct because the fall light was just so good. I’m not sure which of my photos I will use as reference, but I am leaning towards this one.
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Hiking Ben Nevis
One of the only real thing Vasya and I had on our list to do was to hike Ben Nevis if the weather was good enough. Ben Nevis, at 4,413 ft, is the tallest point in the United Kingdom. It is known to have unpredictable weather. For almost all of the days we were there, the peak was covered in a cloud and our weather reports indicated that there was even snow at the top. Coming from Colorado where Denver is already at 5280 ft above sea level, snow at the top of a comparably short mountain seemed crazy. I’m not sure we could have gotten luckier on the one day in our schedule where we were free to hike. The morning was cold with a layer of frost on the grass, but the hike ended up being absolutely perfect with lots of sun and practically no clouds in the sky. I took lots of pictures from this hike, but my favorite ones are from the early morning when there were low hanging clouds that we had to hike through until the sun burned them off. I’m not sure how I would do it, but I would want a painting that felt almost magical.
Glencoe
We spent a lot of time in the Scottish Highlands on our trip. Towards the end, we drove through Glencoe, which is a popular hiking area and valley with mountains on either side. This white house is an iconic spot along the drive. I cropped my photo to create this exaggerated horizontal orientation. I have a 5.9 by 11.8 inch pad of paper that I have yet to use and I think this reference photo may be perfect for it. I also have an idea of painting a much larger piece.
It will be interesting to see how my plans and ideas change as I start to paint, but I am looking forward to diving into these projects over the winter and I hope you will follow along.