I have recently returned from a lovely holiday in Scotland, and here are my sketches from my Scotland Tour.
We were touring around and we flew to Scotland from Newquay Airport, very handy! Our tour started in Edinburgh for one night. So here is the obligatory Edinburgh Castle!
Fort William
Next stop on our tour was Fort William. We caught the train via Glasgow, the scenery from the train is great but a very slow train! Sadly the weather in Fort William was not as lovely as it was in Cornwall but still beautiful.
Click on the smaller images to see them larger and with a caption.
It was quite damp at Fort William so I sketched Loch Linnhe from our flat window.
We caught the local bus to the Glenfinnan, such a peaceful area to explore. I experimented with my sketch of Loch Shiel, painted quickly and without pen this time, as I was trying to catch the moody grey clouds.
We walked to the Viaduct, which is stunning. Whilst stood waiting for the steam train to pass over I got my paints out for a quick sketch of the viaduct. It was quite difficult stood up juggling paints, brushes and water!
Skye
From Fort William we visited Skye. We travelled via train from Fort William to Mallaig – the scenery was stunning. From Mallaig we got the ferry over to Skye, where we needed to get a taxi to Portree as there is a limited bus service. This was a mistake on my part as I thought we could get a bus! However the taxi took was great and we included a little tour of Skye and were able to stop at various view points.
We had a lovely little bunglow that overlooked Loch Portree, which was tidal and it was so relaxing to sit and watch the tide come in.
Click on any of the photos to see a larger version and caption.
We start with the view from our bungalow, across Loch Portree, with hills and mountains in the background. It was very peaceful and quite lovely .
We walked the Scorrybreac trail, and whilst resting up the steep path up the hill I got my paints out. This view is looking over the fields towards a salmon fish farm, with Raasay in the background.
This time I was trying to get a different view of harbour, and its coloured buildings, set further back across the water.
We got the local bus around the Trotternish peninsula and stopped at Uig. We found the path to the Rha waterfall at Uig. Again I was standing up to paint.
Inverness
Next stop was Inverness. We caught the bus from Portree to Kyle of Lochhalsh, were we got on another scenic train. It was a damp day however the scenery passing the lochs and mountains as we slowly made our way to Inverness was lovely. We also booked a day trip to the highlands, as well as visiting Eilean Donan Castle using Rabbies Tours, which I can highly recommend.
The first sketch is of Applecross Bay. I wish I had painted the scene with a house and buildings in the background as, on reflection, I feel it needed a focal point.
Next stop the iconic Eilean Donan Castle. It was late afternoon and quite dark with the sun behind the castle and I struggled to get a lot of detail. It was also low tide so I didn’t have a lot of water for the reflection.
Our last day in Inverness was a beautiful sunny day so we walked along the River Ness and around the Ness Islands. There are pedestrian bridges to give you access to the Islands – these islands are a tranquil paradise. Another fast sketch as I try to capture a Fisherman on the River Ness.
Pitlochry
We went from Inverness to two nights in Pitlochry. This was quite a different landscape, very genteel but still with the mountains in the background. The sun shone on our two days here, which makes everything look beautiful and is a lot easier to find somewhere to sketch.
To be honest I do struggle with trees and these are not my best, especially Sketch 3, where I was trying to capture the beautiful reflections in the still water of the surrounding trees.
The first Sketch is of a canoeist on Loch Faskally, not sure I caught included enough reflections!
The boating station on Loch Faskally was a great spot to sit, have a coffee, relax and get my paints out.
Sketch 3 : Loch Faskally with mountains and trees in the background – see my comments above!
Newcastle
Last stop on our tour saw us leaving Scotland, by train on the scenic route along the Northumberland coastline to Newcastle. Just two nights and extremely different landscape! In my sketches I have tried to capture the difference of the city to the quayside with all the bridges. Newcastle certainly has beautiful architecture
Newcastle has some great seating areas and first stop was in the city centre and Grey’s Monument.
Lastly a sketch of the Tyne Bridges – this was hard but I wanted to capture the feeling of all these bridges, all with their own personality
I hope you enjoyed reading this post and seeing my sketches from my Scotland Tour, it certainly was a great holiday.