Glen Orchy is one of my favourite places. I’m not sure I should be telling you about it… it feels like a bit of a secret and I should leave it for the roaming stags. The peace, the wildness, the sheer magic of it.
It’s the spot I often go in my white van. My partner and I have “converted” it into a camper. By converted, I mean we insulated it and built the biggest bed we could possibly fit inside. Simple, but comfy. I love it.
This time I took my paints, swimming costume, and midgie net. Andy brought his kayak, book, and a big bottle of Smidge. It started raining pretty early in the day and we weren’t sure if we should risk staying a second night. We worried the van would get stuck in the mud - the last thing the local farmers need is dragging yet another camper out of a ditch!
Still, I thought I should at least get my easel out and try to capture the beginnings of a painting , something to work from later in the studio. As I set up, I was a wee but moany, not only about the midges swarming around my head, but also about my awkward, heavy, unstable Jackson’s field easel. It collapsed several times, and at one point my paints nearly went straight into the river. Please leave your recommendations for a new easel below!
But I stuck with it. The rain paused, the midges eased, and I got into the painting. Andy lit a small fire beside us (we’d brought wood and a little fire pit, so we wouldn’t leave any trace behind). The smoke kept the midges away and we had created a perfect little base for the weekend.
The light, water, and clouds kept shifting, colours changing every minute. I found myself chasing the best versions I saw, layering them in. The finished piece feels like a record of time passing , a whole moving day.
Nature kept popping up, herons circling, fish jumping, an otter slipping along the edge of the bank. And then, of course, Andy practising in his kayak. As an outdoor instructor he’s always training for something - his latest is white water. He’s got to nail the capsize recovery (what’s it called again when you flip yourself back upright in the kayak?). Watching him repeatedly tip over, thrash around, and then resurface was a very calming backdrop! 😜
I love seeing him so happy in the water. So much so that I couldn’t resist jumping in myself. Absolutely freezing but exhilarating.That evening the clouds parted and we drank whisky under the milky way, can't get any more Scottishly magical than that!
I hope to get back there soon but in the meantime, I have some Orchy sand back with me in the studio. I have been experimenting with mixing the sand with the oil paints to see how it can create another layer of texture to my studio paintings.
