To the “left” of Duntulm Castle there’s a wide bay in the Minch (Score Bay) with several spots I’ve thought would make a great viewpoint for a painting. The one I sat at sketching this turned out to have a lovely big flat rock, perfect for parking myself and my sketching stuff.
The midges were distracting though, so I’ll go back again when there’s a breeze or it’s colder. I wonder if having midges drowned in the watercolour makes it a mixed media piece?
A little south of Duntulm, looking west.
Murphy’s Law of Sketching, if you decide to sit somewhere no-one usually wants to be, once you’re really into your sketch someone will come along. Thus it was at the slipway at Camus Mor this week when two crofters decided to take advantage of the calm, sunny day to go fishing.
So I moved from the slipway at Camus Mor to one of the picnic tables. The viewpoint is much higher up though, looking down onto the sea rather than along it. Once I’d finished admiring the impressive display of how to reverse with boat trailer, sketching resumed.
Working at a table did at least eliminate the risk of pencils rolling down the slipway into the sea. I was using Lyra watersoluble crayons and Inktense pencils in a Moleskine with watercolour paper. Spot the clue that it wasn’t a windy day — only one clip on my sketchbook!
Sketching at Camus Mor.
A few nights ago the sun filled the sky and sea with gold as it headed towards the horizon. I sat and watched it, recharging my artistic batteries. No digital manipulation; simply pointed camera at sun and clicked.
There’s not much left of Duntulm Castle even though it’s on every tourist map of Skye; I added an arrow so you wouldn’t miss it. I wasn’t so much sketching the castle as looking at the shapes in the landscape it sits in, the pattern of triangles of land and sea.
Spot the castle...
This evening’s stormy weather has been a dance of shades of grey. (Odd colours in the photo are reflections in the window; it’s too windy to open to take a photo.)
One of the delights of selling my crafts at the Isle of Skye Baking Co shop is that it gives me an excuse reason for being there. Inevitably, consumption of a slice of wheat-free cake happens. Don’t think that’s the business my accountant has in mind when he talks about putting profits back into the business.
Will be delivering a new batch tomorrow: bookmarks, notebooks and sketchbooks. The bookmarks in the front say “the grass is always greener on the other side”, and have a darker grass fabric on the back. The stickers with the sketchbooks say “been there, sketched that”.
