A gallery in Rhue.....

And one more holiday story.  While I was staying outside Ullapool I visited the studio of Rhue artist, James Hawkins.  He has a small studio next to his house in the hamlet of Rhue.  I'd hesitated visiting - I'm a little shy really (no don't laugh, I am really), and going to a gallery where I might bump into the artist and have to talk, and *knowing* I probably can't afford any of his work, well I find it a bit embarrassing, and always feel a bit awkward. Plus I know nothing about "art" in terms of painting etc so feel a bit of a "pleb".

Anyway..... it was a nice sunny day and I walked along the single track road to the gallery.  Outside is some stunning sculpture art by another artist, Helen Denerley and I paused to look at that a while. Take a look at the film of the making of the giraffe sculpture on her website - the ultimate in recycling. Brilliant! Above is a picture of one of her pieces - a goose.

Anwyay, back to the gallery.  All the time I could hear the thump-thump-thump of rock music coming from a nearby building which was clearly the gallery.  Should I just quietly retrace my steps..... or be bold and "go forth"?  I took a deep breath and opened the door and stepped inside. Immediately I was surrounded by the pulsating beat of the rock music and the bold, vibrant colours of the canvases around the gallery.  God it was wonderful, kind of visceral and cool at the same time!

I then noticed the artist, James Hawkins, working on a canvas in the small studio to the side.  I stood for a while, just watching him, brush in hand, a dab of paint here, step back, another bolder stroke there. He soon became aware of being observed and turned to lower the music and came to talk.

I made various gauche comments about my first impressions (cringe) and he left me to wander around, happy to answer any questions.  I moved from canvas to canvas - this isn't true "representational art" in the usual sense. But it is in ALL the senses - I looked at a large canvas set in a valley with mountains and trees. No the naked eye doesn't see those colours when looking at that view. In fact maybe the eye doesn't even see that view.  But the whole body DOES - it's a kind of experiential vision of being in that valley, or for my favourite painting, standing by the shore as a storm comes in. I can hear the thunder and feel the waves break over the rocks....

(I'm hoping James won't mind my reproducing this one.....)

I looked at the paint on the canvas - I'm not sure you can call them strokes - chunks of paint spread on and scraped off again, slashes of colour, tiny details of light.  Emboldened by the rock music I went and spoke to James about his technique - apologising for NOT being an artist. He very kindly spent time taking me round  different paintings, explaining how he'd build up layers, scrape, sand and scratch off others. How he would walk the hills and mountains around Ullapool and come back and paint not what he saw but what he *felt*.

I'd seen some of his earlier work (a friend has some of his earlier paintings) -these are more traditional representational landscapes. Apparently James then went into a very abstract phase and it would appear is now coming back from pure abstract but not retreating into nice comfortable landscapes, but ones that challenge, provoke awe and inspire.

I know these paintings are not to everyone's taste, but I just loved them (can you tell?!). I see he has some prints available - hmmm must start saving pennies in my moneybox.  Though I'm not sure I have a dramatic enough place to put them and I will have to hold in my memory the layers of paint, texture and fabric of the original.

Last of the holiday snaps....

Here are the last of my holiday snaps. These are of Bettyhill on the very North coast of Scotland. We stopped here on the way back to Thurso to catch the ferry as the wild-flowers are particularly wonderful here.  I also love the wide sweep of sand that shows when the tide is out.

And here are a selection of wild-flowers (I've forgotten the names of most of them...sigh).

Buttercups and clover here.  Plus ladies bed-straw

More ladies bed straw (yellow spire flowers), tiny eyebright (little white flowers).

Hmm forgotten the name of the little purple flower - it's really pretty though.

And forgotten tis one too..... more eyebright though....

Pretty yellow flowers!

Frog orchid

Common marsh orchid

And meadowsweet

Garden companions.....

Whenever I'm in the garden I always have company....... Above is one of the hens with three chicks. I've managed to control the hens so far this year so I don't have the population explosion I had last year!  These three chicks are about 5 or 6 weeks old.  No idea if they are hens or cockerels yet.....

Slightly older chicks from earlier in the year enjoying the sunshine.

Button, of course, also enjoys the sunshine in the garden..... here she thinks she is cleverly camouflaged...but I can see the white paws!

And this net was designed to keep pests OUT!

Sunshine!

No I haven't floated off in the mist!  Just a busy week and a bit of a sore back so limiting online time to mostly work.  Yesterday was beautifully sunny and WARM!  So here are a couple of evening sun photos to keep you going for now..... back soon, promise!

Foggy days....

The last few days the world has disappeared behind a bank of fog. This afternoon it cleared for a while and we had lovely warm sunshine. I was even working in the garden in a tee-shirt.  But.....the fog soon rolled right back in again!  Above you can see it creeping towards us..... However at least it cleared long enough for the folk from the Stromness Kirk, who had come over for a picnic with the Graemsay folk, to go onto the beach and even have a SWIM!!  Brrrrr! Hardy souls......

Here the Hoy High Lightouse next door is disappearing too!  In case you fear for ships - no there isn't a fog horn (I made sure of that before I moved in next door!), but most ships will have GPS and the light isn't to warn sailors away from the shore or rocks, but, in line with Hoy Low lighthouse, is set to show safe passage through the Sound into Stromness.  As I say most vessels of any size will have GPS so there is little danger to shipping.....

Ullapool Part 4

Here are some more photos from the another trip on the "Summer Queen" - this time around Isle Martin near Ardmair.  Above - this wee dog was the Captain's dog I think and would run round checking on the passengers and stand at the front of the boat (forget the technical term!) and look out then return to the cabin - not sure if he was telling the Captain what he saw or just checking the Captain was going on the right direction!

Isle Martin - no one lives here now, but you can rent the cottage out. Though it has no electricity or running water!

Another hamlet on the shore of Loch Broom

Lots of seals basking in the sun. These are Common Seals (not so common now)











We also visited Lechmelm Gardens, just outside Ullapool. A lovely Victorian garden and arboretum from the 1870s. It was lovely to see Big Trees - Orkney does HAVE trees, but not so many as other areas, and very few woodlands or gardens on this scale. It also has to be said that these trees are Big, whereas in Orkney even the same species will be much shorter, due to the climate.  So it was great to hug a Big Tree..... These photos don't do the garden justice - there is so much packed into a relatively small space. It's wonderful!

A Californian Redwood (sequoias)

A tree with many trunks. A Cyprus I think.

This poor old tree had fallen over in a storm just before my last visit 2 years ago. The wood has been reused but the old trunk and root has been left to be colonised by lichens, plants, and various woodland insects.  It's wonderful!

We counted the rings on this tree stump - it was over 100 years old!

Oh I SO want something like this in MY garden!!

Rhododendrons, which can be a pest in open woodland, but are so pretty.

This weeping conifer was gorgeous.












One evening we went up the Braes (a big hill) to look back on the town as the sun was setting.

Loch Broom towards the mountains

And Ullapool in the sunset.

Ullapool photos Part 3

While I was in Ullapool I took a trips on the "Summer Queen" out to the Summer Isles. The sea was flat calm, it was fairly warm, with the odd shower of rain, but also SUNSHINE!  Above is Loch Broom, a sea loch which leads out to the Summer Isles and beyond. I'd definitely recommend a trip on the Summer Queen. The commentary is excellent, giving information on the landscape, history and wild life. We saw porpoises, red-throated divers (we have them in Orkney but I'd never seen them!), gannets diving, as well as seals, gulls of all varieties, fulmars and guillemots and and three specs I was reliably informed were sea eagles!  Here are some shots of the landscape - my camera wasn't up to taking photos of the wildlife! (If you click on one then you can see them in a photo-stream a bit bigger).

Right - the ferry on it's way to the Western Isles

A sea arch in Loch Broom

The hamlet of Polbain strung out along the hills

The Summer Isles Cafe & Post Office on the island of Tanera. The last independent post office in the UK! You can buy a stamp here to post a letter to the surrounding mainland, but any further afield you need a regular Royal Mail postage stamp. The boat stops with enough time for tea, coffee and cake here, or a quick walk along the shore or up the hill. Needless to say I opted for tea and cake!

I love the bright colours of these upturned canoes against the heather.

The "Summer Queen" moored in Tanera bay.

Mountains down to the shore

How about this for an isolated house!

The Rhue lighthouse - I seem to end up next to lighthouses...our holiday cottage was in this hamlet.

Coming back into Ullapool now. It's clear to see the effects of crofting on the field boundaries here. During the clearances when the highland crofters were forced to move to the coast, some ended in Ullapool and were given strips of land. First they had to pull the stones and boulders out - these made the fine stone walls bordering the strips. Then they had to work the fairly poor soil. The croft could only sustain one family, the eldest son would inherit and the rest of the family would have to leave and make their own way in the world. Many went overseas to New Zealand, the US and Canada.

Later we took a drive out of Ullapool - you can clearly see the heather and rough terrain. Beautiful to look at - not easy to walk on!!