This gallery depicts some of the Scottish landscape paintings I have completed over the last 20 years or so. I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures as much as I enjoyed painting them. Limited edition prints of some of these paintings are available to be purchased under the Shop section of this site. If you happen to be in the Lochinver area, they can often be purchased from Lochinver Landscapes gallery at 13 Main Street, Lochinver, Scotland, IV27 4JY, too.
Painted from a photograph I took on a January afternoon in 2017 with the sun low on the horizon, casting bluish shadows amongst the marram grasses. The beach was completely deserted and peaceful and I enjoyed a few minutes of weak, yet warm, sunlight on my white winter face.
This was painted on an impromptu afternoon walk in high summer, when I couldn’t resist the calm, incredibly green water in the bay below the cliff path. I just happened to have my sketchbook and inks with me so I nestled into the short, springy grass and made this quick study.
A large pastel painting of the beautiful Hebridean beach at Sanna Sands on the Ardnamurchan peninsular. I spend a wonderful few days there back in 2001 and this was one of the results, produced in the studio from a large collection of photographs! I was mesmerised by the colours of the water there, which at that time were vivid turquoise and cobalt blue, providing a striking contrast against the white powdery sand.
A smaller pastel painting which sold for £195. With Achmelvich Beach being such a popular subject for my paintings these days, this image is available as a postcard.
One of my favourite views in all the world are from the little-driven minor road down to tiny Achduart, under the towering bulk of Ben Mhor Coigach. I sketch and paint this area in all seasons and never tire of finding new angles and light. “Heather time” runs from late July to mid September but is at its best during August, when this 2011 pastel was painted.
Original Medium: Pastel on Card.
Coloured pencils on smooth cartridge paper, 1993 Loch Oscaig is one of three lochs bordering the beautiful single track road from Achiltibuie. In this picture you can see the fluffy, white “bog cotton” which decorates the damp areas of the hills and lochsides in June.
Original Medium: Coloured Pencil.
While always impressed by the huge mountain vistas of this area I also love focussing on close-ups of the rocks, lichens and tiny flowers which are often passed by unnoticed, although they all contribute equally to the overall scene. By creating this largish 1994 pastel from a ‘ground level’ position I think the viewer is able to ‘smell’ the hill and fully experience the walk without actually doing it!
Original Medium: Pastel on Card.
The beautiful island of Tanera Mhor, with outlying Summer Isles and the distant Torridons across Loch Broom, as seen from the ‘Mast Hill’ viewpoint at Altandhu. This print is taken from a painting executed in pastels and pastel pencils.
Original Medium: Pastel on Card.
This mostly ruined, stone-built castle is an iconic sight on the shores of Loch Assynt in Sutherland. Perfectly situated on a grassy promontory behind a curve of pink sand beach, there are not many visitors to the area who can drive past without stopping to admire it. The castle, with its gorgeous setting, appear as if straight from of a historical fantasy novel and I have tried to capture it on camera many times. Nothing can convey mood more than a real painting, though, and this is a print from a watercolour I painted from the car on a still, though rather drizzly, late autumn day in 2018
The beaches of Achmelvich are 3 miles north of Lochinver and are known for their perfect white sands and incredible turquoise waters. The colours are vivid even in dull weather, but on a sunny day the beach rivals any in the Caribbean and the cliffs are full of wild flowers. This was a hot day in July 2010. The large pastel painting shows “Vesties’” or the “hidden” beach and is looking south. Although there is a popular camp site on the main beach at Achmelvich, I have chosen not to show it as I prefer to show the area’s untouched, solitary side.
The well-trodden path to the Falls of Kirkaig from Inverkirkaig eventually leads to the much more serious scramble up Suilven, looking very docile here on a fine September day. The blue of the Fionn loch and the heathery path depicted in this coloured pencil drawing encourage the viewer to undertake the expedition! Created in 1993.
Original Medium: Coloured Pencil
Despite the moody sky, this was actually a perfectly pleasant summer day in August 1994. The light and colours around Achnahaird beach are always changing and despite the appearance of rain clouds, they didn’t actually deliver on this day. The painting is pastels and pastel pencils on card and shows the famous lineup of Coigach mountains: Cul Mor, Stac Pollaidh, Cul Beag and Beinn an Eoin.
Original Medium: Pastel on card
From a high point on the coastal road between Achiltibuie and Altandhu, Harry’s House commands a spectacular view towards the Coigach mountains as well as across the sea to Beinn Ghoblach, An Teallach and Sail Mhor, as depicted in this pastel painting. Horse Island (in sunlight) and the edge of Tanera Mhor are also visible in this painting.
Original Medium: Pastel on card
Another of Assynt’s famous white sand beaches, Clachtoll can host some impressive breakers during storms. Caught here on a calm May afternoon, this pastel tempts the viewer to explore the secluded distant cove, bathed in sunshine. Painted in 2012.
Original Medium: Pastel on card
The view from my previous home, so one I have spent many hours gazing at in many different moods. For this view of Ruins at Achlochan pastel I chose April, when the sea is often a soft indigo blue and the reed bed (once a home to corncrakes) a pale straw yellow, contrasting wonderfully with the rusty roofs of the cottages. In the bottom laft of the painting is the ruin of a stone house built upon an iron age “broch” and offshore is the Black Isle.
Original Medium: Pastel on card
A detailed coloured pencil drawing of perhaps my favourite mountain, Suilven. The pretty walk to the Kirkaig Falls is a favourite with locals and visitors alike; continuing just a few hundred feet results in spectacular views of the mountain, in this case depicted in a heathery September.
Original Medium: Pastel on card
Although I do not like cold weather, there is something very special about how a coating of snow makes the mountains stand out so clearly against a grey sky, and how the icing-sugar dusting outlines all the rocks and crevices so we can appreciate the shape and texture of the landscape that is not always possible with its verdant summer growth.
I was living on the island of Tanera Mhor when I produced this coloured pencil drawing, from a vantage point near my home. It depicts the view towards the mainland and the settlement of Badenscallie, under the mountains of Bheinn Mhor Coigach and its partner Coinnmheall.
Original Medium: Coloured Pencil
Thrift on the rocks
This larger watercolour was produced for an exhibition at Inverewe Gardens in Poolewe. I was taking a break from walking round the gardens on an inspiration-gathering mission when I became captivated by the lichens and pretty pink flowers covering the rocks. Painting it reminded me of the ‘Rocks & Heather’ print, although in a different medium, which was actually rather more challenging.
A larger scraperboard than the ones I usually do; this medium requires considerable concentration as a mistake spells disaster! This was produced in the studio using photographic reference and was quite slow-going. However, I was happy with the result.
Original Medium: Scraperboard
“You can feel the midges”, commented one friend on seeing this pastel painting. A calm, warm evening in mid summer, when it doesn’t get dark until midnight, you can feel the silence as well as the midges. Horse Island is one of the Summer Isles and seen here from Polglass. Painted in 1999
Original Medium: Pastel on Card
View of the Fiddler; Inks on handmade paper using the ‘Zen’ drawing technique which gives emotive, free-looking results.
Although this particular image has been sold, I usually have ink paintings available for sale at Lochinver Landscapes gallery and privately.
This coloured pencil drawing shows the Summer Isles as seen from the hill above Altandhu, with local fishing boats visible at anchor in the entrance to Old Dornie Harbour.
The mountains you can see in the background are the Torridons, with Isle Ristol in the foreground on the right.
This detailed drawing took a long time to finish as the colours are built up in careful layers, but it has been my most popular image of all time, probably because it is such a classic and typical view of this area and the silvery light on the water is so familiar to those who know and love it.
Original Medium: Coloured Pencil
Happy days in mid summer exploring the uninhabited Summer Isles such as Tanera Beag. The sea is calm and the soft greens are just beginning to show patches of mauve as the earliest heather starts to come through. With wide views stretching from Suilven to Beinn Mhor Coigach, this is one of my most ‘typical’ views.
Original Medium: Pastel on Card
A large pastel, executed on rough paper, giving a distinctive texture, still visible in the prints.
This was one of those warm, mid-summer days where the sea is so calm it looks like silk. The brooding clouds threaten a rain shower but shafts of sunlight continue to bathe the distant mountains, whilst plunging the islands into deep shadow.
Original Medium: Pastel on Ingres Paper.
The ‘Hill Lochs’, popular with fishermen, are not widely-known and are an idyllic and peaceful place to while away a few hours. Reached by a relentlessly rough and sometimes boggy uphill slog, the rewards are luckily well worth the effort, especially on a clear day such as this one in August when the views are far-reaching in all directions. In this pastel painting we have, from left to right: Stac Pollaidh, Cul Mor, Cul Beag and one of the twin peaks of Beinn an Eoin. The lochs are Loch Badagyle and Loch Lurgainn, which lie alongside the single track road from Achiltibuie to Drumrunie which can also be seen in the painting.
Original Medium: Pastel on Card