Rainforests and Jellyfish

It’s already the final week of July. Lots of very rainy and overcast days this month but we’ve still been lucky enough to swim most days in the Loch. The Lions Mane jellyfish, the ‘unfriendly ones’ as we call them, or yell out as we come across them, have scuppered any plans to discard the wetsuits and even then we’ve had a couple of face stings.....not so nice. On the other hand the purple ‘friendly ones’ are very elegant and beautiful to watch drifting under the water, especially on sunny days when the light filters through giving a turquoise back drop. The lion’s mane look and feel like an angry deep orange ball of fury, with long drifting tentacles which I have mistaken for a type of seaweed when its wrapped around the arm of my wetsuit.........definitely regret swimming without my glasses on those days!

Two new abstracts in the online shop

This month I was asked to contribute to an episode of Open Country on Radio 2 as the presenters were unable to make the visit during lock down. The programme aired a couple of weeks ago but you can listen to it on iPlayer Sounds (below). Several people from the village were interviewed and the producer Heather Simons, put together an interesting programme about how Beinn Shieldaig has been bought by the Scottish Woodland Trust and how one of the projects they hope to develop focuses on the temperate rain forests on the mountain. I went along to record in one of the areas of temperate rainforest just over the hill from my house. It has such a different feel to the pine forests which are more common here. It is full of deciduous, mainly birch trees, bracken, thick thick moss under foot, and dappled green light. It has a very lush feel yet the trees are clinging to the side of the mountain and are regularly blasted by ferocious winds full of salt water from Loch Torridon. Incredible that something so delicate and seemingly fragile survives in such harsh conditions.

Radio 2 Open Country ‘Beinn Shieldaig’

I’ve continued working on the commissions and have also got my new cards back from the printers. This includes a couple of abstract designs as well as the puffin that some people requested! There are also two large abstract canvases in my online gallery shop now as well. See above. I have set up appointments for visitors to the studio and am opening up for passersby this week too. It does make it a bit easier if you call or email in advance to avoid any possibility of having to wait outside. Up to two people at a time can fit in the studio, with masks, and I have hand sanitizer. The jury is still out on how to enable people to flick through portfolios but I’m working on it! Hopefully some of you will be passing by during the summer and I look forward to catching up with you.

Clicking on the yellow buttons takes you directly to the gallery shop or the radio programme. Thanks to everyone who has bought cards and work from me this month. If you live locally I can drop cards off to you. If you live further afield there is free p&p for four cards upwards.

New Cards