Kevin Surfing Big Sunset Beach
Pastel on sanded paper
9 x 12"
I can't believe this was a year and a half ago! Both the pastel (above) and my time in Hawaii.
Here's some Hawaiian music to enjoy while visiting this post!
Velzyland
North Shore, O'ahu
The last year and a half has flown by, as time does, but really it is hard to believe! It was such a special time being with Kevin, Shannon and Makena on O'ahu. Velzyland was the first place Kevin took Makena to surf and it was beautiful, as always.
Kevin and Makena putting her fins on her surf board ...
The next photo is of my sarong drying in a tree. It was designed by my Aunt Cheri and handmade by batik artisans in Bali. I love the bamboo design!
Waiting on the beach watching Makena and Kevin surf some fun waves at V Land ...
Come forth into the light of things.
Let nature be your teacher.
~William Wordsworth
Turtle Bay
North Shore, O'ahu
Turtle Bay wasn't too far up the road from Kevin's old place, at Sunset Beach, and maybe a couple of miles north of Velzyland. It's really the only big resort in the area and it is in a prime location, as you can see!
They also make a great poolside Mai Tai but I suggest limiting it to one! They are tasty but they do pack quite a punch!
I don't know what the name of these trees are, pictured in the photo below, but I love that they look like they are wearing hula skirts!
Kevin took the next couple of photos of me on the beach in my "monkey dress." Difficult to see the monkeys in this photo!
Here, below, you can a monkey! Anyway, it's on the beach to the West of the main part of the resort right by the horse stables.
Turtle Bay has a number of horses on their property. It was fun to photograph my friend's daughter with the horses because they absolutely loved her!
I was so inspired by this moment I decided I had to paint it! Of Course, with some silver leaf and a bit of artistic license!
A Moment in the Grass
12 x 16"
Oil on Wood Panel
One of my absolute favorite things about the islands is listening to live Hawaiian music, especially at sunset. It is so magical and you feel you have been transported to another world ...
The view out of the car window heading to the airport.
Malama Ka 'Aina
Respect/Care for the land
A little goodbye Hawaii sketch of my lei ...
Hope you enjoyed the Hawaii posts even if they were about a year and a half after the fact!
Glencoe was one of the places I was most excited to see in Scotland and it did not disappoint! Neither did Buachaille Etive Mòr or Glen Etive. They are all right in the same vicinity and I had to have taken at least a thousand photographs that day, knowing they would eventually become studies for paintings and drawings.
Here's some beautiful Gaelic music, by the lovely Julie Fowlis, for the journey. Press play!
We took off from our little place in Onich and headed East for Glencoe ...
The Three Sisters of Glencoe
It was gorgeous! This lovely piper was there playing which made it all the more incredible. It didn't matter that there were cars parked up to the view and people all around. We were all under the spell of the "Weeping Glen."
There was a little girl in plaid with the piper selling tiny bunches of heather. It was so darling. My dad got one for my mom, of course. He does sweet things like that. :)
You can see many streams of water making their way down through the rocks and lushness of the landscape. I suppose it is one reason for calling it the Weeping Glen. There is also sad history of one clan slaughtering another at the behest of the British Crown. But, the earth in its beauty is healing and this place has a mystical beauty and energy that transports you.
My Travel Journal
Around the bend is a lovely waterfall.
And just a 10 or so minutes East of Glencoe is ...
Buachaille Etive Mòr
Glen Etive
Then just another 3 minutes East on the A82 is the road to Glen Etive. It is a one lane road that seems to go on forever. Perhaps because we stopped every couple of hundred yards to take photos!
Above, is a little demo I did for my private student Parker. Below, is my demo with his large watercolor painting of Glen Etive. He was 12 at the time!
It wouldn't be difficult to convince me that this place is what heaven looks like. It is truly magnificent.
After our Scottish photo safari we headed South to Kilchurn Castle, which will be in my next post. Check back for that, it's coming up soon!
Later in the day we drove back past Glen Etive and Buachaille Etive Mòr and through Glencoe. You can see how different it looks when the weather changes, and sometimes quickly!
Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon
your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
~Langston Hughes
The Weeping Glen in the rain ...
Saint John
Scottish Episcopal Church
Ballachulish
1842
For my solo show in December, I had three paintings of Scotland. One was Edinburgh, another was from the Isle of Skye, and the third was of Glencoe, the Weeping Glen.
All the paintings were done on wood panels. You can see how loose I start the painting with only washes of color. I begin by mixing the paint with a lot of mineral spirits. The tape you see peeling off is to protect the sides of the panel from getting messy which, only occasionally, works.
Another layer and a a lot thicker ...
Adding in more light and contrast. At this point I was getting ready to add the silver leaf, which all the Scotland paintings had.
Only a touch of silver on the horizon.
Glencoe, 2017
9 X 12"
Oil on wood panel
550.00
I love this gentleman. He does videos of his walks around Scotland. They are not a high tech, masterpiece, extravaganza but very charming and I love his voice! In this video he walks around Glencoe in very early spring before things turn green.
I am leaving on another trip soon and my boyfriend suggested I should probably finish Scotland because I haven't even gotten to the part of the trip where we went to Italy. Alas, it was a slow year for posting. I got so busy with various things, including my solo show and now training for my Via Di Francesco Cammino of which I am doing a 165 km section.
Anyway, stay tuned!
I ran across this young lady, Claire Hastings, on YouTube and just adore her voice and spirit when she sings. Enjoy!
This is what I couldn't wait to see. The Old Man of Storr. Only, you have to hike up to it so I spent months hiking in Griffith Park so I wouldn't get half way up and have to turn around. It's rated "medium" difficulty but if you are completely out of shape (which I had been) it would be rated higher! I had sent photos of the actual hike (from the internet) to my parents and they decided to sit this one out.
It's only 4km but of course, it's up hill.
We'd seen it from the road on our way up to the Quiraing the night before and if you look closely you can see what looks like a little finger pointing up from the side of the mountain. It sure didn't look very far from this angle.
We knew it was supposed to start raining by about 1pm so I figured that I should leave no later 10am from the car park. It should only take a couple of hours. First breakfast. We headed just off the town square for a big Scottish Breakfast and I put a protein bar in my pocket.
I knew I should be very hydrated but I also knew there would be no bathrooms and possibly nowhere to hide my fanny in an emergency bladder situation. So, I drank a ton of water before bed and then again when I woke up in the morning. I also made sure not to drink tea or coffee. For the most part it was a good plan.
My parents dropped me at the bottom and headed to the grocery store and said they'd be back in a couple of hours to wait for me. Doubtful the phone would get a signal.
It's kind of a perfect hike because it starts out with only a tiny incline. My boyfriend says to start at a grandma pace and then after a bit gradually pick up your pace. It's good advice. People were blowing past me in the beginning and I past them later.
Mind you, this was the second half of August, which I read is already considered going into fall. I had on a wool Hanro tank, a long sleeve zip neck ski t-shirt, a patagonia vest, wool leggings under my hiking pants and my lightweight down patagonia jacket. You can see that at this point I didn't need the fleece (which is tied around me) yet but with the cool breeze I definitely need the wool hat and scarf. (I got that hat for 5 pounds in Edinburgh!)
Already the views were beautiful!
The incline picks up a little but then it flattens out again at this gate.
Apparently, much of this area was forested but not with native trees so they were felled. Now they've started planting native trees as you can see indicated on the sign below.
This might have been the 3rd or 4th gate. When you hike in Scotland, always close gates behind you! Often you are keeping sheep out or in and protecting the land.
Because this area flattens out it becomes quite muddy. My mom said later that the bottom of my hiking pants looked like I was working in the oil fields. They were black. Very boggy.
And now you head up.
Looking back down you can see the wet boggy area reflecting the light.
The views were gorgeous and thank goodness. It's the incentive I needed to keep going because at this point I was feeling it in my quads and calves. Thankfully, I had the added incentive that I'd told all my friends I was doing this hike! Of course, no one wants to have to tell folks they wimped out. It was all part of my master plan!
There was a tiny worry that I wouldn't even see the Old Man of Storr if it was too socked in with clouds or fog. On the way up you can't really see it anyway because of the angle but I finally caught a glimpse at some point and that gave me the energy to keep going. Obviously, the above vantage point was not it but you can see why I had a little concern.
Yay!!! You sort of have to get past it to really see it really well. The highest pointy part in this next photo is the Old Man of Storr and for size reference you can see tiny humans between the rock formations.
By this time, I was over the moon elated! I'd made it. It's not the longest hike but there is a bit of an incline. I knew at that point I could make it to the lookout where I'd seen so many photos taken, so I followed some other folks along a trail to the right of the Storr ...
This was it ... this is what I had done all those Griffith Park hikes for. This was the view of Skye I had hoped to see. Magnificent.
The Storr, which is made up of crumbling basalt, was created by a massive ancient landside! It's called the Old Man because the pinnacle is said to have a profile of a man. Maybe from the other side? There were three young Frenchman trying to take a selfie on the lookout plateau. I offered them help and they reciprocated. As you can see, I was a little excited.
As you can also see, the wind was now blowing pretty hard!!
And then the rain started.
Climbing down off the plateau rain started to hit my face and glasses and the wind was crazy! I pulled a plastic rain poncho out of my pocket but the wind made it almost impossible to get over my head as it whipped around me!
The wind was blowing everything sideways and I was getting all wet anyway! My clear plastic poncho was flapping about so crazily it was actually loud in my ears and doing nothing to help shield me from the rain. I must have looked like I was being attacked by a mad plastic garbage bag!
My glasses were completely covered with water and with what seemed to be plastic wings flapping about me, I couldn't see a thing. I figured I'd rather be wet than thrown down the mountain by my supposed rain protection so after couple hundred feet I ripping the thing off and shoved it in my pocket.
At this point most everyone was trying to find the quickest way down and it was getting progressively muddier but I managed to find an actual trail!
Here are are a few video clips of the hike, after a couple of other snipets! As you can hear, the wind is hilariously loud on the video and I had to try to keep the camera from shaking!
It was feeling hot with all the excitement and when the rain started to subside I finally pulled my hat off! I realized the hat hat been helpful in keeping my hair somewhat in control. By now I was just laughing my way down the mountain trying to be mindful of every step, as most accidents happen on your way down!
Glaciers and lava flows have made Skye into a place of otherworldly beauty.
I just love it!
Then light began to peak through the clouds. I was almost done.
And it was totally worth it.
My pastel of the Storr isn't finished but it's fun to play with! I might have to do an oil painting of it for my December art show!
