The sun was out, the sea was sparkling and the beauty of the highlands was clear for all to see as I sketched from the GALE Centre in Gairloch last weekend. I have an exhibition there during this month and I love the chance to meet some of the visitors (the cake is also marvellous if you have the chance to pop in and treat yourself). It was also great to be able to gaze through charcoal at Skye and Rona from their eastern sides rather than being on the islands themselves. 

So I now have a highland sketchbook as well as a Skye one (you could call it an excuse to collect stationery but I'm calling it a necessary item as part of the project) in my midst! How lovely! I'm appreciating the ring-bound 'sketch and store' sketchbook by Derwent at the moment. I like to put a piece of glassine paper between the pages to protect the drawing and its a great way to hold everything all in the same place.

PS: There's still chance to see the exhibition if you're in or near Gairloch before the 26th May, the details are below:

I've been dreaming of doing this for years, and last Sunday I finally got round to it - doing a series of charcoal sketches from the roads and lovely scenic spots around Skye. I watched Brené
Brown's new talk on Netflix 'The Call to Courage', choose 'courage over comfort' and got myself out with the sketchbook.

You see, I don't have a problem particularly with people seeing or watching me draw/paint, it was the fact that this tiny idea of a potentially enormous project would actually start when I made it. It would mean that I had committed to potentially sketching from every layby and every sight on this island, other islands and the rest of the Highlands (not unusually, my sights and ideas have escalated exponentially since I first had the inkling). That's huge by anyone's standards isn't it? So, I took a took a starting step and went to nearby Dunvegan Castle to begin - here before you are the first two sketches of the series that has been dwelling in my head for quite some time:

The weather was clement (although distinctively breezy on the Lochside, unsurprisingly), the midges hadn't hatched and it was lovely to at least begin something that had been brewing for so long. Like any release of energy, lots of new ideas also seeped in: there are lots of beautiful tulips and rhododendrons currently in bloom that swept through my unsuspecting imagination. So my brain leapt from monochrome to vivid colours - typical! Maybe next spring for those, but it was so fabulous to be out and about doing what I love most.

'Jostling Layers'
​Cloudscape painting in oils
Charity postcard for the Twitter Art Exhibit 2019 (#TAE19)

Jostling layers buffet together as the wind takes their edges and reels them round like a softened version of white socks and lacy edges against many kilt colours in a highland fling.

Supporting the Art in Healthcare charity, the catalogue for the Twitter Art Exhibit is now available to pre-order. Go to http://twitterartexhibit.org/product/tae19scotlandcatalogue to order yours!

So there we have it - a whole series of the stunning colours of the skies over Skye from each day of last month and the beginning of this one. And what a thirty days it was! As always, I'm delighted to have completed the paintings and even though I've been painting clouds for a few years now, I feel I've learned so much in the last month.

Thank you for sharing the experience with me - I'm off to busily frame paintings of a whole other genre (life drawings and abstracts) for my next exhibition (see my exhibitions page for details). Then I'll delightedly pick up the paintbrushes and/or pastels again with glee.

'Frothy Giggles'
Cloudscape painting in soft pastels
​40x30m

Frothy giggles rise up into the ether as the spring air buoys them with a zing they couldn't contemplate in wintry hibernation. They skip and frolic - and the giggles continue to bubble up and release with the light playfulness and complete abandon that springtime invites.

'Travelling Ghosts'
Cloudscape painting in soft pastels
40x30cm

Deep purple swirls and puffs whisk around the skies like expressions of travelling ghosts. Are they reminders that we could ponder on our inner wishes and intentions this weekend?

'Rose-tinged Bursts'
Cloudscape painting in soft pastels
​40x30cm

Bubbles of colour spring up across the mountains, invigorated by their misty hibernation of the last few days. Rose-tinged bursts come forth like mini fireworks over the bay.

'Mid-morning Haze'
Cloudscape painting in soft pastels
​40x30cm

Faint pinks are amid the clouds in the mid morning haze - is it a long sunrise or an extremely early sunset? Maybe the fairies have their washing out!

'Marbled Hues'
Cloudscape painting in soft pastels
​40x30cm

Marbled hues chase the shimmering light leaving stagnant shadow streaks in the swirling mist. 

'Raw'
Cloudscape painting in soft pastels
​40x30cm

Deep purply-indigo flecked clouds creep across the horizon. Not just your average stormy grey but these mean business, a proper temper tantrum of toddler proportions - all toys out of the proverbial pram! Dramatic though it is, there's something raw and pure about the intent, like a detox of the skies.