FIELD PAINTINGS
Gouache paintings made or started in the field, to gather information about colour, texture, and form or as studies for studio paintings.
Moss and Sticks
Kirkconnell Flow
Gouache on watercolour paper
15x20cm
In the woodland surrounding the peat dome, fallen sticks flow like streams across the contours of the springy ground. Clumps of haircap moss throw up capsules which glow like amber in sunlit patches filtering through the emerald green canopy of birch and rowan trees.
Sphagnum Mound, Summer
Kirkconnell Flow
Gouache on watercolour paper
15x20cm
As the surface of the bog dries out in summer, mounds of brightly coloured sphagnum moss fade into bleached shades of chalky pink and neon mint, looking strange and bright amongst the soft brown peat.
Druid Loch
Drumlanrig Estate, Thornhill
Gouache on watercolour paper
15x20cm
August light casts reflections on the loch surface. Huge parkland trees reach out, far over the waters edge, skimming the pink-tinged mass of lily pad leaves.
Cordorcan Falls
Wood of Cree
Gouache on bamboo fibre paper 16x23cm
After heavy rain, the waterfalls are in full flow, frothing down and filling deep channels in the rocky ravine. Mossy ground cover decorates the forest floor between oak trees and ferns cling to wet rocks.
Surface
Kirkconnell Flow
Gouache on watercolour paper
15x20cm
The raised dome of peat at Kirkconnell Flow is colonised with heather and fluffy white areas of cotton-grass, as well as seeded birch saplings. The tall Scots pines form a dense fringe where they have been left around the central area.
Roots
Kirkconnell Flow
Gouache on watercolour paper
15x20cm
Roots and partially decomposed wood are strewn across the peat, making a framework filled with sphagnum moss and young growth of heather and bilberry.
Dor Beetle
Wood of Cree
Mixed media on watercolour paper
15x20cm
At certain times of year, beautiful iridescent Dor beetles emerge and make their way across the fallen oak and beech leaves. From above they often look like carved black bakelite, simultaneously dull and shiny, with just a hint of the electric blue-purple colour underneath.
Tidelines
Rough Island, Rockcliffe
Gouache on watercolour paper
15x20cm
As the sun sets, the last of the glowing light dips behind the silhouetted Almorness headland. The Urr Estuary draws back around Rough Island, catching the bonfire glow in its tidelines.
Across the Causeway
Rockcliffe
Gouache on watercolour paper
30x40cm
Low tide reveals the causeway joining Rough Island to the cockleshell beach at Kippford. Sunset highlights the still-wet rocks and seaweed and casts its glow over the damp sand.
Sphagnum and Sticks
Kirkconnell Flow
Mixed media on watercolour paper
15x20cm
Sticks lay half-submerged in the wet sphagnum, different shades of yellow, with thin surface water reflecting the sky.
Orchard Woodland
Rockcliffe
Gouache on bamboo fibre paper
32x24cm
The lowland heath around Rockcliffe has pockets of old woodland following small streams which overflow from lochs. Old ash trees make monumental sculptural forms, some standing, some fallen tipping up giant tangled roots. Huge cascades of ivy climb through the trees reaching up to the sunlit canopy.