SNOW GOOSE

At the end of a nine mile track off the A9 (Perth - Inverness road) is Bruar Lodge on the Atholl estate. Surrounded by high hills and bracing stretches of moorland this landscape that changes with the light, time of day and the weather. Siân and I were the guests of dear friends Kate and Mike. Arriving in good time on the 29^th we had temerity to bring our car along the track. Mistake.

As I write, some five days later we are stranded here, swaddled in high luxury and wonderful company. It is toasty warm inside the lodge, and you step outside into a country that just has to be captured on paper, even when 5 – 8 degrees below.  

 

The energy, shape, sweep and patterns of the country is captivating and so is the compulsion to draw is easy to gratify.  

 

My field kit is simple: coat, scarf, cap, boots, over trousers:    ...Plus stick sketch book and graphite stick and pen and I am off. Across the snow. Almost everywhere the sound of running water from the river or streams that pop up from nowhere. Little wind and with the sun sometimes it is quite warm.

 

Certainly being outside here is the best place to make drawings and the ambient temperature ensure every mark is quickly pressed into submission.  

What brilliant fun.

 

When will we be out of the Glen? 

Who knows.