Acrylic on canvas, 12x16"

The painting is on a stretched canvas, painted round the sides, with string on the back, so it is ready to hang as it is or can be framed if you prefer.

The Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye is an exceptionally beautiful area. With the Black Cuillin mountains in the background the scenery is already dramatic. But as you walk towards the mountains you come across beautiful blue pools nestled in the landscape. The clear water is a special shade of greenish blue and fed by little waterfalls.

There are fewer people the further you walk towards the mountains and eventually the path runs out, or becomes less obvious. We walked as far as we could go up the mountain before it felt unsafe. The weather was changing and we expected heavy rain. Luckily we got back down before it started.

I photographed this pool before the storm, but the gathering clouds created some interesting lighting. This made it a good art reference photo. I love paintings where you can see the light, and to see the light you also need shadow. I hope I have made a nice balance of light and dark, and warm and cool colours in this painting.

For a change, I started this painting in shades of brown. I usually work in layers of one colour at a time. I liked how the brown showed through as I painted the sky and gave it a warm glow.

Doing a painting is a nice way to remember a beautiful place when you get back home. This was somewhere I had wanted to visit for some time. As part of our tour of Scotland we were camping at Glenbrittle Campsite which is a very short drive from the Fairy Pools. In fact, our daughter set off early and ran there. The rest of us met her in the car.