Near Cragiellachie - float framed

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Near Cragiellachie, oil on card, 12.5 x 9 cm - 2010- available

(Frame external edge 17 x 20 cm)

Float mounted framing. Without glazing the picture can e seen more clearly. 

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Birches, Aviemore

Birches, Aviemore, oil on card, 8 x 10 cm SOLD

The final picture of the Spey Way walk. By this point the weather had closed in, very cold and dark. I'd forgotten quite how inhospitable the Scottish climate can be

Paintings from the Spey Way

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 View from The Croft, Elgin, oil on card, 10 x 12 cm  SOLD

 Elgin Cathedral, oil on card, 10 x 12 cm  - available

 The Spey Bay, oil on card, 10 x 12 cm  SOLD

Fochabars, oil on card, 10 x 8 cm   AVAILABLE

 

Gatehouse to Craigellachie Castle, oil on card, 10 x 12cm   AVAILABLE

Ballindalloch Castle, oil on card, 13.5 x 10 cm - available

Houses, Moray, oil on card, 10 x 12 cm  SOLD

Arndilly, oil on card, 10.3 x 13.2 cm     available

The Spey near Ballindalloch, oil on card, 10, x 11 cm  SOLD

I spent a week walking the Spey way. I walked up to the Spey Bay from Elgin, the followed the river down to Aviemore, getting lost a few times and spending the night in various Bed and Breakfasts and hostels.

Painting-wise the trip was good, but the romantic idea of walking and painting as I went, was less happy in reality.

This is because:
1. carrying a rucksack- which happened to break on day two is very tedious
2. my shoes started to cut very badly into my heels
3. Scotland in the rain is not a good place to be when you are walking on a hillside
4. packing and unpacking  every night and morning gets annoying.

Better conceived was the Christmas trip to the mountains earlier this year, when I stayed in the same place and made daily excursions with just a little bag.

 I shall adapt trips in future to this model. It means one has the chance to do a reconaissance of a place, then return to where is good. If one is following a linear track that doesn`t happen, unless one walks back- something which i find psychologically well nigh impossible. It also is better socially because you can get to know people sometimes at your lodgings, and it is nice to chat to someone after a solitary day painting.

Anyway, as regards painting, I am happy: here is a little selection- more can be found on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tadeuszderegowski/sets/72157627338763566/with/5989683743/

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Back to base

 Paintings from the Spey Valley leg of my trip: there are also som pictures from London, Brasil, and two still lives painted in Aberdeen.

Back.

Many pictures later, a good run of experiences and good news.

The trip had three stages: Taubate, Brasil,  London, The Spey Valley, Scotland and then London again.

I shall be posting the best of these in three postings. I also painted some little still lives.

I had some good news: the Union Gallery in Broughton Street, Edinburgh has taken my work, and will be dealing with it. This is excellent as it is a good Gallery with an interesting profile. I have raised the prices of paintings to 100 pounds sterling each. This is necessary to cover travel costs, which can be very high.

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Many thanks to those who hosted me: Larry, Chris, my parents, my sister Anna and her husband Kenneth, and Lise and her son Felix. I simply could not do such a long trip without your help and support.

Entrance to an apartment block; the Speyside Way

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Entrance to an apartment block, oil on card, 12.3 x 8.7cm - Discarded

When I paint thick, boring paintings like this I always think of Luc Tuymans, a great Belgian artist.

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I'll be walking the Speyside Way in mid July, painting along the way.

The Speyside Way is a walk running from Spey Bay, on the North-East coast of Scotland and Aviemore at the Grampian mountains, roughly following the Spey Valley.  It breaks into sections of between 10 and 15 miles a day for six days, which means about 2 hours walking in the mornings, two in the afternoons with about three intervals for food and painting and rest. This will make a fine contrast to the week I'll have spent in London just before.