Just
back from a bit of an artists retreat time in Skye… its one of my favourite places & somewhere I return to again
& again, so much to be explored & discovered. Am now trying to process everything I saw, noted, gathered and
felt. Lots
to take on board and to explore further.
Very exciting & inspiring time.
The weather has been amazing, the wildlife wonderful & there really
were stories under every stone…
I left thick snow behind in Derbyshire and I feel I found spring in Skye… But the temperature dropped a lot at night and left amazing ice and frost patterns waiting to be found each morning.
Many of the mountains had much snow on them,
both on Skye and on my route up through the Scottish highlands. It was an incredibly amazing landscape – the
patterns of bare trees against the backdrop of moorland and snowy
mountains. I found the layers of
colours really rich and inspiring.
I’ve returned with hundreds of photos, sketch books full of images and a
few found treasures to contemplate (teeny driftwood, sea-washed pottery and a
little shell…). The
landscape was bursting with stories and hints at events and happenings.
I’m hoping now to continue to explore all this –
I’m itching to get out the paints again, the felt, the collage materials and
the printing inks…
Skye (and the Islands and
Highlands) is a landscape that deeply inspires me; I’ve been returning there
for several years and every time there are more and more layers to peel back,
new things to find and familiar things take on new meanings. Its stunning in all seasons - and maybe
especially feels remote, wild and rugged outside of the busier summertime.
There’s something
incredibly important and meditative about spending time in nature looking,
listening, feeling and watching… you
notice so much if you tune yourself into it.
If you rush through a landscape you miss almost everything that could be
there for you. I think also being able
to go for long walks in wild places brings the most special encounters – with
nature but also with yourself. That’s also
why I adore the very early morning and dusk, they are quite magical times when
the light and smells in the air are incredibly special.
Encounters with nature come
in all sorts of ways – but you have to be constantly placing yourself in
situations where they might just happen.
I spent a lot of time in Skye watching for otters, amongst other
creatures, and whilst I was eventually rewarded with the most wonderful long
views of three otters – it’s the waiting and searching that has such an
important set of emotions attached to it.
I love going for walks and finding signs of creatures which tell a story
that you can only guess at parts of…
Knowing you have maybe just missed an otter (or any creature) is an
amazing feeling – because there’s a sense of wider things happening around you
and the promise of what might be around another corner. It also makes me smile inwardly because
wild creatures should be able to keep themselves safe and a step ahead of human
activity really. It also makes it all
the more special when you do see wild animals.
I was incredibly inspired
by the trees and woodland on Skye; I was exploring the part of the island that
has old groves of birch, hazel, oak and alder.
They are twisted, bent, curled trees that I find really beautiful: their
colours and textures are rich, they are covered in amazing lichens and the
trees sit snuggled up to the rocks – gripping tight and winding their way up
through the land in ways look almost impossible.
There are also many
remnants of human activity amidst the trees – standing stones, old huts,
clearance villages… as well as new homes and signposts… I love the stories found in the land and
signs of past human activity can give rise to the ideas of tales and stories
stretching back hundreds (even thousands) of years. It’s important to maintain a connection with the past, whilst
also looking forward; links with our ancestors should help us find our own
place in the world. I find the
clearance villages particularly emotional places – they are set amongst this
stunningly beautiful landscape and yet they tell stories that contain vast
harshness and hardship.
I also find that a
landscape like Skye has so many wonderful small treasures to be found – but
which could be overlooked. There are
these endless vast views of mountains, sea, lochs and other islands which stop
you in your tracks; yet there are also the most beautiful teeny flowers, moss,
lichens, tiny shells, little stones and details in the grains of sand… It’s the combination of all of this that
draws me there…
