Nearly four years after I planned it, I finally set off on my solo trip. A different location, a different perspective and a whole lot more to miss at home. But it taught me so much.

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Painting Beautiful Places is a passion project that was born in Scotland, but it was hiding in plain sight far earlier, when I first took my watercolours abroad to Patagonia on my honeymoon.

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This was where I first discovered the incredible stories the landscape has to tell. The mountains, the greenery, the wide open spaces.  I’d never been a landscape artist: the landscape was usually the background to a nature painting.  But the more I wandered in nature without specifically looking for its wildlife, the more I was absorbed. I found beauty in these quiet, open, seemingly empty spaces that I hadn’t found before. The landscapes I painted no longer needed the wildlife, as they took on a life of their own.

 

Monet taught me the dynamics of light, and how the subtlest shift of hues can transform the landscape from quiet contemplation to brooding, moody, icy. Caspar David Freidrich taught me to love the vast openness of the lonely landscape. And taught me how to use the elements to craft a deeper meaning. Then there’s Landseer, Kyffin Williams and Turner - the great British artists that cemented my love of my home country, inspiring me to pursue my travels closer to home.

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Rugged, legendary Scotland was the perfect place to start.