Clashmore
The Scottish poet, Norman MacCaig, when not teaching in Edinburgh, spent his time exploring and soaking up the culture and countryside of this gorgeous part of Scotland. He considered himself to be “two men at once”.
The aces in our pack of memories of the Assynt include the little cottage by Clashmore. It has a small cladded extension with a stove, overlooking the slopes down to the Minch with Lewis beyond.
Five years ago, we took our honeymoon in several short breaks or “mini-moons”, one of which was to the Assynt and this little cottage. We returned for the anniversary. This time, we overnighted in Ullapool at an artsy hotel with good food and a piano in the residents’ lounge tuned to suit my particular skills. Continuing the journey in the morning, Loch Glascarnoch provided a milestone, with Loch Droma pointing the way Northward. We visited favourite beaches at Achmelvich and Clachtoll on the way, taking time to sketch a little, take a few photos, and breathe it all in.
Genius artist that I am, I schlepped all the way from the car to the beach at Achmelvich on a shonky ankle and sat on a perfect rock to capture the matchless scene around me. In my bag I had two sets of brushes, water, water pot, cloths, two watercolour pads, pencils and Conté crayons. No paints.
Wednesday morning we woke to the sound of rain and spent the morning watching it from the bothy end, wrapped in blankets and books. When the rain stops, the peace is palpable. When it doesn’t, it’s no less a somatic, sensory experience. It’s the perfect backdrop to sketching and reading. Lewis was veiled by the rain.
They say, if you don’t like the weather in Scotland, just wait. We were out in time to pick up coffee, lunch, and a jar of souvenir fresh Highland air1 at the Jammery by Culkein, then back down to Clachtoll with the famous split rock, and along to the Stoer lighthouse along the coast. I spent some time looking at these and trying to sketch them.
As usual, it is more about the process and learning to use the materials than it is about the product, but I’ll leave you some photos and photos of sketches and you can decide what you think about them. I do think I’m learning, slowly, how to be less literal, and trying to express the feeling of a place rather than rendering realistic images of how it looks. I’ve got a camera for that, and it is no less a liar once I’ve done some post-processing2.
We’re not finished with this anniversary trip but I think I’ve shared enough of it for now. Time for a nightcap, I think. Do you hear that? No, me either.