As one of my current commissions involves a sweeping white beach, I took it as an excuse to go do some fresh drawings at Coral Beach. And, as it’s about to close for winter, I also popped into the gardens at Dunvegan Castle.
First stop was on that hill where you see Coral Beach for the first time. Go a little to the left of the path and there’s a stone wall which provides shelter from a breeze and a viewpoint without spectators. There’s something about double swoop of the coastline that I enjoy so much, an echo of shape but contrast in colour and texture.
As in most places on Skye, there was a convenient rock to sit on, and another to prop up my watercolour paper.
As so often is the case, the view looking “the other way” would also make an interesting painting.
After a while I wandered up to Coral Beach. I was fortunate with my timing: the people who’d been on the beach had left and if I only looked north I had the beach to myself (if I looked behind me, there were another four groups of people heading to the beach).
There’s something irresistible about playing with long shadows. I did wonder if any of the other people would end up photos of the beach with a person holding an A3 shiny bag (with my sheets of watercolour paper in it) doing strange poses on the beach.
And then there were the sparkles of light:
And a strange feather with a white spot:
After Coral Beach I went into the gardens at Dunvegan Castle, which were looking superb and with far more things flowering than I thought there might be. I think it was even more beautiful than when I was there in summer. My thanks to the castle’s horticultural team for the recharge of my colour batteries. Here are a few things that particularly caught my eye:
Thank you for taking us on your little journey to the beach…. We were very quiet , looking over your shoulder and didn’t even leave our shadows in your photos! 🙂 beautiful day, beautiful flowers…
It was a glorious day! The walled garden at Dunvegan Castle even has a lily pond for Monet-style paintings, but there was a photographer concentrating on something there, so I didn’t go near it this visit. (Though I will admit to being tempted to toss a pebble into the pond!)
I love perfect days like that! I am a photographer… I had my friend Sally come and throw rocks in the water so that I could take photos of ripples… it worked, I even got a splash! Though it took her three tries to hit the water!
Wow M looks like you had an amazing day. Vx
Superb photos and a lovely article that transported me to a wonderful place for a brief time. It’s amazing how ten minutes of daydreaming can do wonders for a tired mind and body. Thanks Marion.
Artistic imaginings = daydreaming paintings /
🙂
Wow, Marion, what fantastic photos! Every one of them could inspire a painting. You do live in a beautiful part of the world.
-Jude
It is indeed! I’m very lucky!!
Beautiful photos Marion. Dunvegan gardens do look radiant. I was there in the summer and was so impressed by the range of flowering plants and even more impressive that the gardens are still full of colour. Coral beach looks spectacular as the light at this time of year seems to intensify colour and contrast.