Art and Photography, Scottish artist

I have just returned from a weekend visit with a friend of mine. She is a Scottish Artist who specializes in Scottish landscapes and seascapes. I love her work, I’m very lucky, she has on occasions taken me out with her while she paints and sketches. The fact that many of the places she paints are known to me and some of her finished work was started on location while I was there makes her work extra special to me. Please visit her web site and see her work for yourself.
And once you have enjoyed her work, come back here to see the places she took me today.
http://www.scottish-painting.co.uk/

She lives in a small cottage on the Glamis Estate, for those who don’t know, The Glamis Estate is land owned by the Earl of Strathmore and is most famous for being the home of the late Queen Mother; Elizabeth Bowes-lyon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bowes-Lyon#

(although obviously the Queen Mum lived in Glamis Castle not a cottage on the estate). This is a picture of a rather pretty tree in my friends garden.
ALL PICTURES WILL ENLARGE IF YOU CLICK 
Learn more about Glamis here

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/glamis/glamis/index.html

We took a drive into the Angus countryside and headed toward the Glens.
 Just outside the small town of Kirriemuir is a ruined Victorian Hunting Lodge known as Balintore Castle. This building has been ruinous for many years but is now in the process of being rescued and hopefully returned to its former glory.
These pictures are of the old gatehouse, which is beyond repair but the building itself, seen sitting high up on the hill can be returned to its original state.
To get some idea of the amount of work the owner has taken on have a look at this website, it shows close up details of the damage to the fabric of the building.
http://derelictionaddiction.fotopic.net/c1672266_1.html
This web site has information about the history and rescue of the building.
http://www.angus.gov.uk/new/releases-archive/2007/2007-02-07b.htm
Note the snow every where, you don’t need to travel very far out of the towns and into the Glens to find snow on the ground and ice over the water.
 With a thin layer of snow still covering the hills you can see the patterns of fields and enclosures under the snow.
The most beautiful sight I saw today has to be the reservoir.
Backwater reservoir supplies water to virtually the whole of Angus and Dundee and also part of Perthshire.
It’s a vast expanse of water, still mostly covered in ice, set against the back drop of snow covered hills.
 On days like this, despite the sub zero temperature and boggy ground underfoot, I love living here. Information about the reservoir here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backwater_Reservoir

delete reply spiritjewelz wrote on Jan 30, '10 enjoyed the article-- will look further at photos tomorrow!

delete reply initiativestain wrote on Jan 30, '10 Now this is a coincident my grandfather travelled from Norway then to Scotland in the Orkneys and thereafter ended up in Canada - small world...my surname means or has something to do with stone masons... Grand pictures and a great country yet cold much like Canada during this time of the year.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Jan 25, '10 thhis is just wonderful loretta and your fritnds work is wonderful- I looked up your neck of the woods and wow what a lovely country you live in I can understand why you love it :)

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jan 25, '10 Thanks folks...............glad you enjoyed the post, it was an absolutly wonderful weekend, had a great time and I'm pleased to be able to share it all with you

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Jan 25, '10 Driving down the road and seeing a castle! Wow. That is so cool. I love the paintings and this is just a marvelous post.

delete reply vaziry wrote on Jan 25, '10 That is a fantastic post and i truly enjoyed all the artwork it's absolutely great . Thank you .

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Jan 25, '10 amazing......i can feel the power of its history. i enjoyed your friend's artwork, very lovely stuff there. thank you so much.

delete reply stillwandering wrote on Jan 25, '10 Your freinds artwork is a feast for the eyes, wonderful colours! Love this post! I've only been to Scotland once but have past lives there ~ are you close to Yester Castle and Goblin Ha'?

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Jan 25, '10 An absolutely fine post Loretta with great pictures, as usual. I enjoyed seeing your friend's work, very expressive paintings. I especially took a liking to 'Redcastle - Lunan Bay Montrose', but I couldn't quite say why I was drawn to that particular painting, just something about it to strike my fancy. So glad for you to have such an enjoyable weekend.

delete reply calum33 wrote on Jan 24, '10 forgetmenot525 said ...........if we are talking 'Scottish'' castle, its known as a tower not a keep, keep in an English term. So is 'Castle' In Scottish Gaelic the word is 'Caisteal' as in 'Bu chaisteal dhaingneach dnomh thu.' Keep is nevertheless used by Scots when describing the main tower of a Caisteal. You will see it used in the link I gave above and in many other Scottish pages about Castles. They probably use it to distinguish between the round towers that dot the northern landscape including Northumbria.

delete reply lrrpslady wrote on Jan 24, '10 I will be back to more thoroughly check out the links. Your countryside is as ever awe inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful country with us.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jan 24, '10 pestep55 said Wonderful work she does You are very welcome, I would love her work to become better known

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jan 24, '10 nemo4sun said what a wonderfull place you live in Thanks Nemo...............sorry for the wait, and yes, I do live in a very beautiful part of the world, I'm very lucky.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jan 24, '10 mitchylr said Thanks for the interesting article Loretta Thanks Mitch, glad you enjoyed it, and you are right, that is one hell of a restoration job, he's a brave man to take it on.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jan 24, '10, edited on Jan 24, '10 calum33 said friend. This page - http://www.ancient-scotland.co.uk/site.php?a=200 does not tell the whole story at all. There was a castle on this site before 1531 and it was very likely the Keep that we see there today That is more than possible. Most so called Scottish ''castles'' actually started life as a simple tower house that has been added to and/or altered over the years. Sometimes there is no sign of the original tower because it is buried deep inside the newer facade. Those so called ''Castles'' that were built on a previously unused site by the Victorians (often rich and romantic Victorian English gentlemen) who bought into the image of the tartan, heather and haggis are no more than Victorian baronial follies, not genuine castles at all. BTW...........if we are talking 'Scottish'' castle, its known as a tower not a keep, keep in an English term.

delete reply pestep55 wrote on Jan 24, '10 Wonderful work she does, love the seascapes and the loch works. You live in such a magical place! Thank you for the introduction and the tour /:-)

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Jan 24, '10 well worth the wait i love her work there is a serene power there your visit and the building/landscape photos are great what a wonderfull place you live in :)

delete reply mitchylr wrote on Jan 24, '10 Thanks for the interesting article Loretta. Your friend is a very good artist, I like her work. The restoration of Balintore Castle is certainly a big job, but it will be worth it to see it back to something approaching it's former glory.

delete reply calum33 wrote on Jan 24, '10, edited on Jan 24, '10 Thank you Loretta for showing us this. I do hope that you will one day get to Craignethan Castle with your friend. This page - http://www.ancient-scotland.co.uk/site.php?a=200 does not tell the whole story at all. There was a castle on this site before 1531 and it was very likely the Keep that we see there today. The pictures on this web page are good, but I have some more impressive ones taken more than twenty years ago. Scott may have denied that it inspired his description in Old Mortality, but the fact is that his story does describe Craignethan and he did stay there. In his book he calls it Tillietudlum Castle and when early tourists visited they believed that it really was the right name, even though they knew the book was fiction. So the Canny Scots thought, "Why Not?" So they built the village of Tillietudlum nearer to the castle than the village of Draffan which was the name of the castle that stood there before James Hamilton took possession when my Draffans sided with the Black Douglas and fell foul of the King. My gt.grandfather James Draffan was born at Lesmahagow which is close to the village of Draffan and both were part of lands owned by the Tironesian Monks of the Abbey of Kelso. The Castle stands on a Crag overlooking the river Nethan far below and from that side it is an impressive site with great views. I have a letter from the late Nigel Tranter who filled me in with a little of the history. He calls it Draffan House in one of his novels.

delete reply regalfemale wrote on Jan 24, '10 As always an excellent post. I can tell you had a wonderful day with a friend. Your friend has a beautiful talent. I wish her much success.