Above – Sanna Bay 2. Ardnamurchan. Oil on 47×47″ canvas. Rose Strang 2022

A serendipitous painting today – I started sketching in the composition lightly in paint and decided I liked the tranquil simplicity of it. I might add a tiny bit of detail to the clump or rock and seaweed on the left but happily I think I’ve captured something of the luminous stillness of Sanna Bay.

I’ve never painted at this size (47 by 47 inches – about 4 by 4 feet) but it felt quite free-ing surprisingly. I have one more painting to complete at this larger size then all seven will be finished.

This series is for the Resipole Gallery in Ardnamurchan. The exhibition (a two-person exhibition with artist Jim Wright) launches on Sunday June 12th.

Yesterday I mentioned the song I’m learning by Donald McColl. His family have kindly granted permission for me to record the song and I’m now learning the Scottish Gaelic lyrics phonetically, with a lot of help from Ceit Langhorne who’s a Scottish Gaelic translator and singer who I first met on the isle of Eigg in 2014 at a ceilidh.

I remember asking Ceit if she knew any songs of the sea which she did, so I recorded it under a beautiful full moon on Eigg. Here’s my post from the time! –

Gaelic song on Eigg by Ceit Langhorne

I hope to record the song soon and will post that here when it’s finished.