My World

My most favorite pastime is immersing myself in this beautiful world God has provided for us while capturing what I see in still images. I was fortunate enough to visit the highlands and Outer Hebrides islands along with the ilse of Orkney in Scotland in 2019 with my husband in tow. Of course, my camera, plenty of batteries, chargers and my laptop for storage were packed for this trip of a lifetime. I rented a car and spent three weeks travling over 1700 miles of that magnificent landscape. Once we returned home and all my hundreds of images were uploaded and edited I decided to print many for our walls.

Then I looked at the stack of circular saw blades next to my paint station and the creative juices began to flow once again. I selected several photos to follow the castle theme. Other paintings would follow but these three castles stole my ❤️. I believe everyone is familiar with Urquhart Castle.

We got a pleasant surprise on the drive from Inverness to Ullapool to catch a ferry to the isle of Lewis-Harris when we saw this lone ruin along the road. We stopped and walked the grounds of Ardvreck Castle which stands on a rocky promontory jutting out into Loch Assynt in Sutherland, Scotland.

But I must admit my most favorite castle, the one we spent the most time roaming around and simply being there was Duffus Castle, near Elgin, Moray, Scotland. The day was extremely windy, nearly knocking us from our feet at times. The old ruin, high atop its hill gave us ample cover as we roamed throughout. We were the only people there on that blustery day which made the visit even more enjoyable. I could almost here the ancient residents voices echoing through the walls.

While we saw many other ruins and even visited Brody Castle, the one functioning and livable castle we toured, these three will always have my heart. They simply spoke to me necessitating the need and desire to transpose the photographs to Oils. I felt saw blades were the perfect canvas as they needed no frame to enhance their natural beauty.