The Rough Bounds of Knoydart

Knoydart paintings aim to capture something of the ‘out of the ordinariness’ of this famously remote area. The community in Knoydart is increasingly capitalising (in a good way) on this image, the tiny settlement of Inverie in Knoydart has some accommodation choice and a campsite as well as a community owned pub, The Old Forge. So you’ll not starve – far from it – while visiting.

There are no motorable roads to Inverie, but you don’t have to do the long, long trek in from the west – from Kinlochhourn, Glenfinnan or Glen Dessary – as there is a regular ferry service from Mallaig.

All around there is a sense of near-wilderness (in as much as you can feel such a thing in a wee place like Scotland) and for this reason alone, Knoydart is, at the very least, a near ‘must see’. Unless of course you are the city type…

Otherwise you might be visiting for the round of the three Munros accessible from Inverie, of which Ladhar Bheinn is arguably the best-known. (The other two are Luinne Bheinn and Meall Buidhe.)

Knoydart Paintings – the rugged west

Hereabouts you are constantly drawn to the western horizons and the ever-shifting shapes and colours of the islands on the horizon. 

Colour gradation in Knoydart paintings becomes a preoccupation – or maybe just adding more and more Payne’s Grey to whatever your initial colour mix was. Is that distant island of Eigg blue-grey, or brownish, or does it still have a touch of green? It depends on the weather and the time of day. 

Naturally, the high tops are the places for breath-taking views. The painting (above) of the summit ridge of Ladhar Bheinn, looking west (obviously,) is a mix of acrylic, acrylic gouache and possibly plain gouache as well. They all happily get on, being water mixable. 

Meanwhile, back at sea level, at Inverie Bay on Loch Nevis, there is a scattering of buildings in the settlement of Inverie. But it’s hard to overlook the dominating peaks beyond…

More information on Knoydart and climbing Ladhar Bheinn.