Real Men Don't ask for Directions.

"Loch Dubh"
By James Swanson/ Traveler David B.
11"x 14" Oil on Linen

The Case of the vanishing Village. I've been listening to a series of books by M.C. Beaton about a Scottish Detective -Hamish Macbeth-in the village of Loch Dubh in the Highlands of Scotland.

Part of M.C. Beaton Book series

I listen to a lot of books on tape when I'm painting-now they are on CDs, but they still call them books on tape, hum?-and I thought I'd do a search and find out what this village looked like to see if there was anything interesting to paint there, and that is how I met our next Traveler David B.

Davis B. on top of the world

Traveler David B. was hospitable enough to stop and give me directions when I was lost looking for Loch Dubh. He helped set me straight about the sham of these M.C. Beaton books.

The BBC made a TV show from the M.C. Beaton books

There is No Village in Loch Dubh it's made up he told me, but there is a Dubh-Loch and he should know because he has climbed there and has taken some nice pictures of it too.

Traveler David B. Story: One advantage of being self-employed is the possibility to take advantage of the fickle Scottish weather. Just such a chance occurred the day after I was doing some work up in Aberdeen. After visiting friends in Banchory, I headed up to the car park at Loch Muick. With all the rear seats out, its possible to sleep in the Espace and carry a bike (or two). So, I was ready to go at 7.15am next morning (28th June). Weather good - cloud high - no wind.

David's hand drawn walking route

By 8am, I was stashing the bike in the trees at Glas-allt Shiel, and heading off up the path - good underfoot initially, up past waterfalls to the Dubh Loch.

Creag and Dubh-loch is the dark hill in the distance.

A bit muddy for the next mile or so, then continued up gentle grassy slopes to Carn an t-Sagairt Beag (10.30am) well populated with a herd of deer. Not quite sure why I hadn't planned to include the White Mouth Munro - that had to wait for a second trip in 2004.

passing the Dubh Loch en route for Cairn an t'Sagairt Mor

Across on Carn an t-Sagairt Mor, I could see something white or metallic just below the summit. Intrigued, I headed in that direction, and found the remains of a crashed plane. A few minutes later (11am) I was on top of the first Munro of the day, with its curiously split cairn.

40 minutes later, across a shallow depression, I was on Fafernie - surely the "top" with the least drop between it and its Munro!

Looking east from Carn an t-Sagairt Beag to the distant summit

of Lochnagar, with the cliffs of the Stuic on the right.

Another drop of 10m, then a slight rise, and within 10 minutes I had reached Cairn Bannock. Munro number 142 - the half way mark. A quick calculation showed, that if I took the same time to do the next 142, I would "complete" in 2028 at the age of 71. Perhaps I needed to show a little more urgency!

Anyway, Cairn Bannock was a good half way point for an inhabitant of Selkirk:

Tops come easy in this corner of the world:

Traveler David B. photo I chose to paint

Traveler Painting-" Loch Dubh" Real men don't ask for directions, but when they are given freely, you can take them. And that is what happened with me with Traveler David B. on this painting, I was looking for a small quaint village and found a cathedral of stone and sky. Lucky me!

Traveler David B. was on his 143rd Munro during this walk, which means he just past the half-way mark (as there are 284 Munros in total). Good place to stop and grab a picture.

The sketch: David sent me a few pictures of Dubh Loch to look at, and I did some sketching and decide on this sketch to to paint. The design was simple and straight forward and the color was striking- the yellow against the blues.

The Canvas is toned with reddish brown mix of paint and the sketch design is brushed in. A red tone was chosen, because the mountains are the major part of the painting and they are near this tone of color.

The Artists Tip: This is the secret oil medium I paint with sssh!, Safflower oil. That's it straight Safflower oil. I try not to use Turpentine or Mineral spirits in my studio, they really stink up the place, and not too good for ya. Quite a few Oil Paint Makers-Daniel Smith and Winsor & Newton, etc... use Safflower oil as the binder for their pigments. It doesn't yellow or smell like linseed, it dries pretty fast, and tastes great-That's before you paint with it. Oh, and it's cheap. I buy it in big quart bottles at the grocery store. I also use it to clean my brushes. Give it a try, it's good stuff.

Darks are painted in first for the structure, then the yellow ground to base the other colors off of, I wanted the yellows to help push all the other browns back in space.

At this point it's the painting is Blocked-in. Wet paint pretty much covers the canvas. Now it is time to start defining a few areas.

The major colors are in place, sky is done, the shadows in the mountain have started taking form.

I am painting in the stones of the cairn here. I am not trying to paint the stones from the photo, just the feeling. If I did that, the viewer wouldn't get past the stones and into the whole painting.

Done. That's all it needs.

Here are some details from the painting.

Framed and ready to go!

"Loch Dubh"
By James Swanson/ Traveler David B.
11"x 14" Oil on Linen

Thanks to good directions from Traveler David B. I have seen Loch Dubh, but it's really Dubh Loch.
Looking for one thing and finding something better, I must be lochy-lucky, I should play the lottery. Traveler David B. has now reached 242 Munros - only 42 to go! I'll let you know when he finishes.

Well it's time for for me to clean up, and slide on down the road and meet with another Traveler and see what's going on, til then Mar sin leat!

Getting There is half the Fun.

"Sunlight in the Valley"
By James Swanson/ Travelers Geoff and Vivien
18"x 24" Oil on Panel

Lights, Camera, and Action - One of my favorite movies when I was growing up was " How Green was My Valley".

Seen it? Well it was about a wonderful family of coal miners in Wales, England and there struggles to survive and stay together. It stared Maureen O'Hara, Walter Pidgeon, and a young Roddy McDowell. It had some beautiful scenery in it and I always wanted to see that area because of that film. It's a great movie, and you should take a look when you get a chance.

Travelers Geoff and Vivien's Tent
that they stay in on their walks.

Well, our next set of Travelers Geoff and Vivien have helped me see Wales, from a whole different point of view than the movie did. They are what you call Hillwalkers. Hillwalking is sort of like hiking, but instead of following a path in the woods you follow one on top of hills and small mountains.

Foel-goch (01 Nov 2006__12:59:43)
All the photos are from Geoff and Vivien's

little 4-day walk, all rights reserved.

Travelers Geoff and Vivien have a wonderful web site v-g Backpacking in Britain where all their walks and trails can be seen. It's a very informative backpacking site with all the bells and whistles a walking traveler might need. They are also very good at photography and take great photos of where they have been.

Glyder Fawr summit area (02 Nov 2006__10:50:41)

Traveler Geoff and Vivien's Story: The photo was taken on the morning of the first day, at the top of the first very steep ascent of the walk, near the summit of Carnedd y Filiast on the western side of the valley. We pitched our tent for the night at Bwlch y Cywion.

This is the photo that they let me work from.

This is a fine spot for a pitch, a superb location with the cone of Y Garn directly ahead and the rocky buttresses of Tryfan above the waters of Llyn Ogwen. The feeling is just one of being independent and self-sufficient in one of the finest landscapes in Wales, with splendid views to enhance the spirit leave the baggage of modern life behind.

Early sunlight on Tryfan & Glyder Fach (02 Nov 2006__07:47:13)

Also the realization that such beautiful wilderness is very limited in this country and that we are fortunate to enjoy it while we are healthy and (reasonably!) fit.


The Painting Traveler Geoff and Vivien's "Sunlight in the Valley"- I came up with a new little topic for the painting series with this painting-places from books and movies that travelers have been. If you have been to a location like that let me know.

The Painting Sketch- a couple of things made me want to paint this photo. First, I loved the lighting. What a sight to wake up too. The green valley was in a perfect place for a good design. Second, was the great depth that I could feel and see in it.

This is the sketch of the painting on an 18"x 24" prepared wood panel.
This is a good size painting because I like this photo so much and wanted to do it justice.


The Palette for this painting, a lot of greens, browns and purples-put into puddles of color for easy and clean use.

I'm starting with my darkest dark to set up this painting. No other color in this painting will be as dark as these.

Next I moved on to the block-in of the mountain and mountains behind the mountains.

Artist Tip: Painting depth in a painting. A Painting friend of mine told me about a book " Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting" by John F. Carlson. In this book Mr. Carlson discusses the principal of air, and how to paint it. It's a pretty simple concept really- the closer something is to you, the less air there will be between you and the thing. And things farther away from you will have more air. Air doesn't have much of a color up close, but the farther things are away from you the more characteristics of the sky are taken on. Each level of depth adds more air to its self or more sky- kind of like curtains of layered air. The sky usually is bluish, so the farther things recede in space the bluer and lighter they will become. That's how I'm working in this painting with the mountains.

The skies turn to be blocked-in. Right now everything is getting a little muted. The thing with prepared panels is that they soak up the oil in the paint, and then the paint seems to dull down a bit. But all the color will all come back at the end when the finishing coats of Liquin or varnish are applied.

I'm reworking the sky and far back mountains so they blend together a touch more. I'm holding off on the valley knowing it's going to bring this creation to life when it's painted in.

End of Day 1 - I had to get this painting totally blocked in before I was done for the day. I've been waiting to put in the green valley until I made a few adjustments in the mountains. These photos of the painting are taken with the painting on the easel and don't do the painting or color justice. It's much more vibrant.

Day 2- Day 1 was a good start, but there are a few things these fresh eyes see that will need to be changed. I didn't like where the green valley was hitting the mountain. It seemed to create a line going across he painting. Some of the mountain colors are off a long with the sky and clouds.

A lot of clean up and color adjustments have been done, but still needs some more pop in areas.

Here I'm working on the foreground, trying to build more contrast there to bring it forward in the painting more, but at the same time not to let it take over the painting.

Finished painting- it's done pretty much, maybe a couple of adjustments later, but this is it. The colors in this piece are a lot richer than in these photos.

Details from the PaintingDone and Framed

"Sunlight in the Valley"
By James Swanson/ Travelers Geoff and Vivien
18"x 24" Oil on Panel

What a nice start to my first trip to the U.K. Geoff and Vivien have been most kind with the use of their pictures. So I would like to thank them here for all the bother I caused them. And to Geoff, who has been having a little foot problems I hope the injuries are behind you, and get back up on those mountains. And if anybody has a place they've been that falls into this topic of movies and book places- I'll except songs too- let me know here or at TheArtistAndTheTraveler.org

I'm going to be hitting the road here now and meet up with the next Traveler, until we meet again, Cheerio old chap.

Sometimes You Have To Fly Stand-By

"The Hunters"
by James Swanson & Traveler Jim A
12"x36" Oil on Canvas

A funny thing happen to me on the way to the UK.
I was planning on the next painting in this series to start a whirlwind tour of the UK. In fact I have a couple paintings on the easel now, but each have a little ways to go on them before they are ready.

Traveler Jim A.

So I'm back in the U.S. to finish a painting I started, but got sidetracked on. Our next Traveler is Jim A. again. If you remember Jim A. is an old friend of mine, who travels every fall to North Dakota to hunt geese. I've heard his stories for years and thought it was time for a few others to here them.

The Hunters gather

Traveler Jim A. Story: Jim has been going on this hunting trip every year since he was a little kid. It started off when he was 8, his dad would drive him and his brother some the 18 hours from Chicago to North Dakota to meet up with some friends to do some Bird hunting. He and friends would stay in a old abandoned farm house for a week or so and hunt on the J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge about 1/2 a mile from the Canadian border.

Each hunter brings his own dog

Jim has kept up the hunting tradition going over the years taking his own sons along on the journey. Each year they return to the same old house on a farmers land that's been abandoned for a long time. The farmer who first let them use it has long given up farming and moved into town.

A good hunt that day

Some of the time that they spend there they make small repairs to the house trying to keep it standing. After making a few patches to the house, the rest of the day time is spent hunting with there dogs. At night they eat some of other catch, relax and play cards, and wait for the start of the next days hunt. For all the ducks, geese, and pheasant that they get, Jim A. doesn't even like the taste of duck that much, and it doesn't taste like chicken either.

The photo of Jim A. I'll be working with.

Traveler Painting: The Hunters, After looking through Traveler Jim A. photos I came across this one. I liked the browns against the blue sky and snow. Jim A is the hunter with the gun on his shoulder, the other hunter is Joe a friend of Jim's, and the dog is Windsor. The snow just fell the night before, but the hunters came prepared with their winter gear.

The Sketch: I picked this photo to work from because I liked the late afternoon light and all the different browns values. I looked a this photo and sketched for a long while trying to do something with it. I decided to go with a long horizontal design on a canvas 12"x36'". I felt I could get everything in this format and create a strong and interesting painting.


Palette: It's pretty much my usual palette, Cad yellow light, Cad yellow Medium,Yellow ocker, Transparent oxide brown, Indian red, Raw umber, Burnt Umber, Cobalt blue, Ultramarine blue ,Phalo Blue and of coarse titanium White.


I start by rubbing in a warm grey I mixed into the canvas and then sketch with paint the chosen sketch design. I'm going to use the snow and the tall grass of the field to lead the viewer eye into the painting.

Starting with the dark areas of the painting first and working my way to the lights.


There were a lot of different shades of brown in this painting and it took a while to figure out the combinations worked well together. I like to work quickly at first to block -in the painting.

Almost blocked - in Time to start on the hunters and see how things are going to work out.
Artist's Tip: Sometimes getting back from a painting just doesn't do it. Sometimes you have to put a painting away and wait until it says to you- Sir, I'm ready to be finished. Every artist knows that starting a painting is the easy part of the painting process, and that finishing is the work part.

OK, the painting is all blocked-in the colors are all wrong, but it's a start. Time to get back from it and see what the plan of attack should be.

Here is a material tip that I have gotten for an artist buddy about reworking old paintings- paint a coat of Liquin on the old painting before you start. The old paint will come to life again, it's like it's wet paint again. The darks of the painting will sparkle like wet paint. The whole painting will freshen up and you will be able to judge the new paint going down against the old paint on the canvas. I know a few artists use Liquin as the finished coat. It gives the surface of a finished painting a unified look, no shiny or matted areas that draw away interest.

Working on the hunters, and redefining areas. Lots to do here.

End of day 1 - It's blocked in some color adjustments have been made, but still a long way to go. I kind of feel like the hunters in the painting. The thrill of the hunt and the big let down at the end.
Traveler Jim stopped by and took a look and liked it. He commented about all the different shades of brown that he saw when he was there.

I put this painting on hold after I got it this far. I moved the hunter Joe back to help balance the painting composition. I also added some darks around the first hunter to bring him out.

Finally I looked at this painting start and saw how to finish it. First, since I was painting a person I know I better get that right, and second, I have all these horizontals and nothing visual to pull them together. So I added a few trees which seem to do the trick.

Details from the Painting


Done and Framed.
"The Hunters"
by James Swanson and Traveler Jim A.

12"x36" Oil on Canvas

I'm happy to get this painting done, it's been staring at me for months and taking up some space in the studio. I had breakfast with Traveler Jim A. the other day and told him that I finally finished that painting of him. And what did he say, " I thought it was finished when you showed it to me." See it's good to have friends that are travelers. And if you want to join in this painting adventure, tell me about the place you've been along with a few photos from your trip contact me here or at www.theartistandthetraveler.org

Well, I'm off to meet up with my next Travelers, some wonderful hillwalking folk from the UK. Until we meet again Tally Ho!