Straw Bales

Scotland in October was an abysmally difficult place to paint. The temperature never fell near the freezing point, but the constant rain and high humidity made it difficult to work outdoors, and impossible to stay warm when doing so.

I painted this picture when it was too wet to be out. I would bring a hot water bottle to warm my hands against, and wear fingerless knit gloves to try to keep my hands from stiffening up too quickly. But I still had to go inside every hour or so to heat up.

This is a view of a winter's supply of straw for my landlord's herd of cattle. The trick on Skye was to keep the animals grazing as late as possible into the winter, in order to save on silage. The cows being heavily insulated, they didn't seem to mind the constant onslaught of rain as much as I did.