Despite being so far north here in Wester Ross, this scene has rather a lowland or even a southern England look to it, reflecting the mild element of the oceanic climate of the western Scottish Highlands. The location here is in the bottom of a valley and is sheltered from much of the wind that comes in off the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Someone recently told me that this picture reminds her not of southern Britain but of a place in eastern Australia: “a little inland of the New South Wales and Queensland coast as the land rolls into hills with clear streams and shady trees and green grass: a place I often dream of”. Amazing how one place can somehow link us through to other places.

Details: Coloured pencil; 2011; 30 cm x 21 cm. Unframed: original £200; print £30.

Included in the gallery Trees 1