Badlands

I was on my way from Aberdeen to Forres, in the middle of the Scottish Uplands, a hundred miles from the coast, but there were seagulls flying above. The hills on either side of the single track road were dark, barren and round like coastal dunes. When I saw this stream cutting through the jagged mountains, I looked around in disbelief. Was this really Scotland or had I taken a wrong turn and ended up in the badlands of Montana?

I first did a small oil sketch of this scene, Upland Stream.

Badlands, Oil on Canvas, 12″x16″ 2015