Menoturals; Depictions

It's Nature Friday time again! Stick around; it will make sense. 

Before making my way to the northeast, I dropped in via Edinburgh. I had arranged with Aitch to spend a day with her visiting the German Market and the Scottish National Art Gallery.

We were again blessed with the weather. The previous day had been so wet that I was a tad concerned, but nature provided brightness, dryness, and chill once more.

To be blunt, the market was but a patch on my memory of it. Barely a quarter of the stalls there used to be. One stallholder told me it was due to the council having such trouble restoring the lands after the event. It is held, you see, in the Princes Street Gardens, and not just the stalls themselves, but the carelessness of the crowds attending results in a good deal of damage. That said, we did enjoy what there was and on one stall we both purchased leg warmers, hand-knitted in Nepal, with some of the funds going to an elephant charity. On the next stall where I stopped, I purchased a large Jacob's sheepskin, dark brown and lush - AND WARM. (Not a day too soon as the temps plummeted to sub-zero the next day, and having this over the bed made all the difference!) Then, at the third stall, I made a small purchase of a pair of hand-crafted bonbon dishes from Palestine. The holder had only the previous week returned from visiting his homeland. Needless to say, he had been deeply affected by what he witnessed there...

After a bite of lunch, we headed into the gallery. Aitch had not been to this particular part before, which contains a large collection of Scottish artists and some very important (and ancient) works from other countries. 

As you see, there are some ginormous canvases there! I was quite taken with one of the smallest pieces, though. It is almost a sketch rather than a completed work, but it holds the ambience that one feels when standing in the gallery—and it is a piece from an artist who stood in these very rooms.

I have a great many photos from this visit. Both Aitch and I found it charming, engrossing, and worth every minute of our time. One thing that struck us both was that many of the Scottish artists focused on the nature of this Bonny Land. Even in portraits, nature appears (though that is perhaps not particular to Scottish works). Due to the number, I have decided that they will appear as Monday posts next year, in a similar vein to the recent fungi series.

As a 'teaser', though, let me share the following; Wandering Shadows (Peter Graham 1878) and a partial shot of The Monarch of the Glen (Sir Edward Landseer 1851). In the first, which some consider a romanticised view of the Highlands, I see only that which surrounds me as I travel near my home in the west. It is very evocative and - to my eye - intensely real. As for the stag - well - it's just gobsmackingly beautiful.

...and, yes, I have seen stags up on the hills as magnificent as this - though not quite as close. Though one did run across the road in front of me earlier this year (spring madness - and a hazard to be aware of!). Not quite so many points to his rack, but close. He was gone before I could get the camera ready. 

What I did capture recently was this lovely mare strutting her stuff...

After a nuzzle and whuff of hello to me, she decided that grazing was much more interesting...

A little later, the Sun and Clouds put on one of their hit shows...

With that, I'll leave you imagining the perfume of this rose for Rosy!