The Smell of Autumn

Last Sunday, I arrived home in the black of night after a short trip to the south. On opening the door of the car I was hit by a strong smell of earthy decomposition infused with sea salt. I was back in the Highlands.

For most of us, smells fade the longer you spend in a place, yet the memory associated with them can be stronger than any other sense.

A sense that is harder to ignore when you live up here, especially in Autumn, is sight.  Driving along the Beauly Firth to the gallery the other morning, the water was still, Ben Wyvis snow-topped and the full moon hung in the pale blue morning sky.

It is these remarkable views our artists are so talented at capturing.  Having worked with them for a  few months now, I now look at the landscape in terms of which painters work it most resembles. A Kirstie Cohen cloud here, and Allan MacDonald moon there, or perhaps one of Jane MacNeill's soft fields.

On one of our few sunny days this summer,  I mentioned the lovely warm day to Allan MacDonald.  His response? 'I'm looking forward to winter.'  The colder months are his most productive time as the shadows and colours are more interesting.

Judging by some of the work we have received for the Christmas exhibition, it is not just MacDonald who is inspired by the longer nights.  All the artists seem to be fuelled by a new vigour and urgency to capture the beauty of Autumn before the leaves fall.

The work in the Christmas exhibition will capture the essence of autumn long after the smell of it has faded.

Ruth Tauber
Gallery Manager

The Christmas exhibition opens on 24th November  - view our website for more information www.kilmorackgallery.co.uk