I have often passed Kinnoull Hill as it is by the A90. The hill and other hill beside it, together part of the Kinnoull Hill Woodlands Park, tower above the busy road at one side, while the wide River Tay, borders the other side. Right at the top of Kinnoull Hill there is a tower modelled in the style of historic towers that projected from the landscape on hills by the River Rhine in Germany. The tower had always interested me and I have a habit of looking out for it whenever I pass it. It's never hard to find, protruding from the peak of the hill. 

This week I went to the woodland park and did one of the signposted walks. I chose the one going up to the aforementioned tower. At some point in the future though I would like to do the longer circuit walk round the two hills as there are apparently ruins of iron age fort at the top of the other hill and the historian in me is excited by that! (I have a degree in history.) 

The walk I did was a nice walk. A well-maintained path skirted around and them rose through the woods at a not too steep incline up to the top. There were lovely views at a few points and the view from the top didn't disappoint but it would have been nicer had the sun decided to shine! I'd have loved to have seem the blue of the sky reflected on the surface of the River Tay. 

Here are some of the photos I took. These are just a few from my phone, I haven't sorted the ones from my camera yet, but these give an idea of the surroundings there. 


View to the north. The Tay is looking quite silvery here! 


View to the south from the top. 


View to the north through one of the windows of the ruins at the top.  

Kinnoull Tower itself. It wasn't as tall as I'd expected but it is a fun thing to come across at the top of a hill. (Well, if, like me, you like old architecture / ruins I guess!)

It was too cold to sketch while there with it being forecast snow later on in the day but I am thinking of doing some  watercolour landscapes of the views from the top. 

In the meantime you can check out my Instagram account (@HCRart) if you're interested in seeing any of my most recent work. Woodland is what is inspiring my latest couple of pieces. 

I'm also on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HCR.art and Twitter: @HCRart 

Have a great weekend, 
Helen   

It's a New Year! Happy New Year! 
For many in Scotland the year unfortunately began with flooding. Where I live was not so badly affected but those in the surrounding areas were. There was a lot of high winds and heavy rain where I am for most of this first week of 2016. Yet, yesterday blue sky finally appeared overhead! I wanted to make the most of the sun being out and went for a 3 hour walk along the coast a few minutes walk from where I live. You can travel far from home in search of beauty, but you should never neglect the beauty on your doorstep. I took quite a few reference photos, including the ones I have posted below, for paintings. It was very, very cold but seeing the blue sky, sun, and white-frothed wave-filled sea after the stormy days before wasa most welcome view. 

I should probably note that all these photos are portrait because I only had my iPhone with me and it's memory was full so I could only take photos through a third party photo app. that only saves portrait photos. Frustrating but better than nothing! 







To see my paintings, visit my website: www.hcrart.com 

You can also follow my latest art on Twitter (@HCRart) and Instagram (@HCRart)

I'm also on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HCR.art  

Have a great weekend! 

Helen x
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