One chilly day in March during our holiday in Scotland we set out for Queen's View just beyond Pitlochry on Loch Tummel. I initially thought about painting from the height of Queen's View itself, but it was far too windy up there. I knew I'd be quickly chilled to the bone even if my easel didn't get blown down into the loch. Instead, we drove a bit further west until we found a spot providing a good view of the loch and Schiehallion — “the fairy hill of the Caledonians”.

This painting came together very quickly. Every color I mixed was right on the mark, and every brush mark was the right shape — one of those few times when painting is easy. When I set up to paint it was lovely and sunny with just a few dark clouds of a snowstorm gathering around the distant mountains. As I worked the snow clouds began getting closer, and within an hour it was snowing so hard that I could no longer see the mountains or even the loch itself.

We packed up and drove back through the glen, sometimes just barely ahead of the snow. One moment we were in white-out conditions, then around the next bend the sun would be shining. Shortly after we arrived back at our cottage in Glenshee the snow arrived there in earnest and continued through the night.

I normally paint on a gray gessoed surface because I like the way the paint looks against that neutral middle tone. The gray surface is less reflective, and therefore better for the eyes when painting in bright sun. In packing for this trip I grabbed one small white surface that I had on hand. This painting is the one that ended up on that white surface. After my experience of painting in Scotland in the winter, I wish I had brought more white surfaces — not because of the snow but because the landscape already contains so many muted gray and brown tones and those would have stood out better on a white surface.