Atmospheric landscape paintings can be very appealing because they can convey a sense of mystery or mood that allows the viewer to project some of their own thoughts, ideas and experiences on them, allowing for a more personal experience with the art.

Travel has been very important to my artistic vision for over 10 years at this point. I first created a series of art inspired by my travels to Japan, and then most recently by my trip to Scotland. While I believe artists’ can (and do) find inspiration close to home, sometimes it is important to get away and broaden your horizons by visiting unfamiliar places and being inspired by all of the wonderful new (to you) things out there to see.

In my Scotland series I painted a number of small paintings. More than half of the collection is comprised of paintings that are less than 10 inches in either direction, and the reason I wanted to create so many pieces ion that size range was that I wanted to focus on tiny moments from that trip and be able to focus on the details of the paintings without getting overwhelmed by size. A small size allows me to be very specific in the composition as well as the color and details I chose to depict.

Green is one of the hardest colors to paint. It’s easy to make it too saturated for the piece or to make it too washed out in an effort to do the opposite. When I decided to do the series inspired by Scottish landscapes I knew I would be working on pieces with a lot of green, so for each piece that featured green predominantly I made sure to be extra careful with choosing the right hue for that piece.

When I was working on my Scotland series I was using photos from the trip as references, but I was also using my memories from the trip to enhance the pieces into art that wasn’t just a one-to-one replica of a photo, but also an expressive landscape painting that could encourage an emotional response by the viewer and would remind me of my memories of the trip.

When I think about landscape paintings that are classic and stand the test of time I think of ones that have unique and impactful compositions, a masterful use of color, and ones that relay a mood and/or feeling to the viewer that is understood by people beyond that time and place.

Weather can change a painting’s mood significantly. Whether the skies are clear and blue or have puffy white clouds floating peacefully over a bright blue sky, or if the clouds have grey visible, indicating an incoming or outgoing storm, or full cloud coverage, all these aspects change the colors of the landscape that is being depicted, and naturally all convey a different mood for the entire painting.

Whether you’re in your home town (or city) or traveling to somewhere new or where you’ve been before and loved, a particular landscape can cause an emotional reaction to seeing it, and you may remember it forever. I think there are many reasons for this, linking back to memory and nostalgia for that particular time and place. I grew up in Vermont and have a lot of experience with exploring natural habitats, from forests, fields, ponds, lakes, mountains, hills, and etc. The places that were special to me in my childhood will always have a place in my heart, and I’ll remember them fondly forever because I accumulated many happy memories there.

In media, literature and art Scotland exudes a feeling of nostalgia, for times long past, wanderlust, the urge to travel and see all the sights for yourself, and solitude from the vast landscapes can give a sense that you’re just a small part in this world.

One part of a day trip we took through the Highlands near Inverness was a ride on the Jacobite Steam Train. About halfway through the trip we stopped at a station in Glenfinnan for a short break.