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A moodie skye old man of storr loch fada feat

A Moodie Skye Part 1 – Old Man Of Storr, Loch Fada And Unison Colour

By Andrew Moodie
14th April, 2025

PLEIN AIR PAINTING WITH UNISON COLOUR PASTELS

MIXED MEDIA (ARTGRAF TAYLOR BLOCKS, WATERCOLOUR AND UNISON COLOUR PASTELS)

The pinnacle of Old Man of Storr on the Isle of Skye is one of Scotland’s most iconic views. Legend has it that giants once lived on the Island and that the Old Man was one of them. When he passed away, he was laid to rest with his thumb poking out of the earth, and the ‘thumb’ is what we now refer to as the Old Man of Storr. Loch Fada lies below the Old Man and provides a beautiful view of the landmark.

This was my first painting on my trip to Skye. The morning was gusty and cold but down by the side of the Loch the winds were more gentle. The morning sun created beautiful light over the distant mountains and, with the wind blowing the clouds across the sky, the light was continually changing.

Watch me create a mixed media painting using ArtGraf Taylor Blocks and watercolour to create an underpainting on which to then apply Unison Colour pastels. As the light began to change more dramatically, I packed up for the day. What a wonderful experience to be able to complete the painting at the home of Unison Colour at Thorneyburn, in Hexham, Northumberland! A nice opportunity to show you a little of Unison HQ and its surroundings – well worth a visit! On reflection the Loch seemed too dominant in the painting and so some compositional changes were made along with a strengthening of colour,  and darks against light to create a pleasing outcome.

Thanks to my filmmaker, Tony Parkin, of T.P. Visuals for his technical wizardry!

Update: Pastel Paper

We checked with Andrew on the pastel paper used in the video, and here’s the details…

It’s watercolour paper- specifically Canson Moulin du Roy Hot Pressed 300 gsm. It’s amazing how it holds the pastel although some fixative during the painting process will help create more tooth for layering (as I show in the video). Here’s a link:

www.jacksonsart.com/canson-moulin-du-roy-wc-paper-56x76cm-300gsm-1-sheet-hp

Andrew’s Landscape Set

Andrew has put together a set of colours that represent his approach to colour selection for landscape art. Click through to the product below, and read why Andrew chose these colours and how they work together.

Open box of Andrew Moodie Landscape 36 set of soft pastels.

Andrew Moodie Landscape 36 Small Stick Soft Pastel Set

£189.99

A selection of 36 colours formed from the experiences of landscape artist, Andrew Moodie.

Andrew Moodie

Unison Colour Associate Artist

andrewmoodie.art
Profile photo of Andrew Moodie.

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Colour Chart Guidance

We believe the colours in our web based colour chart are a faithful representation of our pastel range. But with any colours portrayed on the internet, there’s a whole heap of variables which mean that what you see, may not be what we see. That said, there’s some things that can be done to mitigate some of the variance.

Mobile phone and tablet screens tend to be pretty good for colour, so they’re always worth using, when viewing our colour chart.

We hate to say it, but cheaper computer displays, including laptops, can be rather hit and miss, in both colour and contrast, so they might not reveal the depth of the colour, as well as the true tone.

If you’re really keen on getting your computer up to speed on colour representation, you can use a calibration device to reach your display's fullest potential.

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