RSA Scottish Art
Rocks and Water, Morar
 | Artist: William George Gillies |
| Title: Rocks and Water, Morar | |
| Year: c. 1932 - 34 | |
| Medium: oil on canvas | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: | |
| Source: RSA | |
| View full screen image of this work | |
| Open print version of this work | |
| © the RSA | |
| Description: William George Gillies was strongly attached to Scotland and almost all his landscape paintings depict views of his native country. During the early 1930s Gillies made a series of pencil sketches of his family, friends and dog on the beach at Arisaig, in Lochaber. Starting with quite careful drawings, his pencil sketches became wilder and the outlines of the figures were transformed into simplified abstract shapes. The final stage was this painting, called Rocks and Water, Morar, where the figures have been turned into a series of grey shapes on top of a wavy black line. This approach has produced a painting full of rhythm and vitality with forms that relate to the seashore without including unnecessary detail.Only a small portion at the top of the composition represents the sea. This darker band of deep violet contrasts with the lighter tones of the shoreline covering the majority of the canvas. In the foreground, little spikes of marram grass offer a sense of scale and direct the viewer's eye upward.The tones and colours used are those you would find on a shoreline in this part of Scotland with ochres, creams and burnt umbers dominating the palette.Some of the brushstrokes are rich and fluid, while others such as the dark grasses and orange lines are drier and “drag” through the colours beneath. In the distance the landscape is more recognisable with sand, sea, hills and sky – and a single threatening cloud. | |
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