Category: Scenery
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An old stone circle
Here’s a teeny tiny sketch of the Bronze Age stone circle at Birkrigg, near Ulverston, from our walk at the weekend. It was hard to draw the foreground as in between the stones is just short, sheep-cropped grass, but maybe I could use some watercolours if I do another version. You’ll see from my journal…
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Old farm buildings in the sun
We had a super walk over Birkrigg Common near Ulverston this morning – it’s a mixture of moorland and limestone pavement with a stone circle and amazing views of Morecambe Bay and the Lakeland fells. Coming back, we got slightly lost in a maze of narrow lanes and I fell in love with these gorgeous…
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Nervous of watercolours…
I was too nervous to just plunge in and try watercolours on my latest pen and ink drawing. So, wimp that I am, I scanned it, printed it out on ordinary computer paper, and used the watercolours on that. And… I’m surprised… in a good way, because it’s come out looking much better than I…
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Derwentwater in pastels
I’ve been messing about with my new oil pastels again, this time with a view across Derwentwater. I’m still learning how they work but am pleased with how it turned out, especially the light on the fellside. I’ll keep practising!
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Distant hills…
Does anyone else remember that old piece of music? It was the B side for Eye Level, way back in the days when music still came on little round bits of vinyl. I’m showing my age. Anyway, moving on… I had coffee with a friend at the Mission cafe in Windermere this morning, and couldn’t…
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Decisions, decisions…
This is a new pen and ink sketch of the launches on Derwentwater, moored up at the Keswick jetties. I planned on doing a pen and watercolour wash type thing for this but am now wavering because a. I can’t decide whether to opt for naturalistic colours or something a bit more abstract and b.…
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Sold: Allan Bank in acrylics
The stewards at the Windermere Art Society exhibition have just confirmed that one of my paintings sold earlier. This little 6×6 inch canvas is based on a photo I took a few years ago at the National Trust property of Allan Bank in Grasmere. The home of Canon Rawnsley, one of the original founders of…
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Misty mountains
This is one of the charcoal pictures I have in the Windermere Art Society exhibition this year. Called ‘These Mist-Covered Mountains’ (Dire Straits fans may recognise the reference!), it’s of Derwentwater, looking across from the landing stages at Keswick to Cat Bells on a very misty morning. I loved the effect of the mist swirling…
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A lake shore view
Kirkstone Pass in the Lake District, which was closed for ages while they fixed a huge landslip, is open again. This means we can get to Ullswater without tricky diversions or a massive detour, so yesterday afternoon we jumped in the car and headed to Glenridding. The skies were overcast for the first time in…
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Old Kendal bridge
The other day we had coffee outside the Waterside Cafe on the banks of the River Kent in Kendal. They were busy and the drinks took a while to come, so I whipped out my sketchbook and drew the view of Miller Bridge. It’s a lovely old structure which dates from 1818 and still carries…