Still in Yorkshire and near Sheffield. This muddy track’s brightest feature were the pools of water. the lines in the background are the web of fields surrounded by dry stone walls. Unlike some of the other drawings, I’m confident that I can make this one work well. Watch this space! Continue reading Have you had enough of these?

This one’s in Yorkshire and a more recent inspiration. March saw a late fall of snow around Sheffield and this is a drift juts up the road from where we were staying. Lovely dry stone walls around there and this smooth snow drift in front of it. Of all the recent drawings there’s something about this that might be just leaving well alone. Being snow might make it a print to leave in black and white, white mainly!     Continue reading And another…Number 2, this one’s in Yorkshire.

We are still in Scotland and in the Orkneys. We were about to take a small ferry across to the island in the background. Small jetty is out of the picture to the left. I’m not sure if it was this ferry crossing or another where we encountered French Driver. An elderly chap with two female companions and a beat up old French vehicle. Despite his advancing I’m not sure if it was this ferry crossing or another where we encountered French Driver. An elderly chap with two female companions and a beat up old French vehicle. Despite his advancing … Continue reading “Even more!” Number 1

This too is on the Orkneys and is an ancient building. The foreground here is seawater, and in the original is a bright turquoise. The strata of rocks in the backgound are grey and in some places orange. The sky was blue but is unlikely to be so in the final. It was pretty wet on the Orkneys and as we were on a walking holiday, we got wet now and again. But it’s well worth it, atmospheric and calming in many ways. The rain rarely comes down, it comes along parallel to the ground, giving a very strong tingling … Continue reading “Oh so much!” Number 7

Found this when sorting out computer back up. The start of an idea that really never got much further. Has it got legs? Perhaps not.   Continue reading Artist’s Specs…

Anyone looking at my blogs will know how much I like sheds. This one is on the Orkneys, so we’ve moved on from the Canada pictures and are onto the Orkney ones now. So don’t expect any more trees for a while, there are none, or very few, on the Orkneys. The final print of this ought to have brown, blue and green in there but I tend to make up my mind differently and not necessarily follow the colours in the photo, otherwise I’d just publish the photo. I might even do that, when the whole project is finished, … Continue reading “Oh so much!” Number 6

The last of my Canada drawings for the time being. Again this is near Ucluelet. It’s been a lot of fun doing these and I hope I do the place justice when it comes to producing the colour print versions. This one will have much darkness in the foregropund like this has on the leaves and trees, but I need to go a lot of work on the bits between the trees and to the right to make it work properly. In addition, there was a sea mist in the top left, not sure just yet quite how I’m going … Continue reading “Oh so much!” Number 5

Vancouver Island again, this time of the coast. Again a lot to do to get the atmosphere, but I like a challenge. If you’ve not been to Vancouver Island then go there, this is near Ucluelet, which is pronounced a little bit like “You clue less!” but with a ‘t’ on the end. Great place and the coast around there is very varied, very bracing and the people were lovely. Loads of hippies from the US went there in the 60’s to avoid the draft and Viet Nam, quite a lot have stayed, so it’s ‘cool man’. Continue reading “Oh so much!” Number 4

This is a chip van on Vancouver Island. All these drawings are taken from my photographs and this one was a bright blue summer day. The van was miniscule and the lady in there was sitting in a corner reading a book, I did not like to disturb her! Business was slow. Continue reading “Oh so much!” Number 3

This one’s in Canada too! There is much to do here to get the right atmosphere into the final print or prints. As you will see with all of these, they are all a little two dimensional and I intend to get the feel of distance into the final with the use of colour, added digitally. Like all these drawings, it has a way to go yet! Continue reading “Oh so much!” Number 2

Some of these might not make the cut, as they say in golf. Not that I’m the slightest bit interested in golf, a good walk spoiled! This is the first of a series of drawings and these are the originals, which I’ll spread over the next few days. This one is a view out of Canmore, from a holiday we took there a couple of years ago now. I’m intending to make prints of all those that pass muster, but they all need some digital interference before they get to the finishing line, or the eighteenth hole! They are all … Continue reading Oh so much to do!

Just some of the things we saw today. It would seem that the draught we have been having over here, only recently relieved by a smidgin of heavy rain, has done nothing to stop the abundance of sloes in Somerset. Walking down the Strawberry Line today, an old railway track that is now used as a cycle track and footpath, my chum Richard and I came across some wonderful sloes. They looked like bunches of healthy grapes on the ‘trackside’. Hopefully, someone will find a use for them. As I understand it they are wild members of the plum family. Mr and … Continue reading Sloe walk, sore feet, and Winston Churchill on a bike.