Like most of us this Christmas has been different when compared to previous years, Liz and myself were aware that we were not going to have the usual flood of guests and visitors; we talked this through in the approaching weeks to the festivities and suddenly found ourselves enjoying the strange peace and quiet for a change. The end result was that we had a marvelous Christmas. We talked a lot, walked in the country every day, read books, watched dvds and did digital church. We are in a bubble with a lovely lady who shared much of the festivities with us. Also we zoomed a great deal, as I suspect most of us did; the telephone was red hot and we didn't feel at all on our own, or separated from family and friends; as was reasonable at times we were a little concerned about the future, but all was in control.

Christmas this year has been a time for thinking, being quiet and being aware of where we are in everything. Is my art important; maybe? Well it does keep me focused and enjoyably busy. But more important, am I important, certainly yes? I feel more at peace than I have for a long time; thank you Lord.

So today is New Year's Eve and I wish you all the very best in the new year as we all begin to see lights of hope and reassurance to take us beyond this awful pandemic and into normality again. I wonder what the new normality will be like? 

Above is a careworn tree which we passed at Polesden Lacey the other day.

Just up after a good nights sleep, turned on the computer first thing and a message is waiting for me. Mary didn't keep Joseph waiting. Her baby arrived in the early hours and both are fit and well.

The shepherds turned up not long ago, Even if being a bit on the rough side, they had a super tale to tell of extraterrestrials; were nice chaps and very kindly gave the baby a lamb. The guys in bling have yet to make an appearance, no doubt they will turn up before to long, but they do have a long way to come. and were a bit lost last time I saw them, They mailed me to say that they had met some Asian King and were asking advise from him, so they should not be too long in getting to Bethlehem.

Joseph after consultation with Mary has decided to call the Baby Jesus. Apparently he has other names as well, one of them is Emanuel, which means,"God is with us".

So Jesus is with Mary and Joseph, he certainly is with us here at my home. Why not let him be with you, now, at your home.

So have a wonderful, happy blessed and amazing Christmas.

Love Duncan.

Bethlehem  just behind the nativity square.

 Well a pleasant surprise this morning. Joseph and Mary have reached Bethlehem, with no trouble getting over the channel, that is good news. Mary as you are aware is expecting her first child and  Joseph says that, listening to Mary, it seems as if things are starting to happen. So for a short time it is a waiting time.

No sign of the shepherds yet, nor anything about those weirdo's covered in bling.

While we wait Joseph sent me this post card of some steps just behind where they are staying, he also says that he will keep me in touch with what is happening with reference to the new addition. Joseph sounds rather nervous; after all it is his first one!

Each morning when walking I keep meeting stranger and still stranger people. The folks I met this morning realy took the biscuit. Strange cloths; talk about bling, crowns, rings, gold, oh so much gold, camels, servants, a bit over the top sort of thing. They were friendly enough, but were obsessed with a mission to get to Bethlehem. I pointed out that having come from Iraq they were a little off coarse. I showed them the right path.

As they went on their way, they told me that they were going to met a new King and that there were bad people about, so they were planning to return home by another route. Lets hope that they find a slightly more direct route than this one!

We are all on a strange pathway this year; keep walking, keep looking and keep listening; a new King is coming.

Love Duncan.

 

 This week as I stroll around in the woods I keep bumping into ever such strange people. Yesterday it was two shepherds with a few sheep.  Apparently being a little lost, they were looking for the path to Bethlehem, which was were some strange extraterrestrial being had told them to go to. That was simply rectified, by then showing them the right path.

Simple guys, doing just what God had told them. What is God saying to you this unusual Christmas?

Just who do you think we will see tomorrow?

Regards Duncan.

Met a lovely couple in the woods yesterday, apparently they are traveling all the way to Bethlehem. They promised to let me know that they arrived safely on Friday morning. Hope they have no trouble with the channel crossing.  will be thinking of them over the next few days.

I know that it is tough for us this year, but two thousand years ago it was also rather tough for these two people.

Love Duncan

 

At the moment we are in the middle of what churchy people call Advent; this is the time of getting ready for the coming of Jesus into this world. And. what a tough and often disappointing time the getting ready season has been this year.

This morning in my quiet time I read----The crowd----"What shall we do".  To which Jesus, "Believe".

Look at the picture above, I know that it is a very westernized view and I am aware that Jesus was much browner; but what does it say to you at this moment in time.

 

 When out walking the other day, I met ever such an interesting person. 

Even if Christmas this year will be a little different and maybe strange; still have a wonderful blessed and peaceful celebration.

With much love

Duncan

 Yesterday was an important mile stone for me!

Because I finished my latest volume of work, which is looking at the Psalms of David through rural and woodland settings; the question is what now happens to this volume? Liz and myself talked and have decided that in the short term it will be available for all my followers to brows  through at their leisure. At the moment I am trying to work out how to make this work available to you all. Until that is worked out, the here is page 31.

This second period of restricted movement and contact with others in some ways is much harder than the previous one. As the first time  round in some ways it was in  new, fresh and a challenge; however his time it is an unwanted and unpleasant slog; it is to be endured and got through. So how do we react to this.

We all need to look out for one another, look out for those alone, or those who are not copping. Those of you who know my story will be aware that some time in my past was spent in desert places, I know what sadness and loneliness is about and I would wish it on nobody. So I ask three things of you.

1 Look out for yourself.

2 Look out for others

3 God is good and wants to be with you through all of this.

See you all soon.

Well a few days since my last blog and lots has happened and I mean lots! Liz always tells me that she does not walk in the rain, well that is not quite true. For example, when losing her watch during a long walk at Hatchlands the other day, she insisted in retracing our footsteps the following day to find it. In the morning it was pouring down with rain. I mean heavy, solid continuous rain, a total down pour. She still wanted to find her watch; so as a dutiful obedient husband I said OK and off we went to do that walk again. We got completely soaked to the skin, amazingly we found the watch , it still worked and we realy enjoyed the walk; as a result as she was now happy I teased her mercilessly about loosing the watch in the first place. Do you know, due to the rain and all the wetness, the colours around us just sang, it was so lovely. We had a terrific time was had and by the way Liz does walk in the rain and get wet. By the way the photo on page 18 of the book I am working on was taken that day.

Liz makes me laugh. This morning she made a suggestion about some thing or other about what I had said, so I asked her a question. Her answer was, yes,---- no,---- maybe,----I don't know,---could be and finally, 5 ----hummmm! I scratched my head in wonder!

What with painting, writing and all the other arts which surround me, I have never been so busy. Yet despite being fulfilled and busy the times are hard and on occasion I do get a little low. I am fortunate that Liz is by my side; this morning was one of those days. I felt very low. Slowly I had to work at looking at what I had and focus on that. My wife loves me; massively important. I have so many arty worthwhile things to do. Many friends and a full life.

But most important I also know that God is with me and cares for me, then slowly it comes right again. 

Finding things hard during these times is OK. What matters is where you look for help.

 Life is wonderful, if at times a little hard. As well as working on other projects at the moment I am working on  on a book looking at woodland paths and the Psalms of David;.  The plan is for it to be approximate fifty plus mages and verses, here is a taster, page 3.

This path, one of my favorites is just below the Italian bridge at Polseden Lacey. Over the last few weeks Liz and myself have repeatedly re-walked this path over and over, just waiting for the light to be right,

Nature is superb, get out into it, you will feel better.

See you soon.

Well the lock down is over half way through its first stage and it seems to be having an effect on the R factor, if only slightly, but it is in the right direction. However and much better news is the appearance of an inoculation, in fact several of them are on the horizons. Although not proven as of yet, the early tests are very encouraging. Inoculations could be starting for the extremely vulnerable before Christmas; now that is  indeed good news. So lets celebrate with a little wise caution and with a favorite picture of mine. Guess where? I am sorry but there is no prize for correct answers.

I love the center of London with all the busyness which goes with it. Hopefully before too long we will all be able to go back there, with me sitting somewhere or other doing a sketch. As it is getting into the cooler months of the year, maybe I can wait a short while.

Liz and myself are still walking and the experience of autumn this year has been such an eye opener as it has lasted so long and has been so colorful, indeed it isn't over yet. and the colours are still vibrant It is a little cool for sketching at the moment, but the camera has been busy and some memorable shots are being taken. A while ago I composed a work of many images, (ink and photography) of water; these were coupled up with verses from the Psalms of David and the work was called "Deep to Deep". The idea now floating in my mind is to do a similar work, but this time looking at trees; so that is what I am thinking about at the moment; lets see what happens.

The normal ink work is continuing and some good stuff is appearing; so that is ongoing. Also I am beginning to gather together all my writings and thoughts during this pandemic, lets see how that turns out. So I am busy and enjoying being busy. Maybe writing at the moment is a good healthy change for me, but the painting must continue Well lets wait and see, whatever see you all soon.

Trees and  beyond, number 505

We awoke this morning to yet another bright sunny autumnal day. Amazingly during this Clovis period the weather has simply been glorious. Spring started early with the low and warm sun, then summer was one day after another about coping with this solar beauty; being a little thin on top, sun hats were a must for months on end. It never seemed to end. Summer slowly gave way over weeks to a magnificent autumn; now half way through November the autumnal reds and browns are still with us.

I have friend who lives on his own, a brave young man who finds life difficult. We met in the park this morning, all correct social distancing and masks, we chatted for a while. What a lovely way to spend time, being surrounded by the autumn trees, with good company..

Well Being back in the studio now and on the Hi-Fi I am listening to Songs of the Auvergne by Canteloube. If you don't know of this piece, download it or buy the CD, you will not be disappointed. The above water colour has just been finished. I took a photo at Polsten Lacy just below the Italian bridge the other day and it was screaming to be painted.

Well Liz has just finished her meeting on Zoom, so I will make a picnic and we will get out for a walk. We need to visit the chemists in Horbury, that will be about the right distance to walk, with lots of trees and spaces to enjoy as we by. See you soon.

Duncan

 

 

Good morning everyone and again it looks like being another belter of a day, a little misty as of yet, but there is plenty of time for that to clear. The seasons are changing quickly now; yesterday we went for a short walk near Triggs lock and the autumnal colours were giving way to a cooler winterishness. It was late afternoon when we arrived by the river and the low sun and the misty browns were beautiful; what a feast for the eyes.

Its good to notice things like the above, because at the moment we all need to be encouraged. Yesterday own was number one day of the fresh lock-down. So for a while, no coffee shops, no visits to friends and back to leading a rather restrictive life for a while. Having said that it is essential not to get down about it all for several reasons.

1   There is lots to do. On top of everything else I have started a new project, Do something!

2    Keep in touch with friends, phone and zoom.

3    You are not on your own, others care, let people help you with shopping and such like.

4    You are not on your own, You are God's child, He loves you and he is with you.

Lecture over

The above picture is of the woods between Hook Heath and Knaphill which I photographed a few days ago. I normally find this stretch of woodland rather dark, damp and rather depressing, but this corner with the right light was so very lovely. Water colour not being my main media, I thought----can I--- I don't think so.----but I will have a go-----anyway I hadve a go and you know I am quite pleased with the outcome.

Oh well see you soon. Duncan

Every day is different, and today is one of those rare days when there is a lovely feeling of peace about it all. That is strange because we are just going into another lock-down and to be honest I do not like the coming restrictions being correctly imposed us all. They are for the common good,so they need to be accepted as gracefully as possible, with the minimum of kicking and screaming, which after all is  quite understandable and which we are all tempted to do.

Now this morning we have phoned a few friends, painted a while, watched a zoom service from St. Andrews and now for a while there is a chance to be ensconced in my studio for a short while. Whilst painting, I love listening to music of all types, this morning the C.D. which is playing is of Sir Thomas Allen (baritone) singing Victorian and Edwardian parlor songs; not every-bodies taste, but to me, absolutely marvelous.

Having just worked on an ink drawing for an hour, it needs to dry properly, or the paper surface will breakdown and lift when working on it and that would not be to good! So put it aside for a short while, let it dry out and write to you all instead.

The above picture is another leaf image, the same methodology in style, a little like the one which I showed you the other day, but different. This time at the end of the process, a little water colour was added to the leaves as well. I think it works.

 Always try to twist and turn in your thinking and painting process, trying to find new avenues which to go down. Sometimes that process produces utter rubbish, but occasionally it works; that's how you learn, that's half the fun as well.

Well I must have a little exercise; so we, that is Liz and myself must go for a short walk. 

Regards Duncan

We are doing so well at the moment, as my weather forecasting is well and truly up the spout. A lovely walk today and three days soaking walks on the run! But lets be positive and look at nature slightly differently today.

      

and then a different way again.

The bottom picture first, many say that Autumn is the fungus season, to be fair that's not quite true as they are around all the year round ; but maybe they are a little more up front at this time of the year. Well today I passed about a dozen of these beauties at Hatchlands. Not being an expert I think it is an Orange Birch Bolete, whatever it was, it was about 10 inches high and the same across. I have no idea if it is edible or not but it certainly is impressive.

Now the first picture. A simple fun process,

1  Gather leaves

2  Lightly glue them to paper.

3   Us an atomizer (perfume spray) full of water colour paint. to spray the whole thing.

4   Allow to dry and repeat the spraying, many times, with different autumn colours. Then allowing             time for the creation to properly dry.

5   Remove leaves and glue. You might need a very sharp knife.

6   Do a careful ink drawing on the negative image of the leaf  which is left behind on the paper. Use a          dip pen, Biro, fountain pen, pencil., crayon or whatever.

It takes a little while, especially the drying, but is a super way of capturing autumn in a fun way, which if a little care is taken with; will look impressive.. 

Regards Duncan

 Good morning to you all and what a thoroughly wet and damp one it is. However the forecasters say that in the next hour or two it will start to clear away a little, so Liz and myself will have lunch at home before walking, so rather than taking a picnic out with us, it will have been eaten before setting off out.

When walking in the rain as well as obviously dressing appropriately, I am always very much aware of the intensity of colours. The rain seems to wash everything, so everything then sparkles and the colours glow brilliantly. This works when it is in dull light; but if sunshine appears after a shower, then you are in for a treat. So get out have a walk and enjoy the autumnal slash of colour ,as I will be shortly.

Now the other day I passed quite a landmark in my painting. You will all be aware of pictures of trees which appear regularly on this blog; well they are all apart of a rather large project which I have been involved in over the last two or three years. This is looking in depth at the symbiotic relationship which trees have with their surroundings. Quite a mouth full. It means simply, how trees react with everything surrounding them. The above pen and ink piece is of a near to collapse barn, just to the north of Send in Surrey; it demonstrates aptly how a once grand barn is slowly removed from the landscape and nature regains control and the upper hand. But the significance of the image is that it is number five hundred in the project. Like I said it is a large project. The whole work is stored in archival quality bound volumes and available to be viewed with no sales expectation.

Liz says that this project keeps me quiet, she wants me to continue with the project and aim for a thousand images.

Talking about walking in the rain, don't forget your camera. Keep it dry and with you because amazing images are possible under these awful conditions. Just remember that the colours are sometimes recorded better under these dull or dark days by slightly under exposing your snaps; just about a third to half a stop, not to much.

It seems to be brightening up, so of we go now fro a walk.

Duncan

Hello  everybody and once again we are challenged with the threat of this virus; so now we must respond and try to be positive and continue in life with good expectations and an outlook of thinking positively. not to easy, but we must try. As for Liz and myself walking is a big help; today we walked and laughed a great deal.

We were walking in the fields just to the north of Send and part of the walk went over the marsh flood plain of the River Wye. About a mile of this walk was shall we say was rather boggy and as a result a tad tricky to walk over without getting soaked; then not in my plan, we got caught in a downpour, I realized that my planning was up the spout and that I was in big trouble with Liz. Thankfully the downpour only lasted ten minuets or so! Liz has amazingly toughened up a great deal over the last few months.That was laugh one.

Laugh two. A few weeks ago when out walking Liz told me to listen to that bird. I could hear not bird, so asked which bird did she mean. She replied that bird. The only sound which I could hear was sheep barring. Liz was given an explanation that sheep barr and do not fly, unlike birds. We laughed and from then on called sheep "Lesser spotted bar finches". Now we always chuckel when we see sheep, or should I say lesser spotted bar finches.

Half way round the walk today we saw a small wild crop on sun flowers, lovely. So I have also popped this water colour which I did yesterday in for today.

I am in the middle of such an exciting week; two things, firstly the learning curve and secondly the awesome beauty of autumn. First the learning curve; well with it being Epsom "Love me love my mind week", with whom I work each year, exciting things happened. 

I love judging the art competition and this year there were some very deserving entrants, it was really quite a difficult decision, with two others to to decide the winners; however that all went well. The but, a big challenge, was my workshops over the web, now running that with two cameras was, shall we say, a tad tricky, all new to me and I needed to learn a great deal, with thankful support of the conference tec. team and at my end Mark. Thank you both. But the work shop went well, seemed to be well received and I enjoyed myself.

Now the beauty of autumn; the above photo I took at Polesden Lacey, Surrey this morning, a gorgeous walk with all the autumnal colours just starting to appear. At this time of the year we can all go for a walk, then do the same walk a week later and it is so different. I always feel that there are many more seasons than the accredited four, autumn, winter, spring and summer. Nature seems to be different almost every week. A bonus was a red kite flying very close to us, only about ten yards away, now that was something. 

Below is an ink of an oak on the banks of the Basingstoke canal which we passed the other day.. Getting the water lily leaves to float was a tad tricky, but I thing that the end result is ok.

Oh well, see you soon.

Nature still astounds me, I am being surprised to the core constantly; today was one of those times. But first, the picture below. A tug which Liz and myself saw the other week at Climping in the River Arun estuary, across the water from Littlehampton. The situation: well, a lovely warm late sunny afternoon, after a challenging walk across the fields and we were hot and tired, when we came to a steep estuary bank, we climbed it and found before us as we topped the rise the Wendy Anne 2, a tug boat, so with sandy grass tussocks, giving us soft places to sit on, then with biscuits, cake and hot coffee produced from our bags a sketch was a must.  So before us on the water was this rather grand if dilapidated tug boat. Now as a bonus several large (about 2 feet long) grey mullet fish were searching in circles for food in the shallows just six feet from me. I doesn't get much better than that. The only down bit, was that the coffee in the flask was getting cold!

Now about nature astounding me. Yesterday we were on a very old footpath between Purford and Old Woking, I looked up and saw a buzzard, which to the uninitiated is an eagle sized bird of prey and the way in which it was flying said that it was unhappy about something. Looking closer it was surrounded by about a dozen or so parquets (that doesn't look right and the spell check isn't helping); anyhow a small green parrot type bird of which many live locally. They were introduced locally when an individual released them into the wild some years ago and they seem to be very happy and are flourishing ( I believe that they all have up to date passports). I realized what type of bird they are by their shape, a bit like a very small green macaw, about the size of a black bird. Whatever, these numerous small birds had had enough of this buzzard  trying to eat them and they were what is called "mobbing" it. That is, when a crowd of small birds fly above the enemy and constantly dive at it, forcing it down to the ground. Obviously the buzzard didn't stick around for to long, it cleared of to find easier food. I don't blame him.

Oh well see you soon.

Duncan

 Good morning and what a lovely one it is; commitments not being until a little later in the day we strolled into town calling at the Lightbox for a coffee, very nice; now we are home and getting on with life's chores. Yesterday we did a slightly longer than usual walk over the fields between Knaphill and Heath Common. The weather was a royal mixture from down pouring rain, to bright sunshine, with everything between and under those varying conditions we passed the tree stump below.

On mucky days many people put their cameras away, well I would most certainly challenge that attitude. Rain washes everything, cleans it and makes nature look anew. Sunlight makes it sparkle. Overcast conditions providing it isn't to dark, makes colours deepen, without burning out the high-points and also reflecting light into the shadows; so images taken under those conditions, when taken with care, tend to glow.  We can see into the shadows, whilst also seeing the shinny edges on the leaves. If you are a techy sort of photographer, under expose very slightly, but not to much, say about a quarter to a third of a stop. For example see the above.

For those of you who might feel that my ink work is being neglected, yesterday, after quite a struggle ,the above was finished. An oldish oak tree. The textures and details of the trunk, leaves and undergrowth, were very difficult to produce and having finished it, I realized how challenging the piece had been to complete. Upon completion I must admit to a sigh of relief! Oh well, on to the next piece.

Going for my flu jab now; see you soon.

Duncan

Nutbourne, where Liz and myself have just had a short break, is on the north edge of the South Downs, is beautifully verdant farm land which is crisscrossed by endless amazing county lanes which seem to be dug deep into the landscape; on occasion having hedges and banks over twenty feet above the roads. The above water-colour sketch is of Gay Lane about two hundred yards from our cottage. Remember that a sketch is a quick impression, made by working rapidly and almost throwing the paint onto the paper. With care, yes: but also with a, lets see what will happen, sort of  attitude. The two photos below are also of near the cottage on Gay Lane.

So we are home and had a lovely time, the weather remains superlative, just how long for we will have to wait and see. Liz and myself were talking today about the pandemic and on the news tonight Boris tells us that the second wave is with us. This is bad news and grim to hear, so we need to prepare for hard times ahead.

Yes it is right and normal to be a little anxious, but it is not right or healthy to be over scared and  going around all the time worrying.

So Liz and I have decided to build up a store, not in panic buying at the supermarket, but rather in good memories, on pleasant things and the best thoughts to wish and wait for. For us that means working hard at encouraging one another and doing and recording events and happening which we will want to remember; for us one of those things are our country walks as my last picture today shows you. But the most important thing to remember is this, "God loves and cares for you"; hold on to that and whatever happens, you will be safe.

So above ,a lane near our cottage is good and nice thing to remember.

 

 Hello and what a super break which Liz and myself have just had in Sussex. We stayed in Nutborough, which is very close to Pulborough, neither of which you probably heard of, never mind. The hamlet is just to the north of the South Downs, in beautiful rolling, undulating farm lands, with foot paths in every direction, most of which, with a few exceptions were well maintained; but more of that for another day..

To start with lets have the last day first. We ambled back via Uppark, a stately home which is just inside Hampshire. As usual upon finding the best view, a sketch was started, as apparently the lady of the manor was looking out of her windows and saw this rather suspicious character out side her rather grand house; so she then wandered towards me with two small dogs in tow. Nice lady, who had a very jaunty Kestrel fight feather pushed into her hair. We chatted, she liked my work, I liked her feather; she had picked the feather up earlier when out with the dogs. Rather nicely she gave rather splendid feather to me as a gift.  Very nice, it soon became the subject of a water colour, see above.

Shortly after she left,  a pleasant young lady sat near me, we chatted  for a while, whilst I did the two above sketches, after which Liz and myself ate our picnic in front of the hall. Altogether a rather pleasant visit.

A lovely break, but at the same time it is always nice to be home again.

Duncan

 

l

This morning to be honest I felt a little delicate, so an easy short walk/stroll was in order, I don't push  myself hard all the time, occasionally it is OK to go easy; let yourself be off duty so to speak and relax a little. Amazingly this easy short walk/stroll just worked sublimely. We walked only a short distance along the Basingstoke Canal near Knaphill, it loosened me up, my spirits rose and as a result, I felt better.  Now the walk; the light was just right, clouds were acting as super diffusers and with the right subject, a super shot full of feelings was possible, note the above. The foot path was quiet as well so we met a few, but not to many people. Also a sketch appeared, so all in all, I enjoyed myself and Liz had a good read as we chatted away.

The sketch was only small, about 2.5 by 3 inches, but being that size they don't take to long to produce.

So all in all a rather nice, relaxing stroll.

Just in case you miss me, from now until next Saturday Liz and myself are having a few days off for a little R and R. I'll tell you about that in a weeks time.

 

Shakespeare tells us that there are seven stages of life; well maybe I have just reached my third stage, as I am in no hurry to grow up into adulthood. Tradition tells us that there are four seasons in the year. I would disagree, as nearly every week shows nature moving on into yet another of these many  seasons.

Now trees are heavy with leaves, probably the heaviest which they have been all year, they are tired, it shows, as the greens are just beginning to fade a little. Yet as the "Fall" approaches the woods show a beauty which is somehow hidden over the rest of the year. Towards the end of summer these wooded areas show a resplendent, verdant, loveliness which I love, so try to get out into the woods, and enjoy them.

Liz introduced me to another super spot the other day, which is called Abinger Rough, well worth an outing to, but I would recommend a mid week visit, as parking is limited and half of Blackpool seemed to be there when we went there the other Saturday. Thankfully a large number of visitors did not spoil the place. We ate lunch just opposite this small farm, very nice, but Liz did show me a new side of herself.

Before leaving home and having checked the weather forecast, it seemed that there was a moderate likelihood of a little rain, so I took my waterproof. Liz did not feel that a waterproof was necessary.  However always remember the chanciness of the British weather. When we reached the furthest point  from the car it started pouring down with rain, so being a sensible little boy, my rain coat was taken out of my shoulder bag and put on. Liz being to proud to ask, just looked at me, said nothing and fluttered her eyelids. I was defeated and gave her my coat.

I soon dried out when we got back to the car. See you soon Duncan

Another week starts and the ongoing coping with the living a quiet life continues.  As it often happens the feelings to get away for a while are with me, to have a break, a holiday, to chill out a little and relax; it sounds nice; so why not go to Jersey in the Channel Islands for a day or two in my mind and work up a few sketches and photos from a trip there a few years ago.

The place is the Corbiere Lighthouse on the rocky southern tip of Jersey in the Channel Islands, you might recognize it from travel pictures on TV or in magazines, it is a wonderfully iconic place. Liz and myself have been fortunate enough to have been there twice; on this visit, the first, it was a glorious day, but the wind, was blowing a monstrous gale. I did a sketch, but had great difficultly holding my pad steady. With a wind like that you certainly didn't go near the sea edge; it was difficult standing, let alone sitting and drawing; my foot was on my bag, with the shoulder strap wound round my leg, I kept my jacket on so that it wasn't blown away. It is amazing that it was possible to draw a straight and steady line, but it was good fun and I had  lovely time. We returned a few years later with Michael (one of our sons) and it was like a millpond.

I have moved round the island at the moment and am painting at Gorey; you will see that in a few days.

Must get on. Duncan

 Good morning and today I have been thinking about cameras and bees. The bees first. My wife's rucksack finally fell apart the other week, so she bought another. This time brightly colored and very girlie.  I say that because it has a great big yellow plastic flower attached to the closing clasp on its back. I try to ignore it, not her, she is lovely, but that awful flower. However the other day whilst out walking we sat and had a rest for a short while after climbing a hill, when and a lovely big bumble bee joined us. Very nice you might say, But this poor confused bee took one look at this awful plastic flower and dived at it and spent some time trying to get nectar from its inner most plastic parts. In the end it gave up. Poor chap.

But enough about bees and now about cameras, as much pomposity and hot wind is wasted talking about them. The question so often being, "A real camera or a mobile phone camera, which is the best". Now I do have real sophisticated and complex camera, I also have a phone camera, so which is best. I have come to the conclusion that both are  super, its all about what are you are photographing and why are you photographing it. The above picture was done with my phone; quick snaps as I walked along with Liz. There was no thought as to exposure, focusing, colour temperature, or any thing else; just point and shoot: great. If I had used my proper camera the shots would have been more exact and possibly more correct, but would have taken all day to take, which would have defeated the issue. By the way Liz would have grumbled. So for quick snap shot photo sketch's, the mobile wins. But if you want a short with lasting quality, with the "oh my oh my" breath taking look about it, to blow up to the size of your living room wall, my complicated beast wins every time. So I happily carry them both.

By the way the flower on the bottom row , in the center, is it a Bistort. Any one out there more knowledgeable than me.

Oh well must get on.

Love Duncan

Today is all about the seasons and my oh my, have they changed in the last few days. Thirty six degrees only a few days ago and now only nineteen degrees, quite a change. The lovely Liz tells me that she doesn't walk in the rain, well today to my utter amazement, she did!!This morning with it (that is the sky) poring down with rain, in a teasing way I suggested that we go for a walk on Whitmoor Common and then I sat back waiting for her to react; well much to my surprise she jumped at the chance, so off we went. I was more than a little amazed. Then with her seeing all those super colours brought out with the wet and it was lovely, it really was. So we had a lovely walk, got soaked. had to crawl under a fallen tree, laughed and came home two happy bunnies.

Well back to another aspect of the seasons and as an artist I feel differently and react to the changes in everything as the seasons and weather changes. One thing which always amazes me is the way plants grow, then flower, then produce seed pods, before returning to natures cycle for next year.  I love it. The seed pods astound me; so above is a clump of corn flower pods which were picked as we walked the other day in the country. The method is so simple, very loose water colour, just splashed on with a very haphazard manner. Let it dry properly ( a hair dryer speeds up the process, but don't electrocute yourself as water colour is wet), and then tighten it up with a little careful ink work. I produced the above in about an hour whilst waiting for friends to come round for (careful social distancing) coffee.in the garden. Poppy heads also make a super picture and they are everywhere around at the moment, Have a go.

See you soon. Duncan

Good morning and isn't the weather once again just glorious. It is a tad hot and to be honest maybe we are having just a bit to much of this "glorious" weather. But being British we are allowed to complain, after all that is what we are all so good at. Because of the heat, Liz and myself have started walking early in the morning and not wandering too far of. As we both like coffee, in our wanderings we are watching cafes and coffee bars and looking at them and deciding which are good and safe and there seems to be quite a difference in social distancing, taking contact details and safe service; a few places which will not be named, are being giving a wide berth. About the best we have found so far is "Lilys", near the new fire station and they are extending their menu from this Thursday. They open at 7.30 in the morning, so how about a light breakfast in the middle of your walk. Despite the road works it is a pleasant place to visit.

The picture today is what I would call a fun picture. You might notice that it is a painting of the picture in this blog the other day. the first was a sketch and part of the purpose of a sketch, is a memory, possibly to be worked up at a later date. Well being a little warm and myself feeling slightly laid back, I attacked it in the studio. So in a very loose manner  it got worked up. Big brushes, lots of water and throw it all around. Then towards the end of the process tie it up a little with a soft pencil. Use the pencil before the painting dies, doing this it works in a different and rather quirky way, so try it by using it on a damp or even very wet surface. Have a go and also have fun.

This glorious heat reminds me of my last visit to Galilee. It is nice that every day things remind us of our maker.

See you soon.   Duncan

 Good morning every one and what a beautiful morning it is. To avoid the heat of the day, Liz and myself went out early today and walked from Triggs Lock to Send and back along the canal.  Met lots of people enjoying  the morning and lots of happy dogs enjoying the countryside sniffs!

One super side of this weather is that it makes outside water colour painting a great deal easier, because the work drys quickly. Five minuet wait between washes and not as I have experienced, forty minuet waits for one wash to dry sufficiently to carry on working. One thing you need to watch is that your colour washes are strong enough, or you will get home and see that your painting is much fainter than what you had really wanted.

So Polsten Lacy again and again a cool walk in the deep woods. We have a favorite tree near the Italian bridge. So a picnic followed by a chill time in the cool shade and a quick water colour sketch. No careful, fastidious strokes; just throw it on, with gay abond. Sounds a bit crazy, but on a hot day water colours work like that.

But serious and deeply planned work is also going on at the same time. I have just completed the ink which is below. It is a pen and ink and took quite a while to produce.The central tree is a Yew, which is surrounded by Spruce trees. The location is Hanger woods just off the foot path from Newlands Corner. From a technique point of view, getting the lightness of the ground vegetation was a little tricky , but I think that it woks.

We have just been to church on line, today it was really good, well done St. Andrews. Later we are having a correct spacing supper in a friends garden, that should be lovely. Well that's about all for today See you soon.Duncan.

Today has been an altogether lovely day, but it must be remembered that not all times are so good. Last week was a tad rough (an infection to the scalp and left ear). I didn't feel ill, just very tired and slept a lot. But now I am well and thankful, so I wandered along to Hatchlands and did the boundary walk. Taking my camera along, a drawing board and most importantly a picnic. Liz was most certainly not forgotten, she had a book, that always makes her happy. I need to be creative in finding her comfortable places to sit whilst I paint, that sometimes is a challenge.

Two quick sketches were produced; ink is a marvelous medium, it is so expressive. They are small works, the solitary tree being bout 2 by 3 inches and the other about 6 by 2. That size means that they do not take to long to produce.

We saw grasshoppers, now I haven't seen those for years and lots of other things. We ended up at the sheep dip watching all the baby fish in the shallows. whilst in the water nearby were waterlilies. So out came the camera.

It is easy to just snap a lily, but to make it work it,normally needs something a little different. So I altered the colour sensitivity in the camera to be a little more sensitive to the reds and yellows. Checked the histogram (a graph of available light in the camera) to make sure that nothing would burn out and then with the camera well supported on a handy log, waited. The shadows from the trees were moving constantly, so when the light was just on the lily, caught it; I think it works.

Life is very much like this, hard times and good times. This pandemic is the same, at the moment it is tough and we do not like it. But God is very good and like the lily, good and beautiful things are just around the corner.

Well that is about enough for today

Duncan

Once in a while systems change the way in which they operate, this normally creates a few problems for me! This time Blogger has really made things a tad tricky.

Quiet a bit later.

That was really complex, why do they do it? and make things so absolutely ridiculously complex. Oh dear, Now, never mind and lets get back to life.

Yesterday was the hottest July day on record, or something like that and boy was it hot. We went to Polseden Lacy a gorgeous stately home near by in the Surrey hills and I was determined to try something which I hadn't done much before. You all know how I like to dabble with water colours, although they are not my principal medium. So yesterday, I went out as a water colour artist. First we had a short stroll in the cool of the wood, had a picnic; then I found a spot under a tree sat on the grass, no easel and had a go at landscape water colour painting. When sketching I often only put colour in the center of the image, that makes the whole process much quicker; so that was how I worked.

The difference with this image is that most of my water colours are done in the studio, when you are working in bright sunshine it is certainly a different kettle of fish. This morning I am back with ink again, but what is happening there I will tell in  few days.

Regards Duncan

s

Good morning everybody and taking a quick look outside, it would seem that our lovely sun is having a day or two off duty. Still we will go out for a walk, as so far in this period of rather restrained living, we haven't missed a days walkies. But we must wait and see what happens as Liz tells me that she doesn't walk in the rain; apparently because she melts!!!

A few weeks ago I mentioned a sculpture of a Filey Coble (small local fishing boat). Well the work is fine, but the frame was awful, so that has been taken apart and the work completely re hashed. The last few coats of paint will be going onto that in the next few days, so soon you will see that.

When I get a little fed up ,what with everything going on at the moment, for me a trip to the seaside with my paints helps. So here we are still in the Scilley Isles, in this case St. Mary's Isle towards the north, near the ancient prehistoric village on the north west coast.

The village is amazing covering about fifty yards square, and comprises of approximately fifteen houses. The walls of each house are intact up to about three feet. You can wander around the small alleys and in and out of the houses; truly amazing. The place is on a slope, going down to the very near by sea shore; is seems that way of life here involved fishing and sea shore scavenging for food; whilst at the top right corner of the village is a chambered tomb, completely intact with its roof. What ever it may have entailed, the people certainly had a spiritual awareness and it was so important that the tomb held the dominant position over the village.

In the picture above, just a few hundred yards from the village, the small farm had an unusual tractor, all of its wheels were large and the track width of the wheels was very narrow, maybe the local lanes are very lanes? Everywhere on the islands is only a stones throw away from the sea, as boats and fishing clutter in the farm yards are a normality.

Oh well, must put the washing out. Hope the rain keeps off.

See you all soon

Duncan

Good morning everybody and today I am thinking about sketching. As you no doubt guessed, I tend to carry an A4 drawing board and a couple of pieces of paper ,plus a pen, around with me most of the time (the board is 3/16 of an inch MDF which weights in at only about 2 ounces if that, it slips easily in to my shoulder bag); so that when the chance arises. out it comes and a doodle is produced. The result is that there is a nice memory and a nice bit of relaxation. The following images were all done in the last week, when out for walks, town, breakfast or whatever.

I have reproduced them on the small size, because a sketch is often rather small; if they were larger, they would take longer to produce; so small is quick and A4 paper dose not take up much space to carry around. The first picture is of a small, wonderfully, quiet, neglected orchard on the edge of Horsell Common. Cows graze the area, so the grass is shortish and brambles are kept down, wild flowers and grasses were amazing. The second was when out for breakfast this morning in Guildford (full English, lovely). The next is of the Thames near Windsor. Following that a lock on the Wey navigation near West Byfleet (saw another grass snake just up river). Then lastly a picnic spot at Hatchlands stately home. All very different situations, all a chance to relax a while, whilst I was looking properly and incidentally enjoying the places more fully.

P.s. my wife Liz is very patient! and enjoys a good book whilst I draw.

See you soon,

Duncan