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

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