Today we had such a great walk that we really didn’t expect. The weather turned out nice in the late day as we drove to Alnmouth on the Northumberland coast just north of Warkworth Castle. I wasn’t expecting to go on much of a walk so I didn’t even have my field kit with me! Makes me feel bare, but I did have my camera and my purse which always has a small handmade sketchpad in it.
Road to beach at Alnmouth
I really can’t resist putting so many pictures in my post because it’s hard to pick and choose, leaving one out when I feel they are all beautiful! All of these will be in my shop as note cards and gifts, please visit the links at the end.
Dunes at Alnmouth
As we walked from our car, this is looking back through the dunes at the Rape Seed fields. The sand dunes here are quite impressive and filled with interesting shells. I picked up a bunch, so many that I had to fill my purse pocket. I have a story about that on my next post make sure you check back.
Beach at Alnmouth
This is the gorgeous beach at Alnmouth, the sand was fine and light colored, a great beach!
Cross at Alnmouth
This is St. Cuthbert’s Cross, that’s the name carved onto the base of this cross. Here is a great link about St. Cuthbert explaining more about the patron St. of Northumberland. This is the view as you climb up the not very high hill, to a windy spot that gives you views inland and out to the North Sea. We saw many sea birds and a heron ‘behind’ the hill, as the waterways wind around behind it as tides come and go.
Alnmouth from 'cross hill'
This is the view of Alnmouth you have from the top, it’s really great. I just love this photo with the sweeping clouds and quaint buildings.
Me drawing on hill
So you must have known sooner or later I’d have my sketchbook out! I had my tiny field sketchbook in my purse and tried to whip out a quicky sketch with watersoluble graphite pencils. Gary took this photo but my photographer friend Mark Baker did some editing to perk it up, Thanks Mark! ( www.mhbaker.com)
Alnmouth waterfront sketch in water soluble graphite
I had to touch it up at home as it was getting late and we needed to go home. No sitting and sketching time today 🙁 I used a waterbrush on it to do the washes. (I took a photo of the sketch with my camera to upload it.)
Cross at Alnmouth 2
Well I’ll leave you with this last view, though there were many more I had to choose from.
To see these wonderful photos as note cards and other gifts, go here to my shop. Just scroll down the page to see all the photos from Northumberland.
Mary – your photos are freakin’ amazing! We these all taken with your Panasonic Lumix? I hope I can do as well on my vacation to Scotland!
Thanks Karen! Yup they’re all done with my Panasonic Lumix…I really need to do a post about my cameras, with photos of them etc. I love this little camera because it can do so much. It has a setting for “Nature” or landscapes that I love because you can really zoom in on birds, though it can be fuzzy handholding it, at least I can look later for identification sake. The auto setting has proved to be pretty good too. What camera do you have for your trip? I want to sell my Canon 40D just because it’s too heavy for me. I like the panasonic because I carry it with a sketch bag and need it light. It has a really nice long range lens too for birds.