Though I went for this walk a month ago, I need to catch up on posting my sketches from all my walks so you can see where I’ve been. This walk started at the Edlingham Church from the 11thC and Edlingham Castle.
Edlingham church and castle quick sketch
As I noted on my page, it was a gorgeous, sunny day. I started by walking past the old church and as I stood in the parking lot near it, I sketched using my Derwent Inktense “Ink Black” watercolor pencil. I then used my waterbrush to make washes using the pencil lines. You can add more color or value by touching the tip of your pencil with the waterbrush and adding it to the already damp paper. If you re-draw on the damp paper the pencil will make a very strong line and be harder to blend. Since I don’t have use of a scanner here, I photographed my pages and then brightened them, the picture here looks a bit more contrasty than the real one.
The sketch of the castle at the bottom of the page (shown above) is started with the same Inktense pencil then later colored with watercolors and watercolor pencils. I was way up in a sheep field looking back when I did this, just a quick impression.
Edlingham Church and Castle
After my walk I added color to the top sketch of the church, with watercolor pencils. I’m going through a phase with them right now, as I so often do…then I switch back to my loved watercolors. I’m having fun layering colors to find nice greens and browns. I don’t like a drawing or painting to look ‘mushy’, that is be too soft, and I’m tempted to go back and draw with my ink pens into these little studies. But they are studies and sometimes the soft look of them is nice.
Lapwing
As I walked up through another farmers field I saw Lapwings on the ground. They are such a neat bird with two long feathers on their crest that looks like a fancy plumed hat! When they fly their wings are wide, rounded and a sharp looking black and white. They have a very nice call too. This picture is a bit blurry as I shot it from far away, but you get the idea of what they look like.
Dog Rose + Lapwing
I’ll type out the notes from this page down below.
I had fun and created a old fashioned looking greeting card with this Dog Rose watercolor I did. Click to see it in the shop, it has pink inside and you can add your own text. Click your back button to return.
On the way to the top
This photo shows just how gorgeous the views were; I wanted to stop and paint all the time! But if you don’t keep walking you’ll never see as much, so on I went. (click it to see it in my shop larger)
Yup, that's me!
Yes, well, that’s me! I was happy to be out walking alone, stopping as I pleased and discovering interesting things, like the butterflies below.
Painted Lady Butterfly
This is a tattered looking Painted Lady, it looks similar to the Tortoiseshell below, but see how that one is dark in the center around the body?
Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly
This small little Tortoiseshell butterfly looks like it’s been through some weather, maybe even escaped a birds beak? I saw quite a few butterflies along the little dirt lane I walked on, I think they enjoyed the windbreak of the stone wall that followed it.
At the Roman Fort site, wow, buttercups!
(Click to see this picture as a glossy note card) This picture is at the top of the hill where the Roman Fort used to be. There are piles of stones around in a big rectangle shape, all that is left of it now. The Buttercups were so pretty, I crouched down low to get this shot, I liked the angle of it.
Here are the notes I wrote on my page: ” Headed to the Old Roman Fort. Sitting here now- it’s so beautiful the scene. Skylark is singing to my right + sheep are calling down the valley behind me. I don’t have time to paint the landscape, I have too much to do at home. 🙁 oh…I couldn’t resist! Quick watercolor sketch!” (See below!)
Small watercolor view from top of Edlingham
I’m so glad I took some time to do this little watercolor, now I look at it in my field journal and can remember the scene so well. I sat on a huge rock of the fort, with my feet up and set a little container of water besides me. I used regular watercolor brushes for this one. I first laid on washes of blue and quickly lifted areas with a tissue for clouds. Then overlapping (on purpose) the blue near the horizon, I put pale green hills. The blue showed through and it made very nice distant hills, keep it soft and pale for this. Then I put various patches of greens for the fields in front.
View from Top, "Ah, this is the life!"
I used this picture to create a glossy note card for those who love hiking, click on the picture to see my “people in landscapes” but I also created one that says on it: “Ah, this is the life!” I guess that says it all, you’ll find that one in my shop here.
More posts coming as I catch up! Please sign your email in the box at the right if you’d like to be notified. Exciting news coming soon about Creative Journaling and Sketching tours!
I wanted to share some work in progress with you on a little painting I’m doing of Edlingham castle. It was built in the early 12th C by the Normans, it’s in Northumberland and I can walk to it everyday from where I’m staying!
Sketch of Edlingham Castle, Northumberland
(Forgive if my pictures aren’t perfect as I’m using my camera to upload images) I brought my field kit with me and walked not on the typical path that tourists take right up to it, but one that goes behind an old Abbey that sits next to the castle grounds. I don’t like to be painting around lots of other curious people so I decided to view from afar. I found a big wooden gate with nice heavy posts that I sat on top of, I sometimes have a pad I can sit on to keep away the dampness, lucky I had it today. I decided to do a detailed drawing of it, not knowing if I’d get time to watercolor it on the spot, I took several reference photos before I left. The weather got really drab, cold, windy, actually chilled me through! So…the detailed sketch is as far as I went! Pretty clear for being drawn while sitting on a fence post!
Edlingham castle work in progress
Back in a cozy house, with a pot of tea, I pulled the picture up on my laptop and worked on it from that. The color is NEVER the same but it’s not a bad way to work, especially good if you can take color notes while in the field. I figure I may get back down there on a nice day and finish it up, or just work from the photo, we’ll see.
Until I finish it, you can see some nice photos of the castle here in my shop. Follow the link above or go to this one for more photo note cards of the castle.
This evening we went for a drive up towards Beanly Moor which looks over a gorgeous valley with the Cheviot mountains in the background.
Road by Beanly Moor
You can park your car on the side of the road here and just walk up to Beanly Moor, a beautiful and wild area filled with heather and bracken with wonderful views.
Shepherd and his dogs
I love seeing the shepherds with their dogs, they don’t go on foot or by horseback as they used to, nowadays it’s a quad bike or 4 wheeler as transport across fields and the dog seems to LOVE riding on back!
View from hill by Beanly Moor
We walked up the hill and watched the sun set here, I just love this view. I dream of having a house in a setting like this, with a view just as peaceful.
Cheviots from Beanly Moor + Rothbury biuldings
I pulled out my watercolors and used my water-brush to do a little sketch. It was a bit hard because though it’s sunny, it was cold! At the bottom of the page is a pen and ink sketch I did the next day, of buildings in Rothbury, a small town in Northumberland. I was freezing while sketching this, but I liked the windows and stones and though angles are tricky, I like to do them because it’s good practice.
Church in Rothbury, Northumberland, England
You can see the day was cloudy and cold, I sat on a bench looking out across the town square. You can see the hills right in the background, I love walking near Rothbury.
Rothbury church
I hope to get a nicer photo of this church on a sunny day then do a painting.
Well as the title says, my adventure to England started slowly. I got to the Buffalo airport in plenty of time, even after dropping my favorite polar fleece jacket in the hall and having to retrace my steps all the way back to the check-in point, I still wasn’t late to the gate. Yes, this does happen even to those of us who are SO careful, just pop into every restaurant and shop along the way and ask if anyone’s picked it up. Well there it was at the last one; I really need that for the plane ride!
Then I get to the gate and they say the planes are all delayed because of rain in NJ, so the flight before mine hasn’t left yet, “would I like a seat on that one to get my into Newark early?” Um…YES! If they’re running late then better go early. It finally gets in, an hour late, and we board, but first I’m told my bag will be too big to fit overhead in the bins! Darn, just bought this bag because it was extra trim and I carry all my camera and laptop equipment in it, things I’ll never stow out of my sight. SO…..I went to the side and pulled lots of things out and stuffed them in my field bag that I was carrying on my shoulder, camera bag went in my hand. It’s only an hour flight to NJ…I can live with it all by my feet. Well as you can read on my sketchpage below, we were boarded, then sat on the tarmack, then pulled back into the gate and we had to get off for an hour. It was a bit confusing as to what was going on because everyone seemed to get into a huge long line at the counter. Well I just went back into the plane and asked the pilot, he said come back to this same plane in less than an hour, we may leave early.
Well I got to Newark airport finally, went immediately to see the departures board (learned from past experience that they can and do change gates at the last minute), I was SHOCKED when I saw in big red letters, “CANCELED”!! “Yikes! What is going on? What do I do?” It’s not like there are other flights to Scotland that night! I made my way to the gate and they said to go to the Service Counter to get help. Need I tell you there was a line stretching down the hall from about five other international flights that were canceled? We stood in line for 2 1/2 hours waiting our turn to be told simply that the Iceland volcano was erupting again and we had to rebook our flight to tomorrow night if we wanted. Thank goodness a nice Scottish family was in front of me, their daughter had an international cell phone and she let me call Gary so he’d know I wasn’t going to be at the airport in the morning. We all talked and decided that when we got our luggage we’d find a hotel together, it felt nice not to be alone in this!
"View from Terminal C Window, Newark Airport"
May 4, 2010
The sketches from Terminal C are from my second day of trying to leave, I did them while standing in line again waiting to re-check my bag and go again through security. Last night the woman at Continental said I could just leave my bag and it would be transferred to my new flight, but lucky I got it, when we went down to baggage we saw ALL the bags from canceled flights just lined up, no one checking the tags when people picked up baggage! It was really nice to have my sketchbook with me, like an old friend to keep me company; so boring standing in line like that.
Later I sat at a table to eat my soup and I colored the Terminal C with my watercolors. At 4:50pm I sketched the plane below at Gate 134, it wasn’t my gate at all but it had a nice view out the window of all going on. You can see the Air-Tran in the background, that’s what I had to take to get to P4 to get a shuttle for the hotel and then re-arrive at the next day. I think drawing airplanes and the other things around it, is difficult because of the angles. I was using a permanent pen so whatever mark I made was it, no erasing. I like the telescoping hood that meets the doorway of the aircraft where you board.
Well around about 6pm the attendant at our gate (flight to leave at 8pm) said that our flight had been canceled! Oh no!! Not again! Darn this volcano, what was I going to do? It was still cheaper for me to stay the night rather than take a flight back to Buffalo for $350 some dollars which is not covered by the airline. Anyways, usually the ash situation settles within a few days and I REALLY didn’t want to return home!
"Gate 134"
May 5, 2010
FINALLY~! I’m sitting on board, you can see the tiny sketch I did looking out my window. I was stuck at that airport for three days, two nights at a local hotel, but all day long at the boring airport. The canceled flights were to Scotland, Ireland, England and most of the people who were stuck like me, were from there and SO nice!! We always asked each other when we saw each other at breakfast at the hotel, or around the airport, what news we’d heard. The biggest problem was not hearing what was going on with the volcano on the news. We had to rely on talking to family or friends in the UK to hear what direction the ash was moving. Lucky my hotel had Wi-Fi so I could be online with my laptop.
“Sunset After Take-Off”
Finally in the air, after so much trouble and waiting. I did this quickly with one water-brush and my pan of watercolors.I find the sunset in the air so unusual, sort of like it’s upside down, the sky is so beautiful blue, the area below is just dark, dark and the glow just above it from the sun.
I’m looking forward to my summer of lots of sketches, photographs and paintings while visiting England and the rest of the UK.I hope you’ll tune in for more updates to see my adventures, just sign your email in the little box at the top right column, then click accept when you get the email notice.
There’s nothing prettier than a field in springtime. Today I took a walk with Ginger out back…up very wet lanes and through my field with water in all the low spots and ditches. There are dandelions coming up and tiny little specks of pale violet flowers that look like bits of paper in the grass they’re so small. Something people often forget is to stop and take a look back from where they came, for a different view or perspective.
"Looking Back" 4-18-2010
(Go here to see Note Cards of this painting: “Looking Back”)
I tried hard to find a spot I might sit and do some sketching, but the ground was too wet even for my plastic bag. As I turned to look back I thought I’d do I quick sketch of the house and field with my watercolor pan and waterbrush. I used just one brush for this, a large, juicy flat that lets water flow quite easily. A little messy but I was cold and my bag was heavy, I didn’t feel like standing too long, and neither did Ginger.
As we entered the field I noticed a flutter of blue out a ways, it was a male Blue Bird! He and his mate were perching on tops of bushes and flitting down to the ground to hunt or gather grasses. I think he was hunting bugs to impress her, as I never saw her fly down! I think he’s impressive! I shot a lot of pictures of him, though it was difficult with the wind whipping up and I was hand holding a very long lens. So some are a little fuzzy but still great for painting references.
"Two Bluebirds with an Angel"
(Link for note card with this Bluebird photo-Two Bluebirds with Angel I also have mugs in the link above, with this picture on it)
In the photo above, I had a little fun playing with a setting on my photo program under “Effects”, it’s called “mirror”. The cool thing is when I flipped the image, an angel appeared in the centre! I think it could make a good inspiration for a painting!, I’ll have to think about this.
And last I leave you with a gorgeous photo of Long Lane in springtime. How pretty this is, a simple lane of grass with bushes…blue sky and budding leaves. But there’s something more perhaps, a promise of new beginnings? A full summer of growth? It makes me forget about “Looking Back” at the past..time to look ahead to what’s coming anew!
Hope you enjoyed this walk with me, please leave me comments below.
Don’t forget to visit my Zazzle shop to see lovely note-cards, prints, t-shirts and other gifts with my photographs and art on it.
This is a sketch I did back in September but didn’t have time to post it, thought I’d share it now.
Dunstanburgh castle sketch
Just thought I’d put this little tiny sketch up. Gary and I ended up here pretty late on a windy cold evening, but I still managed to sketch with my ink pen and wearing fingerless gloves. It was more like a shilhouette at this point, but as I started it I could still see the grass in front of it. It was scribbled pretty fast because I was so cold!
Dunstanburgh Castle at sunset
Dunstanburgh Castle is on the East coast of Northumberland, just a short walk along the sea from the harbour Town of Crastor. We walked along with the rocky coast to our right, an area I’d love to explore more in the day time. Quite aways from the castle still is a fence with a gate you enter, there was a bench right there we decided to just sit because it had gone dark. That’s where I did my quicky sketch from, yet though it was quick, because I DID take the time to do it, I remember so much more about being there. Sometimes I prefer a scribbly looking sketch to a perfectly neat and tidy one, it can be much more expressive about the day or the feeling.
Town of Craster
Craster was small and quaint, has a kipper smokehouse, fishermen’s houses and a pub..perhaps a hotel? There is a small bay you can see here (though I know it’s dark!) where the fishing boats come in.
small book-cover sketchbook
This is a picture of the special little sketchbook I made up. Once in awhile I throw this in my bag when I want to carry less and know I’ll be somewhere where quick sketches will be done. It’s an old book my kids didn’t want any more so I pulled the pages out to make this. (ouch, I know book lovers!! It was painless believe me) I cut nice watercolor paper the same height as the book and folded it acordian style to go inside, taping both ends onto the cover. I put a big rubber band around it to keep it shut or open to a certain page while drawing.
Here’s a very small sketch (4″x5″) that I did outside in the freezing cold. The sun had set and twilight time was coming, when the snowy landscape takes on a bluish cold tone. I tried to use my waterbrush but the water was freezing on the paper too fast and in the bristles! So I used my permanent ink pen and that was scraping the ice off the paper, I had to laugh a bit, I’ve never tried to watercolor when it was this cold. I colored it inside after thawing my fingers out.
Below I included the small page of notes that I wrote about the sketch.
We drove across England to take part in the Buxton Book fair held in the Pavillion Gardens in Buxton. We got up at 2:30 am and we left around 5am…oh wow was I tired today! I did this little watercolor sketch while sitting at my table, between talking to people. You can see I was most interested in the gorgeous tall windows and the view of the fall trees outside.
At Buxton book fair.
Here’s one part of my set up selling Limited Edition prints, open edition prints and note cards. I had a lot of fun chatting with the local people who came by my table and bought my cards.
Windows of the Pavillion
Stage in the Pavillion at Buxton book fair.
Here’s a photo of the stage as you look across the room, it was a gorgeous old Victorian building with hardwood floors. a cafe and a shop filled with local artists works.
In the sea of books.
I never saw as many books!!, well not since I worked as a librarian in college at the Buffalo State College library. I wish I had more time to shop, I loved seeing the old book cover designs. Next time I’ll try to take pictures of some.
We went to Berwick-Upon-Tweed, on the Scottish border on two occasions. I found it to be a nice town to walk through, you can shop or just a few streets over is the water front, complete with an old fort you can walk about on. It’s on the River Tweed and that’s where it gets it’s name.
Berwick-upon-Tweed unfinished
The first visit I only had time to start a small watercolor of the houses in the town while sitting on the grassy wall of the fort. Here it is unfinished above.
Berwick cemetery gate
This is an old gate to the cemetery of a church right behind the grassy walls of the fort. I didn’t have much time to do a nice painting but really just wanted to study the colors of the stones used in the wall. I also didn’t have the nice sunshine you see coming through the gate while I worked, it popped out just for the photo. If I ever have time I’ll go back to the sketch and add more details in the stones from my photos.
Painting the gate
Here’s a picture of me working on the gate, you can see I’m sitting on the grass but am using a foldable foam pad to keep the moisture and chill away. I still always get so stiff when I sit on the ground like this, I think it’s the position for my back, no support. I’m holding my sketchbook with the pan of colors on the left hand side. I’m also using a ‘real’ brush not my waterbrush to do this, I have a container of water sitting on the ground nearby.
Painting the gate view 2
Below are some photos of the biuldings in Berwick-Upon-Tweed
biuldings in Berwick
Town Hall
Skyline of Berwick
Tweed Mouth Dock Fort
This is the fort in Berwick called Tweed Mouth Dock.
Ship coming in
Here’s a ship coming into harbour.
Hopefully I’ll get another chance to go back and work on some longer studies. It’d be a nice town to spend a weekend in, I saw lots of couples walking about hand in hand going to shops.
Keep checking back, more updates from England coming!
The feeling of standing on top of a cliff with the wind blowing through your hair, out to the North Sea, can really clear your mind, your body and your soul.
Standing on Scottish Soil
Leave behind all worries, breath deep and let go, (just don’t let go of that nice shawl that you’re holding as the wind whips!)
Clear your mind, your body and your soul.
The beginning of any good journey should have some time to assimilate and absorb, relax into the moment and be happy.
Breath deep and let go!
Don’t just rush into it with a vengeance, you’re probably too tired from the flight anyways!
We had fun shooting these pictures on the drive down from Edinburgh to Northumberland. The day was windy, cloudy and cold, but it felt so good to be out in the fresh air and know that I was there at last. My wonderful boyfriend Gary shot these photos of me, he shares my love of nature and the countryside.
Town of St. Abbs on Scottish east coast
On our drive we stopped at some small port towns, watching the fishermen’s boats and thinking of how tough that life must be. This is in the town of St. Abbs in Berwickshire Scotland, in what they call the Scottish Borders.
St. Abbs Wildlife Reserve
Then we stopped at St. Abbs Wildlife Reserve along the coast. It’s very exposed but popular for bird watching and seeing the beautiful cliffs. We sat for awhile in the car looking out to take a break from the cold wind, while we sat I spotted a Stoat just running along the top of the bank you see in the photo. Gary said it’ll be after rabbits, it was an attractive animal, one worth doing a little painting of.
Stepping closer to the edge
We walked around and then closer to the edge, being very careful of course! The water was a gorgeous deep aqua blue color and the cliffs were a flurry of activity from the birds coming and going.
A row of Kittiwakes on the cliff face
A nice neat row of gulls. At first glance I thought these were black headed gulls in winter plumage because they have the tell tale spot behind the ear. (Ah…didn’t wash behind the ears, don’t tell mom!) But when I looked in my field guide (“The Hamlyn Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe”) I saw that they have yellow legs and a light beak. When you bird watch the fun part is deciphering the markings of birds and figuring out what kind of bird it’s NOT. Process of elimination many times is what works. See more description below.
Immature Kittiwake
Kittiwake immature + adult
At first it looks like two different species of birds, but the one in the forground is an immature and the one behind is an adult, both Kittiwakes. They have both have black feet, the immature has a partial ring around the back of it’s neck a black spot behind the ear and a black beak; the adult has a yellow beak. It’s like solving a puzzle, that’s why I like birding. Though I am NO expert by far, especially at shore birds as I don’t get to see them often. But I like to show how you can enjoy them and figure out what kind they are by looking up clues in your field guide or going online to search.
More of the northeast coastline
Well here’s one last photo of the coast.
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