Preprandial sketch

It wasn't quite time to stop work yesterday so I nipped out and started an oil pastel. I was really looking for a little road that I had found a number of years ago and wanted to make sure I knew where it was for my workshop in September... I found it and had to do a quick sketch which I will finish later. What a wonderful evening!

Hatherop Estate, Sunday morning walk and more beginnings and studies

Annie, who owns, Just Maude in Cirencester, and I went for a long walk on Sunday morning. Here is her wonderful dog, Eddie looking very regal!


The sun came out very briefly.


A quickie pastel


Hatherop Estate First layer



I forgot to take a photo of this on Saturday. Looking at it now, it's interesting to compare the photo with what I laid out. Quite depressing really... I have really 'plumped' up the composition! Now, the big decision is whether to 'fix' it or leave it.

I drove home today and took a couple more photos on the way. If the weather had been a little more inspiring I probably wouldn't have got home until after dark. Driving across country is always more interesting than using the motorways.

Morning Mist, nr. Biggar, Scotland

Oil Pastel

Here is a little taster of a good old Scottish early morning mist! For some strange reason when I wake up and look outside and it's all misty, you can't stop me from grabbing all my supplies and a flask of coffee and driving off somewhere to do some painting! This morning was no exception! October 18th and there was such a heavy mist I could hardly see anything, but I knew that the sun would be breaking through, which it eventually did. It was quite an amusing morning because I was happily painting away and I heard a cockerel crow in the distance and because I was shrouded (I like that word) in mist, I couldn't see a nearby farm. All of a sudden I remembered that my friend had 'blue-toothed' the cockerel sound from her phone to mine and it was actually my phone ringing! The cockerel, which we still have today on our phone here in the US, was a real Scottish cockerel, named Hannibal who lived with Jasmin. Sadly, he no longer with us. But his crow lives on!

My other side

When I go out painting with the 'plein air master' (My husband, Barry McCuan!) I tend to do pastels. Somehow I just like the results more and actually would really like to scale up some of these abstracts into large oil paintings. What do you think? I think they would be fun to do! The above pastels are no larger than about 6" x 4" and inspired by water and a trip to the Hill Country, near Fredericksburg.