Oil on Board 29cm x 12cm
I was pretty busy last week with commissions and various other commitments, and although it always good to be busy, and its a great job you can sometimes get a wee bit full. So on occasion you need to just get out with your easel and a flask of coffee and get stuck in. So to clear my head I decided to take the short drive over to the ancient landscape of the Somerset Levels on a Sunday morning and throw a bit of paint about.
The Somerset levels are a genuinely ancient landscape too, the Neolithic people exploited the reed swamps for their natural resources and started to construct wooden trackways, including the world’s oldest known timber trackway, the Post Track, dating from the 3800s BC. And I have to say you cant help feeling that some of those ancient people are still lurking about somewhere in these timeless swamps.
I got on site about 8.30 on a bleak morning with just sheep and the cries of Buzzards for company and set out my kit just over a bridge on the banks of the River Sheppy in the village of Godney. I chose to do a long narrow painting to reflect the wide, flat landscape. I generally paint my own version of the scene in front of me with adjusted perspective and my own palette of colours. Here however I decided to paint what was in front of me in the traditional impressionist way. A change is as good as a rest as they say.
I was rather glad it was overcast as would not have to chase the sun about so I could take my time and that was what this Sunday morning was all about. The next hour or two I just got on with it really. Adding a bit here and a bit there, tinkering with the sky, fussing over the tonality and lastly dabbing in the sheep. Dabbing in the sheep was my favourite bit, they are lovely creatures.
Once complete I packed up, cleaned my kit down and met friends for a proper pub Sunday lunch. I had pork just for decency sake.
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