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29th July
This week I took up two paintings to the West Gallery near Bradworthy in North Devon. They are replacements for a painting that had just sold ('The Wave' - see below). The owners of this new gallery, Rob & Belinda Walker, really seem to have the feel for running such an enterprise. There was a constant flow of people when I was there looking at what I considered to be a really good selection of arts and crafts. It gave me a boost because it has been such bad news in the last few years with so many galleries closing down.
1st July
I have just completed my latest painting of Dartmoor. It is of Burrator Reservoir and Sheeps Tor with Snapper Tor to the foreground. (Snapper Tor isn't named on most maps though with it's prominence in the landscape it fully deserves a mention).
I am really pleased with this work as I feel it conveys the grandeur of the landscape which is found on this part of the moor. I have put particular effort into the effects of the sky with its rays of light cutting through the clouds to water below.
The painting is now on exhibition along with another work of mine; Valley Mists, Belstone, at the Paperweight Centre, Yelverton, Devon. Both are for sale with a limited edition of Giclee prints of 'Burrator Panorama' also available.
'Burrator Panorama' - Oil Painting Size 100cm X 50cm plus frame
For viewing and sale at Yelverton Paperweight Centre. Tel. 01822 854250
22nd May
My apologies for the long break. May is a time for using all the senses as it bombards you with all its sights, sounds and sweet fragrances and is not a time to be huddled over a soulless computer.
Every hour and day is now bringing great changes to the landscape. For me trees are now at their finest showing off a confusing amount of differing greens as the tender leaves unfurl. There is a small beech wood not far from where I live and it gives everyone in the district an uplift to walk through it at this time of year as the newly opened papery leaves suspend like a million translucent green opals. Added to which are the erect trunks coated in a rich green moss and contrasting with the red/brown leaves coating the woodland floor.
Giving me equal pleasure, and just down the hill from the wood, is a local pond that has a returning a pair of moorhens. Though lovely to see I think the little bird I have been observing to the rear of the wild and overgrown pond has given me most pleasure. This is the tree creeper. A small, shy, but energetic bird, it spends its day strutting up tree trunks looking for food with its curved bill. Seen up closely it's white breast, contrasting with its brown, camouflaged back, has an incredibly soft, velvety appearance. A tree creeper always works its way up a tree where a nuthatch tends to work its way down the tree.
8th March
....New Gallery....
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I finally start emerging from this eternal Winter though the easterly winds that have plunged our little temperate island into a temporay iceberg still refuse to lessen their chilling grip on us. In the wind free environment of the greenhouse it is now warm and a joy to start planting the first tomatoes and lettuce.
Likewise I have been planning my new paintings for this coming year. I had been working on paintings that reflected this hard and trying Winter; not at all works of art that would appeal to the buying public in the galleries, but maybe paintings that will be appreciated for their artistic merit in years to come.
Now with the coming of Spring I want to escape the gloomy confines of Winter's mud, ice and darkness to work on pieces that will excite and challenge me. |
I also have some good news regarding a new Gallery that is opening in North Devon. They kindly asked me to contribute some work which I have gladly done. I went up to see the artist and owner, Rob Walker, and was impressed by all the work that had been done in creating this well lit and presented new gallery.
detail of The Wave, Crackington Haven (now on sale at the West Gallery) Sold
The 'West Gallery' is now up and running and quiclky establishing a reputation as a major West Country art gallery.
West Gallery, Glebe Farm Barn,
West Putford,
DEVON.
EX22 7XE
Tel. 01409 241989 email robwalker@fsmail.net Map dirctions to West Gallery - please click
The Wave, Crackington Haven
1st November 2009
If you are visiting Dartmoor.......
I will be showing some new pictures at The National Trust,Widecombe on Dartmoor from the beginning of November. They have kindly agreed to let me exhibit several of my Dartmoor prints including my latest pictures of Arms Tor and Grimspound.
Arms Tor, Dartmoor
Arms Tor is the latest addition to my portfolio of Dartmoor prints. It is now available from this website and all the listed galleries, as will my other new Dartmoor print of Grimspound.
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5th August 2009
Five young swallows have outgrown the nest in my dog's kennel. Today they take their leave of the nest and move out along the beam. Their first step in a journey that will take them to southern Africa in a matter of just several weeks. If they make it........
Above my back garden, as the young swallows chatter for the meals brought in by their parents every couple of minutes, twenty or so swallows, including this years first brood take to the sky in a frenzy. They shriek an alarm call but not the usual one that I hear in the presence of a sparrow hawk or cat. This is different, one I have not heard before. Up above, amongst the swirling swallows is a bird of prey with menacing pointed wings. Either a peregrine falcon or a hobby; I can't tell.
The swallows repeatedly dive at it but it continues to circle above my head not in the least concerned about my presence. Has it seen something and is about to stoop?
No. The fearful realization dawns on me that it is only biding its time. Round and round it circles with the frantic swallows skimming past its head. And from a gentle circular glide it instantly strikes into a kill.
It only took a second. A young naive swallow clearly wriggles hopelessly in it talons as I look on sickened. It hovers, like a kestrel, for a few moments, still pestered by surviving swallows before this master of the skies glides away to the Cornish border to feed its young.
25th November 2008
Last Saturday I took Thomas out on the moors as usual with a few friends. Though dry it had followed a week of fairly persistent rain and the ground was waterlogged. Over the last few years the 'management' of large parts of the moor has changed with less grazing by livestock. In a remarkably short time vegetation has flourished and the soil structure has been less compact. In consequence the soil now acts more like a sponge.
This is good news in that Dartmoor will now act as a slow, releasing reservoir but it can mean the going is heavier going on the horse.
Despite the conditions the horses were in fine fettle and the landscape had a pale earthen hue redolent of those winter days following the celebrations of Christmas. In other words not for everyone but I love it.
But what changed this day in to something far more extraordinary was the sudden flight out of the long, dead grasses of a short eared owl. I had seen a similar bird twice in the last twenty years.
This one flew low for about a hundred yards and disappeared back in to the long grass. On we went and crossed the leat to return on the higher side. Sure enough it again alighted and then gave us a marvellous display of day time hunting as it covered the ground, up and down, only a few feet above the grasses.
It wasn't in the least bit perturbed by our presence and continued to hunt for what seemed an eternity before disappearing out of sight. Unusual for an owl in being a day time hunter it commands an impressive presence. With a wingspan not far from a buzzards and pale brown plumage it seemed made for this wild landscape.
A Well Earned Rest - A pair of collie dogs enjoying the view. Limited edition print from an original oil painting by artist David Young (please click here | 
