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| Stonehenge - oil on board |
This last month has been an interesting one with visits to a few local places including Avebury, Silbury Hill and Stonehenge and meeting one or two interesting antiquarian folk topped off with a week in Cornwall where there were even more stones.
The late start to the season seems to have made the landscape all the more green.
(I am not sure whether the skies are more blue or whether we are unused to the sight, but this year's colour seem all the brighter).
It is for this reason I chose to visit Silbury Hill, an ancient site near Avebury which I first visited on a school trip when we were allowed to climb the monument - something which is no longer allowed due to erosion.
(I have since sold this painting to a charming antiquarian who has a special interest in the hill).
My initial on site sketch shows the hill more as it really is with the angle being exaggerated in the painting for artistic effect. There were several jackdaws surfing on the windy skies during my visit and the hawthorn had only just started to flower with a daylight moon low in the sky.
A later visit was the reason for the second painting. I had been sitting against a stone in the circle at Avebury waiting for the sunrise (approximately 5.00 in the morning). It must have been the early start coupled with a touch of chill which made me trip out a bit when driving back past Silbury Hill. The morning sun hanging behind me as I drove west low-lighted the landscape as a wood pigeon kept pace with me in the empty blue sky.
I have seen some work by a Devizes artist,
David Inshaw, and think it is funny how we have both exaggerated the angle of the hill. Being a fan of his work, wouldn't it be good to be as successful as him one day?
This is one of his many beautiful descriptions of the hill.
Unsurprisingly Avebury was deserted on my early morning visit, a few days before the end of May.
The view from my stone as I waited for the sun.
You can see how long I was sitting there by the two positions of the moon I did at the start and at the end of sketching.
Kennet Avenue - a double line of stones leading away from the main circles toward Stonehenge.
Mmm- wonder why I was chilled after leaving my coat in the car?
Later in June - a week before the solstice, Jack and I were being terribly British taking sandwiches to Stonehenge. He ate - I sketched. Whichever finished first meant the other had to stop.
The solstice saw me holidaying with a friend in Looe. Cornwall has its fair share of ancient stones and after talking to another antiquarian man in Looe, we saw a smaller circle at
Duloe.
There are some fabulous stone quoits as well.
They are just crying out to be painted!
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