I used a couple oh photos I took at Bourton-on-the-Water on Friday to paint this picture of a sunny scene by the river. The ice cream parlour and coffee shop were doing a brisk trade which must be very welcome after the months of lockdown.
Yesterday we stopped at Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire for a couple of hours. It’s somewhere I haven’t visited before and I was supposed at how picturesque it is. It was very busy with tourists like ourselves but we managed to find a bench by the river where we could and have a coffee and do a quick sketch.
Had an evening walk with the dogs across the fields. The crop. Of oilseed rape had been harvested last week but the low sun glinted off the straw that has yet to be gathered in. The dogs waited patiently while I painted this although Nuala managed to destroy her tennis ball, it seemed a small price to pay to be able to paint and enjoy the countryside.
We are staying on a small camp site near to Stratford on Avon. In a small paddock next to us I discovered this old Land Rover and chickens. Walking across the fields this morning Nuala chased a deer, I told her afterwards that thousands of years as a prey animal has adapted them to escape from wolves so they are not going to have a problem outrunning a labrador that wants to lick them to death. She is now snoring loudly in the caravan ( the dog, not the deer!)
We are staying on a site on the Blenheim Palace estate, it’s a nice shady site with a big field next door to run the dogs in. Yesterday we walked in to Woodstock which is a charming little market town with lots of honey coloured stone. It isn’t too posh which is surprising being right on the doorstep of the palace.
After photographing the field of sunflowers yesterday I had to try a watercolour to try to capture the golden glow of the flowers. This is on hot pressed paper that I bought in Oxford to try, it’s a lot smoother than the paper I normally use, more like cartridge paper but It doesn’t cockle when wet. I think It will work well with pen and wash.
Very hot in Oxford this morning so we couldn’t leave the dogs in the van, they had to come with us. We found a nice shady cafe opposite the Radcliffe Camera so I could do some urban sketching and have a coffee. Photo taken with iPad camera!
Couldn’t resist photographing this field of sunflowers just as the sun came up this morning. I may have to paint them later.
We are away in the camper van for a few days, today at Lamborne, Berkshire. This is the view from our motorhome, the weather is glorious and we have Kites and Buzzards overhead. Tomorrow we are going to Oxford and then Blenheim Palace for a couple of nights.
Early walk to the beach with the dogs this morning, I couldn’t resist photographing the sunrise as I arrived. Now I have two damp, slightly sandy sleepy dogs.
