The Blue Barn, Crummackdale

On the track out of Wharfe up Whitestone Lane towards Crummackdale sits this photogenic little barn. I adore the vernacular hereabouts as one building style differs from the other depending upon the area, the geology and the wealth of the farmer. Some have wonderful corbels, some have expensive carved lintels, some are crudely built but each one has its own personality and story. A walk on a late autumn day with a low sun, just catching on the tops was the immediate trigger for this little painting.

Its a difficult feeling to convey, but just ambling round the dales without a specific purpose of finding a subject often results in some absolute wonders. The painting was painted on a triple-primed mdf panel and sanded back, following the usual acrylic blocking in - the alkyd oils were used to pull out the detail and drag the painting together. I dont always work this way, sometimes I will use promarkers to build the tones but more recently the acrylic underpainting has taken precedent.

If you have never been to Crummackdale and Wharfe - I highly recommend it, its one of those beautifully secluded valleys whose secrets pop out at you through exploration.

Blue Barn, Crummackdale. 10" x 8" oil on panel.

Watlowes

Painted in the spring of 2019 following a stroll from Malham back home to Stainforth. The dry valley of Watlowes above Malham Cove has provided me with inspiration before, although I have found it a tricky subject to paint. That previous time, I was painting it en-plein air, the flat overcast light of winter with drab colours and very little contrast of shadows, just deadened the view, and muddied the painting and blurred the lines of distance. I returned to Watlowes in the spring with some strong, low shadows which helped enhance the composition and also provided a bit of aerial recession. I shall be painting this dry valley again as I think it has a lot more to offer, perhaps a winter view, but for now I am happy with the addition of this tricky one to my repertoire.

Geologically the dry valley was carved out at the end of the last ice age when a glacial moraine was burst through with meltwater creating a torrent that carved this valley and the dry waterfall of Malham Cove below. The stream now follows a similar path but some way underground through a series of caves within the Limestone; only once in a blue moon does water flow through this valley and over the cove at Malham, the last time was recorded in February 2014.

Watlowes, Spring 2019, Oil on Panel, 12" x 8" ish

Malham Cove, Spring 18

No one can miss the natural spectacle of this huge amphitheatre of limestone that sits about a half a mile north of the pretty little village of Malham. This massive curve of rock was carved out at the end of the last ice age when the melting glacial waters exploited natural weaknesses in the limestone bedrock (in this case the middle Craven Fault) forming what was once a cataract that rivalled Niagara. Once in a blue moon, following periods of intense rainfall does water flow over this cliff down an unbroken drop of around 80m; this last happened in December 2015 for the first time in around 200 years.

Malham Cove, Spring 18; Oil on Board 10" x 8"

I painted this over  a couple of days from sketches and photos while 'minding the shop', and strangely enough its only the second image of this fantastic feature. Word to the wise, if you're staying locally this is best visited in the evening when the hubbub of the day visitors have departed.

Beggars' Stile, Crummackdale

To the west of us lies the beautiful, secluded valley of Crummackdale whose river is fed from the southern flanks of Ingleborough and it is another one of the Western Dales' hidden gems. This was painted from sketches and photos, although I had to imagine what the place looked like with an evening sky.

Beggars Stile, Crummackdale. Oil on Panel 6" x 11"

The stile at the centre of attention is known as the Beggars Stile, and allows access to the karst of the Moughton uplands from Crummackdale. Beyond Beggars Stile is a natural amphitheatre called Thieves Moss, which does leave one's imagination soaring as the old Lancaster to Newcastle turnpike ran alongside these two features.

Gooseker Spring

The gallery was starting to look a bit, well, wintery, so I thought it needed a bit of a freshen up with some fresh green paint and what better than some spring landscapes of the scenery in this part of the Dales. Gooseker or Goat Scar or indeed Gorse Scar (but known locally as Gooseker!) is that ancient trackway that appears in quite a lot of my paintings (and indeed some paintings of artists much better and more famous than I) fortunately it is on my doorstep so the inspiration is literally outside. The initial climb out of Stainforth literally takes your breath away, but the view back towards the village and Ribblesdale beyond is well worth it, along the path towards Catrigg (another of my favourite haunts) you may (or may not) notice there are 3 or 4 tunnels under the roadway, each one with a vaulted roof, these were built to last and allow livestock to pass safely beneath the track between pastures.

Gooseker Spring. Oil on Panel 12" x 12"

The view is what I like to call 'the ubiquitous one' down the lane towards the Hogget house with the mass of Smearsett to the left in the distance. Now this one was painted from photos alone - I did this while 'minding the shop' waiting for foot traffic to pop into the gallery and all the while practising my sales patter (not working though!)...

The Long Slog - Pen-y-Ghent

Looking towards the hill (mountain to us Yorkshire folk), of Pen-y-Ghent or Hill of the winds from the Pennine Way track. This is the approach view for any long-distance walker along the pennine way or any day hill-bagger who has parked along the Silverdale Road at Dale Head.

The Long Slog - Pen-y-Ghent. 20" x 8" Oil on Board

First proper panorama for some time. This is the sixth time I have painting this particular massif, and I think finally I may have nailed it with respect to aerial perspective recession and overall composition. Its been a long road - and at each turn I am learning more and more techniques about capturing the subtleties of painting the yorkshire dales. Todays lesson was not using any form of mixed green whatsoever, as in previous paintings the saturation seems to have overtaken the image and imposed a false distance to the work. Its a lovely thing to be able to learn new things after nearly 10 years of painting, and I guess thats what keeping my interest in the subject.

Where the Ducks Play Football

Where the Ducks Play Football,  Oil on Board 19" x 12"

Autumn light, Ilkley Moor

Ilkley is the start (or finish) to the Dales Way, so I guess it can be included in the Dales Landscapes category. The painting tries to capture the low fading light of the sun setting behind the mass of gritstone that makes up Ilkley Moor. The tor-like outcrops of Millstone Grit are the famous Cow and Calf rocks, and it is a place very close to my heart. As a kid I remember getting fish and chips from Harry Ramsdens at Guiseley, heading up on to the moors for our picnic, and afterwards exploring the rocks and quarries beyond. The title of the piece is taken from one of the adlib additions to the Yorkshire Anthem, On Ilkley Moor Ba'tat, a song that every self-respecting Yorkshireman knows off by heart!

T'Gate t'foss

T'Gate t'foss - Oil on Board 8" x 6"

Not really much to say about this, it's a gate through which a footpath winds its way through woodland down to Catrigg Foss (Foss - a local term for waterfall, from the Norse, roughly translated to and incorrectly written as Force by the Ordnance Survey). The canopy of trees gives the whole area an ethereal quality as you descend the steps to the waterfall at the bottom, which is surely one of Ribblesdale's must-sees. Unfortunately there is no 'proper' circular path and you must return through this gate, this is where the light hits you, and on a sunny summers day it takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the glare. I didn't go out of my way to capture this moment, but hopefully there is a feeling of it here in this painting.

Skipton Castle

Another painting of a sunny day in Skipton, it doesn't seem possible that 6 weeks ago farmers were digging lambs out of snowdrifts, gritters were out on the roads, glaciers were slowly advancing and our coal bill was huge, but that’s all in the past. Spring has arrived, albeit rather late, to the splendid market town of Skipton, self-titled 'The Gateway to the Dales'.

So while my wife was in town trying to sell her wares (don't get the wrong impression - these are bridal fascinators), I went for a stroll along the Springs Branch of the Leeds / Liverpool canal (previous post) which was, for one day of the year, bathed in glorious sunshine. I managed to capture the view of the previous post and this post within 5 paces, not bad eh? I guess inspiration is like busses, you wait hours for one and two come along at once. Or does it depend on your frame of mind? I mean - glorious sunshine, happy face, snap snap that'd make a great painting.

I have visited Skipton castle regularly over the last 30-odd years, my first recollection was when my sister took me there when I was a wee nipper. It is a superb place to explore, and well worth the entry fee, I won't go its history here, suffice to say it is riddled with the stuff, and although many parts of the castle are a private house, there is much to explore, my kids love it. 

"Skipton Castle" Oil on Board 8x6"

This is the view of the back (north side) of the castle on the crag overlooking the canal and river, it must have been quite a structure in its time, and although most of the castle here is bathed in shadow, I hope it gives some impression as to its splendour.

www.skiptoncastle.co.uk 

Springs Branch - Skipton

Springs Canal - Skipton Oil on Board 8 x 6". 

Yes a miniature! good to get back to these smaller, more detailed paintings. I enjoy painting them and can get one finished (well almost) between dropping the kids off at school and picking them up. Plus I have a surplus of 8 x 6 canvas boards kicking around... and no more canvases... time to order some more!
 
The view is Springs Canal behind the castle at Skipton, a short stubby branch of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, only about 1/2 mile long the canal terminates at a pool behind the castle, built to serve the mills and quarry the view is looking towards Mill Bridge, Skipton with the Castle to the left. It's painted from a photo I took on Friday last week in superb sunshine (two slaps on wrist, one for painting from a photo, and the other from taking the photo at midday). I know all the books say to wait until evening or early morning for the best light - but I wasn't there then was I ?
Honestly some purists!!!

Pochades and Weather

Ok so I haven't been keeping up to date... so what!
I thought its about time to stick in some posts from last year as I have a couple of minutes. I'm currently working out in Uganda, and work has been hectic, hence the lack of posts since November!

As we are aware, last summer was a complete write-off, so much so that I finally relented and took the family away to spain for a week (I travel for work - hence my abhorration of travelling for pleasure). But just to show what a miserable summer we had - here's a couple of pochades, painted from the passenger seat of my car from Ribblehead - and yes I completely omitted painting what Ribblehead is famous for (the viaduct) and concentrated on the view to the south.

The first was painted in about 1 hour, just after it had paused the relentless downpour, a faint light in the distance suggested that the sun may actually breakthrough - it didn't.

Pochade Penyghent from Ribblehead 8x6" oil on board.

And the developed painting. I have thought recently about redoing this, and when I get home I will probably tackle it. Perhaps with the foglights / rear lights blazing away to amplify the misery of the summer of 2012. Granted it wasn't all bad - I managed to build a log cabin in the garden which is my new 'studio'; mine for as long as the wife doesn't move her sewing projects in there...

Summer Ribblehead 2012 - 20"x16" ish - oil on canvas

And another quick pochade (again about an hour), again typifying the miserable summer...

Summer 2012 Ribblehead 8x10" Oil on board.

 

The hill with the cloud obscuring it is Simon Fell, part of the Ingleborough massif. I think I am getting the hang of painting miserable skies... BTW if you have any comments or tips or suggestions, please don't hesitate...

Fountains Abbey

Got a phone call from the mother-in-law on Saturday seeing if we fancied visiting Fountains Abbey on Sunday morning, they said they'd be there at 9.30am... Ha! Getting the kids to school for 9 is bad enough but to load up the car with the various bits of kit required for the terrible twosome is hard graft. Anyway we eventually rolled into the carpark at fountains at 11...

 Neptune, Fountains. Oil on Board 10"x8"

Remarkably the day wasn't wet, it was one of those crisp Autumn days which are ideal for photography, and there were quite a number of visitors with their cameras out. I have to admit the two paintings I did this week are from these photos, as with children whose attention span is like a pair of goldfish, the prospect of sitting and sketching anything for longer than 5 minutes is met with sighs and groans; so out with the camera. OK so it is cheating, but anything for a quiet life...

For both of these I blocked in the colours in the underpainting with acrylics - this was excellent for the job and perfectly formed the base for the oils, and most importantly dried quickly so I could 'get on with it'.  I'm curious though - would a purist call this style of underpainting 'cheating' or shrug it off as a timesaver? Regardless, these two were knocked out in two days as I was 'in the zone' and nothing was putting me off. I really enjoyed painting these and although they are small make an excellent pairing.

Temple of Piety, Fountains; Oil on Board 10"x8"

After a stroll round the water garden the plan was to have lunch at the cafe next to the lake, however as it was the only dry Sunday this year, the place was throng and abhorring queueing with everyone else for an overly-expensive sandwich and pot of coffee, a pub lunch for the family was necessary - anything to avoid queues... A couple of miles from Fountains Abbey is an excellent inn, serving wonderful sunday lunches (NOT a carvery - I can't stand carveries, it's another form of queueing after all), and would highly reccomend the Galphay Inn for a post-stroll lunch.

National Trust : Fountains Abbey
The Galphay Inn

Jervaulx - A Cracking Bit of Wensleydale

A Cracking Bit of Wensleydale.
Apologies for the cheesy title, but this part of lower Wensleydale is a fantastic place to while away a few hours. The owners of the Abbey have done, and are doing a wonderful job of maintenence, and any visitor to the abbey ruins are highly recomended to visit the excellent tea shop / restaurant across the road. We visited the abbey a couple of times last year with the family, and had a great day, sketching and painting in the ground while the children explored and picnicked. I made some sketches but the painting was from a number of photos taken on the better of the two days.

Jervaulx - compsitional sketch

I made the compositional sketch in one afternoon from a couple of photos, and set to with the painting. I didn't rush this one, initially the main colours were underpainted in acrylic (which I find dry much darker than when initially laid) hence the blue of the sky is much darker than I originally intended, and rather than looking for texture I was trying to achieve more flatter areas of colour, so that any variations (e.g. the party, the trees and the building structure) would not just stand out tonally, but also texturally.

A Cracking Bit of Wensleydale - Oil on Canvas 20" x 16"

The title of the painting came to me while I was laying down the acrylic underpainting, having just watched one of Nick Park's animations with the kids, and have to say I was grinning inanely while slapping on the paint. I quite like the painting although it's not to my wife's taste. For me the learning process with the tones of the middle-distance trees was an important one. In the past I have found full summer foliage a bit of a weak point, but following this now feel more confident with this aspect of landscape painting.

Incidentally Jervaulx is a corruption of Yore Vale, i.e. the valley of the River Ure, which flows nearby, although the modern valley is named after one of the main towns through which the river flows - i.e. Wensleydale. And at the head of Wensleydale is the creamery where the cracking cheese of that name is made.

http://www.wensleydale.co.uk/
http://www.jervaulxabbey.com/