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!)...

Winter - Catrigg Force

It must be spring soon...? Even though the crocuses are out, and the daffodils are giving it their best to burst we are still gripped in the firm clasp of winter up here. I have been meaning to paint this view again for such a long time, in fact a number of passers-by pop their heads in to the gallery with this view in mind, and having given (!) the last painting of Catrigg away I thought it high time I renewed this. This was painted after a stroll to my favourite place during what was known as the 'Beast from the East', not so great for the motorist, but excellent for the Landscape painter looking for a new twist on an old scene.

Winter - Catrigg Force - Oil on Board 10" x 8"

I painted this on a black ground, something I have never done before, but something I will repeat, as the results in my opinion, are great. Prior to putting paint to board (doesn't sound the same as 'canvas'), I did a few tonal sketches for this one, and used very little photographic reference.

Pencil sketch

Sepia Sketch - on board

The Beast at Gooseker

Although the recent spate of bad weather entitled 'The Beast from the East' brought traffic disruptions countrywide  and if the media is to be believed 'massive chaos', it brought a welcome change for the landscape artist. I enjoy these winter lanes and snowdrifts, primarily because of the general absence of green that tends to dominate. I am moving away from the security blanket of mixed greens and opting to utilise various yellows as a substitute, but some yellows mixed with a variety of blues / greys / blacks can also prove as thuggish as a spattering of pthalo green (yellow shade). When I look at the Dales, in normal (cloudy) weather, all I see is varying shades of grey with a greenish tinge, why therefore do I resort to hurling vast quantities of sap green and viridian in to emulate what I think I see. Maybe this is the part of the brain that says 'paint what IS there' rather than 'paint how you ACTUALLY See it', maybe if I had ever had an art class these questions could be answered and rectified... regardless, as I have always thought, the snow comes like a clean sheet...

Although when the snow goes, there's just a muddy mess!

Snowdrifts-Gooseker: Oil on Board, 10" x 8"

Stroll through Fountains

Oil on Board 12" x 6": Painted from sketches and photos in the studio from an afternoon stroll at Fountains Abbey. Probably one of the best preserved ruined (oxymoron?) monasteries in Northern England. Some beautiful light finally emerged from behind the clouds illuminating the western side of the church tower enthused me to scribble down a quick sketch, and snapshot on a phone camera - so pretty useless as a photo but great as an aide memoir. The two people which add a little life to the scene and aid the composition were chucked in from some other sketches from elsewhere in the abbey.

Oil on Board 12" x 6"

Where the Flock's at...?

Painted following a walk during the previous batch of snowfall at the beginning of February this year, this little flock decided I had some food and followed me for some time until they became bored and disillusioned. As it was way too cold to even consider painting, this was painted from photos and subsequent sketches. The Farm in the distance is Westside house, off the Stainforth to Malham road. Apologies for the title, I thought it was quite funny at the time... not sure if I should incorporate this one on to the painting itself.

Where the Flock's at...? Oil on Panel 25" x 12"