Sunny Teesdale

 A fabulous day in Upper Teesdale. Like at home, all the flowers seem to have come out together and, for once, sunshine prevailed throughout the day. Great view of a red kite being mobbed by curlew, plus red grouse, ring ouzel, lapwing and a lovely golden plover in breeding plumage.

Mountain Pansies 

Spring Gentians at Cow Green reservoir.

Bird's-eye Primrose. 

Marsh Marigold fields.

Great Gable and Kirk Fell

What a super day and the dog has bagged his first major peaks and been really good - even off the lead! The forecast promised a dry but cloudy day - needless to say the bigger fells attracted cloudy drizzle but it soon turned into a beautiful sunny evening.

Rocky and Steve on the top of Great Gable.

A view at last enabling us to get the correct path down

Rocky letting off steam - and he's still not tired! 

Bluebells at Rannerdale

Up early to get to Rannerdale before the rain set in - and wasn't it worthwhile. The bluebells were at their best - absolutely stunning!

Looking back over Crummock Water

Herdwick lamb

When the sun did, briefly, come out
the hillsides glowed.  

Note the lack of leaves on the trees - and it's nearly June!

Printed plantains

As promised a morning of playing around printing.

Plantains and crosswort  

Lino cut plantains 

Spring Flowers

After a beautiful weekend it's a cold and damp bank holiday Monday. Walking the dog may be damp but the flowers are superb at the moment - everything is out at once - compressed into a late spring. Red campion, celandines, primroses, cowslips, stitchwort, crosswort, water-avens, bush vetch, early-purple orchids and more to come. With two big exhibitions to enter I need to keep up the oil painting so they have time to dry but managed to find time for a quick sketch too. I'd love to do some printing based on the plantains that are out at the moment too - maybe tomorrow.

Skiddaw from the common above Uldale 

Watercolour sketch - cuckoo flower, cowslips and bush vetch

Bird hearts

Finally finished these bird hearts - the third one is actually a vivid magenta - rather than the red it appears. What a weekend - tremendous local floods - 3 cars stuck in the flood by our house, walls collapsed and various properties with torrents running through them - all in a couple of hours!

Bird Hearts 

Mini oils

Took up more paintings to Mae's Tearooms. Two more paintings have sold so this week I'll have to get down to it again!

Mini oils of Carrock Fell and Criffel from Mawbray 

From Sandale over to Skiddaw 12"x10"

The dry stones

Quick walk - breezy up Lord's Seat from Whinlatter - pebbles are now dry!

The stones 

Drizzle and felted stones.

While the rest of the country reputedly basks in sunshine it's drizzling in Cumbria again. Spending the morning making felted stones with friends - photos later - in the meantime a felt with stones that was on sale for just a couple of days - must do another! .....and a new card - convulvulus.

Felt, shells, pebbles and sea-washed glass

Convulvulus