Misc.
Changes
It’s interesting to see the weather change around you, though normally I like to be hidden away indoors when it’s turning bad 
Anyway, the day started out fine with a nice touch of mist rising from the River Eden, so I took a few snaps by Langwathby.
Then it all clouded over and looked a little boring for a while – well, boring for landscape photographs or sketching that is. We ended up having a run down to Kirkby Lonsdale, I took the camera along more out of hope than anything else not expecting much from the weather to allow photographs. When we arrived in Kirkby Lonsdale the weather had changed again and the clouds had broken to reveal a deep blue sky dotted with clouds. So we had a wander round the back of St. Marys Church to look at Ruskin’s View. It was a painting of this view by Turner that led Ruskin to comment ‘I do not know in all my own country, still less in France or Italy, a place more naturally divine’
The weather sadly did not stay like this for long and shortly afterwards we were dashing back towards the car getting soaked, the roads turned to rivers and I was glad for that fleeting glance at a place so naturally divine.
Wandering Mind
I’ve been trying to get some ideas together for a painting, I know the basic idea of what I want to achieve at the end, it’s the bits that go into it that are causing the problems. So rather than try and sketch out the full scene I’ve been playing with different elements of it. Naturally this led to my mind wandering and I ended up with a couple of Tolkien related sketches 
First one of the Three-Farthings Stone in the Shire -
Then there was one of a couple of Hobbits returning home after a wander -
Not sure if it helped plan the painting, but they were fun to do
The Arrow
Whilst out for a bit of a wander this morning I noticed this lump of stone beside the lane, now I’ve walked along this lane nearly every day for a decade or so and never noticed the markings on top of the stone -
Now to me, and probably no one else, I immediately spotted an arrow pointing off into the next field. This triggered a few things in my mind, but mainly it started me thinking about who may have carved an arrow in the stone and why. Now, a few hours later the nucleus of a short story is bubbling away somewhere in that grey matter I tend to pass off as a brain
Green
Wandering along the lane this morning I noticed how green everything was looking, but as I noticed the green my mind made a few random jumps – almost like a word association game. From green leaves I jumped to Niggle and from Niggle I jumped obviously to Tolkien and the Shire, and from there I was lost to the realms of fantasy and other lands that are of course not exactly real but are none the less green and pleasant
So, for all those that like a bit of ‘green on the screen’…
Speaking of green, I spent much of this morning trying to find just the right green for a painting, I find green a difficult colour to get right, it’s either too blue, or too bright and tacky… one day I’ll mix the perfect green, I just hope I remember how I mixed it afterwards.
The Forgotten Gate
A sketch that really got out of hand, the Forgotten Gate
You wander down an old cobbled road, passing on the way a row of grand looking houses with well tended gardens stretching out in front of them. Slowly the grand houses give way to smaller houses that are in need of some T.L.C., their small gardens are overgrown with long grass and weed and the cobbled road is in need of repair. The smaller houses end as does the cobbled road and in front of you there is a dirt track with lined with gnarled oak trees draped with ivy, it’s a dry day and the wind keeps blowing tendrils of dust from the ground into your eyes. You’re about to give up, run back to civilization then you notice the trees stop abruptly as the dirt track winds its way up a small hill. As you approach the top of the hill you notice a wooden fence running across the hilltop and a broken gate dangling from a single hinge. Then the memories come flooding back, you’d been this way before, what feels like almost a lifetime ago. This is the road that leads to a World of adventure and exploration, a World of mystery where every step reveals new opportunities and possibilities. You try to think back to the last time you came this way, but the mists of time have blurred your memories, but you feel a pang of regret for all the times you could have opened that old gate and stepped into that other World. With a sigh you turn from the gate meaning to make your way back along the lane, then you pause and step up to the gateway, well, one more adventure can’t hurt