castlerigg – Graeme Skinner

Snow topped

Graeme Skinner — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 15:15:07 +0000

We called out for some supplies a couple of days ago and decided to take a couple of photographs of Blencathra (and Castlerigg Stone Circle) while we were out. Looking forward to printing them up and maybe using one or two as references for a painting.

Away with the fairies

Graeme Skinner — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 07:15:45 +0000

I’ve been away with the fairies for the last couple of weeks, well, I’ve been reading about some of the myths surrounding fairies, fay, fae, fair folk…. I started with Tolkien’s On Fairy Stories, which felt like a natural starting point, I then went on to read Tolkien’s Smith of Wootton Major for obvious reasons and delved into Celtic Twilight by Yeats. They all pointed me in different directions but all had a common them in many respects, if time allows this week I’d say another reading of Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist is in order

Whilst reading about the wee folk is interesting (and fun), I did get the urge to paint something before I’d finished even the basic amount of research, so I started painting Castlerigg Stone Circle at night, added a Moon shot I’d taken recently then dropped a fairy or two into the mix

There have been many theories put forward as to why our ancestors built stone circles, the truth is that they didn’t. Stone circles we built for and used by the fair folk as a meeting place, even today if you hide near a stone circle on a clear night you can just make out fair folk gathering around the stones (though some sit on the stones much to the disgust of the elders, that however is another story).

And the reason I’ve been away with the fairies so much recently, blame John, he set it as the theme of the month for October over on his website “The realm of faerie is all yours to explore in October. Victorians were very fond of fairies, there is some astonishing reference material out there, as well as the work of illustrators like Ida Rental Outhwaite. Just be careful of mushroom circles.”

Now I need to see if Smith has returned to Wootton Major, as he keeps popping off making it difficult to get a good sketch of him.

Castlerigg again…

Graeme Skinner — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 15:02:47 +0000

I called by Castlerigg Stone Circle as I drove West the other day and I’m glad I did as the light and cloud made for a magical visit. As usual if you’d like any of the photographs as either a mounted or unmounted print please get in touch.

Bloomin’ Weather

Graeme Skinner — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 10:30:42 +0000

This weekend we had a friend staying with us from Brazil, so we offered to show her around the area, of course the Cumbrian weather did its best to try and dampen our spirits but it failed So here are a few photographs of our whistle stop tour of Cumbria –

As you can see, at the end of the tour the weather was perfect

Painting Stones

Graeme Skinner — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:35:57 +0000

Today I decided to try a couple of Castlerigg Stone Circle paintings, I want to do an oil painting of the stones but time restraints mean I can only manage to rattle out quick watercolours

Snow time warm ups

Graeme Skinner — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 18:02:40 +0000

I need to crack on with a painting, but as it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve had chance to paint I decided to warm up a little with a quick painting. I decided to paint a new header for my site – just for winter

Of course, since it’s nearly Christmas I had to tweak it a little

Moonlight Magic

Graeme Skinner — Sun, 16 May 2010 19:13:45 +0000

Some scenes lend themselves to the moonlight more than others, when I decided to paint a couple of Moon orientated paintings trying to capture the magic of a moonlit Castlerigg Stone Circle was something that sprang to mind almost straight away. Well, to be honest my thoughts went along the lines of – moonlit Shire… moonlit stone circle, having painted the Shire in moonlight it was time to attempt a stone circle. This is a first attempt, I would like to try it again some time in the near future from a slightly different angle and define the stars a bit different (and the shadows).

Old & New

Graeme Skinner — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:00:36 +0000

Recently I looked through an old album of mine, when I say old I took the photographs in or around 1984 so it’s old to me. Many of the images are terrible, yet there are odd ones which apart from the technical aspects of the images I could have taken them last week.
It’s strange to think that even at the age of 14 I was pointing the camera more at landscapes than people; it is not a decision I regret, photographing people holds no interest for me whereas I can be lost for hours staring through the viewfinder at a craggy hill or crooked tree. Though I say it’s not a decision I regret, it’s also not a decision I can remember making. You’d imagine there would have been some conscious thought on the issue at some point in my past, but I can’t remember any of it. I do remember taking the photographs, and standing for hours in the darkroom trying to work out what the hell I was doing. It is something we’ve lost with digital, the anticipation felt as you agitated a tank of chemicals wondering what the film would contain.
Comparing photographs taken 25 years apart is not something I’m prone to doing, but it is fun to do every once in a while (well every 25 years or so ;-)).
So, here’s a couple of landscapes from my not so distant past…

I quite like this one, it’s a scratched print of an unnamed craggy hill somewhere in the Lake District, but it shows where my interests were at the time. Then we come to the more modern photographs (many will have already seen these, but they’re my most recent images).

Melbreak