Holme Wold House, near Holme on the Wolds, East Yorkshire.

Recently the weather had been very wet leading to floods just across the Humber in Lincolnshire. Here, in East Yorkshire we have escaped without any damage, the land has nevertheless responded. The vegetation in the hedgerows, weeds on allotments and crops in fields have all put on rapid growth. Bright scars on mature trees can be seen as massive branches have fallen, due in part to the wind but also, significantly, the weight of the rain on their now, fully developed foliage...
It was late afternoon when I decided to have a break from organizing gallery space, to visit the local area near South Dalton. I found myself on the long, straight road from Holme on the Wolds which undulates past this collection of buildings. I parked up and started to paint. The weather was warm, the sky cloudy but slowly brightening and there was little if any wind. All was quiet. As I painted I became aware of the noise of birds, particularly yellowhammers. Occasionally a whirring sound told me to expect a passing cyclist or two. Then quiet.
I painted the sky first having set out the picture.
As I stood still,
looking,
a movement in the road.

How strange,
a large mature hare,
it was moving along the road towards me.

A magical moment.
It stopped,
sat still and listened.
I froze.
It sniffed the air and it
decided to continue
 towards me.

It stopped again
within a few feet,
I could see it's eyes
 clearly
 as it sat there.

Unusually this hare was not a typical hare colour. It's fur was a very light orange brown, it's ears were translucent and it had no dark markings. I looked hard at it. Was it ill, did it move properly?

Then it turned and
 'hared' away,
back along the road
 before disappearing
amongst the thickly vegetated
borders of encompassing
 safety.

I continued working on the picture and thinking about the little incident and thinking 'this why I like en plein air painting so much' as the unexpected moments, of surprising serendipity, occur to leave a memory.
The buttercups on the Westwood have now turned and are going to seed. Odd examples survive but their time has passed. Here, however, a dense colony of buttercups grew on the opposite verge, a significant aspect of the painting, a flash of gold amongst the grasses. As I painted, it was so good to be out again after a couple of weeks off, the icing on the cake moment.
I heard the haunting call of a curlew.
Perfect.
I finished and fed George before taking him for a walk. I left the easel set up and away we went. Returning to the car a red van had stopped ahead alongside my parked car. For a moment I thought it was a postman's van. It was a local couple from Market Weighton on their way back from visiting at Lockington. We had a lovely chat about this and that, before the mans wife reminded him that they would be too late for their fish and chip supper unless they set off soon....ahhh, fish and chips, hmmmn.
I popped over to the Pipe and Glass making do with a lovely cup of coffee.
#johnheekie #yorkshirewolds #visityorkshire