....the beech falls asleep remembering a nearby friend.... Above Snainton, North Yorkshire.

 13th November 2020.

After a night of heavy, soaking rain the promised window of clear weather materialized . 

I had a feeling I wanted to paint a larger canvas, so I traveled to a quiet lane on top of West Wold, above Sherburn, close to a beacon and Wold Farm. Stopping at a footpath sign, the view across and beyond Snainton, towards the North Yorkshire Moors looked wonderful. It is special. I set up quickly. The footpath drops away skirting a crop of wild flowers, now providing cover and seed heads for birds.  The footpath passes a standing stone, a memorial marker, standing upright, a scanning sentinel, watching over the land. The area around here has deep significance, as witnessed by numerous tumulai and enclosure earthworks. A great sense of peace can be felt, almost as if descendants are watching.  This whole area was deeply religious, ...as I paint I stop and pause..., looking across the land, imagining, the wind whispering through the tall, drying flower belt to my left...... I can hear... incantations on the wind. I paint on, while George is taken on walks. A farmer passes, a few yards behind me on the narrow road and stops. He skillfully reverses a very long trailor before coming over to have a chat. We speak of many things, the land, wild flowers and art. He says that I am welcome to paint on his land anytime and I decide I will send him some calendars. This is not far from where David Hockney painted and we all recount our meeting him ( I had already sent a calendar to David ). 

The wind starts to waffle the canvas, the light is quickly going, so I pack up.

 

Nearby,

A husband of the land 

Lies sleeping.

Nearby,

A beech tree's

Rusty shroud thins.

Soon, it too will sleep.

Nearby,

And who is to say it does not happen,

That

Sleeping friends wake, and smile,

Remembering the enveloping land, 

Of seasonal changes,

Of singing summers,

Of harvests past, while,

Nearby,

In the now time, the land is

 Nurtured still,

By the continuing

Seeds of life .

Large canvas, painted entirely at site. The canvas prepared using red and yellow acrylic applied thickly and let to dry . Additional texture was achieved by the inclusion of rose bay willow herb seed heads mixed with the acrylic ground.  I like to think it is more than painting, it has an essence of nature included,  hidden integrity perhaps.

 Oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inch (76x61 cm). 

Price on application email me for details.....

Dressed for the cold weather at the easel.

Great red ground to the canvas.

George rests after his exertions.