Thixendale sycamores...hmmnn...and a mystery solved.

 25th August 2021.

Earlier I had talked to two walkers as I added finishing touches to the 'Painsthorpe Road' painting before travelling the short distance to Burdale. I have long been sorta intrigued and interested by the three sycamores standing tall over a a large field of grass. The pale background makes them seem more dramatic. As I painted a local man came to the stable block and began strimming. It was a noisy exercise and I was pleased when he stopped. He came over and we had a fascinating chat. He too, like Paul, I'd met earlier as it happens, had worked with stone, as a stone mason though rather than an artist. He told me of the 'Burdale' stone nearby. It is a little unusual and I have often wondered about it, how it got there, who maintained it. Apparently, he explained how he had retrieved two huge stones from the pond where they were placed by a farmer, after he had removed them from the disused rail line. After pulling them out of the pond he created a mounting block. He had carved 'BURDALE' on the taller stone but more interestingly, he also had added a large decorated "M". I took it to be for the Millennium, but no, it stood for Middleton, after Lord Middleton who owns a lot of the local land and who lives in nearby Birdsall. We heard shooting nearby and decided it was some sort of corporate event, possibly shooting clay pigeons as the season for shooting has not quite started yet. Perhaps the lanes full of French, red legged partridge were recent releases ahead of September 1st. We talked of deer, the pond, the reeds around the pond, and, my friend David Hockney, how he also had painted the sycamores and told me where he actually painted them from. I noted this for another time. However, Hockney called them the sycamores near Thixendale, the man was slightly annoyed by this as he said that they were the Burdale sycamores, so here I correctly name them...This view is further away as I wanted the stable to be included, and obviously a summer view. I was told the DH visited in winter and spring painting them over and over. 

If you stop near the pond, look out for the mounting block. It is set in a narrow verge between the stable and the steep road to Wharram Percy. Look for the inscribed 'M'... it is a beautiful piece of carving. The man said that he wasn't sure what the stone was but it was very, very hard.

Before he left he cast an eye over my painting and said ,,," we get lots of artists coming here and painting...I've seen worse" which I took as a compliment. I thoroughly enjoyed our chat and look forward to meeting again.

12x10 inch, oil on canvas board. Please email me for details.