To my right, rolling contours of manicured fields hide valleys.
In a nearby field, black Anthony Gormley shapes stood, motionless, in an emerging crop of sunlit green, spaced out regimentally, they were awaiting orders to advance. On the upper flanks of the Dale, hidden people popped up from their hideouts among the gorse and scrub, vigorously waving fluorescent flags on the hillside. It was a shoot in Well Dale. The driven birds approaching the Dale flanks hugged the sloping sides for safety, then were forced up by the flags, over the waiting guns in the valley bottom. Many birds evaded their fate and successfully crossed to the far side of the valley. I am always reminded about the need to foster minorities and thus have become aware that the game shooting in these parts provides a valuable source of income. For many local people it is their life source. The people who shoot provide an income for the Warter Estate which helps maintain the hedges and woodland cover and general farming husbandry. Indeed, here, you can still see red kite, kestrels, and buzzards in great numbers. I have read that elsewhere, in the Cotswolds for example, bird flu has had a dramatic effect on bird population, especially red kite which are not seen anymore. Earlier, I stopped at the man made lake at Warter, created by the Warter Estate. I watched mallard and wintering teal as well as huge numbers of geese. I will visit again and keep looking for my favourite bird, the curlew. Up here at Cobdale, the hedges are laden the deep maroon hawthorn seeds and the occasional crimson wild rose hips which light up in the intermittent emerging sun. Fieldfares can be seen in large congregations, a sign of winter. With this painting I wanted to be try and paint looser. So for the sky I used a palette knife and like the effect. I also used a limited palette of colour. Blue, yellow, white and, in this painting Indian red, one of my favourite colours. With the days being short I also worked quickly and finished about 2pm, plenty of time to. Give George a long walk.
This is the first plein air painting for a while and it was good to experience the winter dressing now being applied, seeing the colours light up as the sun shone.
Hope you like it.
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