Hutton Church, a plein air study.

I visited the excellent exhibition at the Methodist Hall at Hutton Cranswick and after talking to Sh. Decided to pop down Hutton Road to see the church. I walked George around the church continuing to explore the area outside. Spotted the disused Mill across fields thinking it may be a good subject for a painting. Had a brief chat with a lady opposite the Old Vicarage as I had determined her drive would offer a good place to paint from. I remembered Mike and Carol Bowman from Cranswick and Mike Eastwood from Hutton, from my days as a research engineer. I  asked if she knew of  Mike Eastwood. Though not Mike, she remembered Geoff Eastward, as it happened I also knew him, I have still got his book on local walks. I am getting distracted. I found a place to paint the church and made a start. The painting will be a little unusual as I intend the focus to be a bare stemmed bush growing in front of the church. The painting below shows my initial work. I have moved the conifers on the left closer to the church.

 I will return and bite the bullet regarding adding the small tree. It will cover most of the right hand side of the church. Another obvious omission at the moment is the lack of gravestones. These too will be added. The entrance to the churchyard is through Aa well maintained gate. Just inside the gate, a huge dead stump of what looked like a sycamore stands like a sentinel  totem. Indeed the lady, I had talked to earlier mentioned that the tree had a gravestone inside it! Apparently, the tree grew around it, but the grave could still be touched by putting a hand by exploring a hole in the trunk.

So, here it is, I revisited briefly to add the trees and gravestones. It will be a useful study to keep and refer to when painting another larger, more panoramic painting.

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