Snowy Woodlands – Watercolour

A slight fall of snow which just about covered the grass in the local woods.

Winter Shadows – Watercolour

I was too early for a lunch appointment, yesterday in Edinburgh, so I killed some time walking around the old part of the town. This was the scene looking down the Cowgate which passes under one of the raised bridges (South Bridge) which was added to the city when access to the New Town was needed. You can see this bridge in the centre of this scene. What struck me was the extremely deep shadows and I’ve tried to use my darkest colours to dominate this effort. I put these in first then added the rest later. Seems to work as I have an awful habit of putting in too much fiddly detail in scenes like this so, as I was anxious to get this “in the post” didn’t have too much time to over-elaborate.

Frost, Frost everywhere – Watercolour with textured gell

Not much snow yet but this morning’s frost covered everything and it looked like snow. The temperature was -5C when when I took quick details for this rough attempt. Snow later this week although I shouldn’t labour the point and should be careful what I wish for. Our friend, Ziza, told me; yesterday, that he has had snow at least 1metre deep with some parts double this. His temperatures are around -13C. Bitter conditions.

Hungry Deer – Watercolour

Spotted these wee beasties not far from my house on Friday. I was out for my usual walk in the woods when I saw them at the side of a field, happily munching on the farmer’s winter crops. Deer normally get closer to inhabited areas when bad weather is on the way. Wildlife really has it hard at this time of year. They didn’t seem to mind but, when I got closer they were off at high speed. Since it is illegal to harm deer here I suppose the farmer might hire me as a sort of scarecrow. I don’t, however, think he would begrudge a small loss of his crops to help these hungry animals.

Another Pentland sunrise – Watercolour

I’ve posted this, not just to show more sunrise colour but to explain a wee bit of how these hills effect Edinburgh’s weather.

This view is looking south with the east side of the range of hills coming to an abrupt end. In fact this area is called “Hillend”. The white area, to the right of the summits is the Hillend Dry Ski Slope. Its near here that I learned to snow and ice climb in the 1960′s but am too old, or wise, to attempt this now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hillend_Ski_Slope,_Edinburgh_-_geograph.org.uk_-_30620.jpg

Edinburgh lies behind the viewer and weather, coming from the west (and from the Atlantic Ocean) will be channelled by these hills which can bring mild yet wet conditions. If north or east winds blow then the same hills can act as a barrier and direct snow towards the city while south winds will shelter it. At the moment there is very cold weather over much of Europe caused by high pressure blocking westerly flows. If this persists then the moist air will meet the cold, easterly, continental air and we will get snow. This is already happening as the tops of the Pentlands are white but this weekend might just see our first real winter weather. Its cold enough, with today’s temperature around -4C all day after night time levels of -8C. It could get to -10C tonight but this is nothing like the frigid conditions Easter Europe is enduring at the moment.

Maybe our skiers will be able to dispense with the artificial slopes after tomorrow

Sunrise #2 but looking westwards – Watercolour

The previous post attempted to show the effects that the rising sun has on any low clouds. It also effects views looking away from the sun. As the dawn breaks the light shines straight into anything facing it and bathes it in a warm glow. This is why there are lots of warm reds in this scene. The was a slight covering of snow when this was attempted, the first of this year and, hopefully, not the last. I suppose this, and the previous post, vindicates the old saying :
Red shy at night, Shepherds’ delight
Red sky in morning, Shepherds’ warning.
Meaning that, in our country the prevailing weather is from the west so if you look to the east, highlighted clouds are heading away from you taking bad conditions while looking to the west cloudy conditions, with rain or snow might be approaching.

Eastern sunrise # 1 – Watercolour

This is the time of year for colour in our skies. As the sun rises, in the east just behind the Pentland Hills to the south of Edinburgh, any clouds catch the changing light and produce terrific colours and tones. This was something like this morning’s view. Its quite difficult to actually get any definite scene as the colours change quite quickly and there is a tendency to wait to see if a better range appears. The view in the opposite direction is quite different and my next post will try to demonstrate this.

The High Line – Watercolour and pencil

Our first full day in NYC started with a visit to the High Line Park. These notes are from my travel journal dated Friday 30th September 2011

The High Line is described as an “Aerial Green-way” built on a former railway line. Its just over a mile long but there are plans to extend it. The route, which was crammed with many, many people, is surrounded by loads of plants and shrubs. It runs along the lower west side of Manhattan. There are many places to sit down and its possible to buy snacks to eat. There are even “talking drinking fountains.” As the name suggests, it is above the main streets and one of the first things I noticed was the relative quietness. It was a brilliantly sunny morning and I felt this was just the thing to start the holiday after the long journey of yesterday. You walk along this former railway spur then have to turn back when the end is reached. Two things stick in my memory. We were approached by two elderly ladies who had spotted my kilt. They were really friendly and we stopped to chat. My host, in his flattering and friendly way suggested they were sisters which delighted this pair of unrelated people who had been friends for many years. The second memory was when we turned a slight bend and there, far away in the distance, was the Statue of Liberty, in all her splendour. We had already decided not to visit this area as the crowds are supposed to be huge and I had, therefore, resigned myself to not even seeing her. Now I had a grand-stand view albeit from miles away. I took some photographs with the camera’s telephoto setting on maximum. (Later, we passed close to this iconic structure as we treated ourselves to a boat trip around Manhattan so I was able to see the statue close up)

Central Park – Watercolour

Had to include this as its part of the USA trip and has inspired me to try to depict rocks and tone textures in a better way.

This is from my travel journal dated 1st October 2011

Our first port of call, this day, was a walk in Central Park. Its hard to imagine how large this is as we seemed to skirt along one edge of it. The first thing I noticed was some evidence of exposed ancient bedrock. I’ve seen this, on TV programmes before, and it was fascinating to be there in person. This mica – schist is similar to some of the very old rocks found in Scotland. It is said that Scotland was once, millions of years ago, connected to the land that became North America before we separated and drifted apart the larger part heading west and us colliding with what, became, England. The surface shows evidence of glaciation and the mica sparkles in sunlight.

Must return one day if only to see if I can make a better job of painting the rocks.

It shouldn’t be here – Watercolour and Inktense

This birch tree stands among loads of old beech trees on the south side of Platt Hill. Whenever its windy it sways about in a terrifying manner while the tops of the beeches are the only parts which move. Its like a weather barometer advertising wind strength. Although it seems to move massive distances it has survived all of the bad storms and this is probably due to the fact that it doesn’t resist wind but bends with it. Perhaps a lesson for life?