violet, blue, gold and green – evening view from Winder

In the evenings the light can be magical, with huge areas of shadow and soft golden shapes rising out of the darkness. The sky has more colours – violets and pinks as well as blue – and the hills can be anything from ochre to viridian or even burnt orange. It’s the best time to wander on the hill. All of the colours glow, especially the gorse flowers which are, oddly, always in bloom. No-one else tends to be around because the lure of the television screen is stronger than the power of nature at this hour, or so it seems.

gorse glowing in the twilight

It’s also an excellent time to paint, although the cold winds of May have made it best to wander the hill while well wrapped up before painting in the last of the light through the window back at home.

clouds and stones

Drawings are just as vital as paintings and can help when getting to grips with a scene.

compressed charcoal on paper, A3, view through the window or ‘that tree again’

And sometimes a simple view becomes overloaded with meaning when inner feelings insist on finding their way into the paint during less serene times. That tree swirling out there in the middle of it all has certainly taken on a personality of its own.

turbulent times call for turbulent trees – oil on canvas, 9×12 inches, painted as seen through the window