Snow Shots

The recent photo-dump of a local church I posted a few entries back was meant to be a one off, but as most of my digital plein-air output for St. Peter's, which was on a USb stick, has been lost to the outer plane of small household objects; I have, in turn, lost the context that the photographs were meant to represent. So I figure why not post some more photos. I don't really have much to lose at this point.

 Note: The last photo was previously the subject of a little DS painting I did last Autumn. It's rather interesting to revisit the same subject under different conditions - and in this case, different formats. See here for the post that contains my original exploration of the subject.

 As previously, I can only state I have little interest in photography beyond just recording sights to add to my reference folders.

Prayer's Eye

Imagining a landscape feature from a book...

DS Autumn Colours

Where has this month gone too? Oh well, here's to autumn colours.

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I finally managed to dig out my sketchbooks and do some oldschool scribbling. It feels good to sharpen pencils again. :)

DS Local Paints: Batch I

I've been busy running my Nintendo DS into the ground by doing a number of plein air speedpaints around my local area. It's a lot of fun and a good excuse to get out of the house and explore my surroundings more thoroughly. Granted, the screen glare can be a bit of a problem sometimes, but I can usually find a shady spot to compensate.

As the title would suggest, this is the first batch and more will follow. It's a little late for New Year resolutions, but I thought it would be cool to try and regularly paint on location throughout the year so as to enjoy the changing seasons.

Winter Wood

Seasonal speedpaints will abound, me thinks. I guess I'm returning to my Winter Spirits theme I played around with at the beginning of the year. This one's me being a very mucky pup' and just scribbling like mad. I'll make a point of spending more time on the next one. :)

Autumn Scribbles

Sentinel Wood (Via Horseback)

This was my 100th speedpaint done with the Nintendo DS. :)

Winter Spirits: Photo Session

Reading some classic ghost stories over the past few days seems to have infected the very air around me. It was very cold today and I had every intention of staying in bed until noon, but once I had glanced out of the window, that idea was dashed and I rushed to charge up my phone (unfortunately I don't have a dedicated camera). The thick fog that hung in the air, coupled with the ground frost, made a trip into the woods and briers a must. So off I trotted to commune with the crows, and the odd dog walker...

Nice crystal formations.

The odd stubborn leaf still clings to a tree. I suspect the frost is probably aiding this rebel, but I do not want to belittle his achievement. :)

His fallen comrades feel nice underfoot, though.

A tree snuggling up to... itself! It must be colder than I thaught.

Bally can keep his seat. It seems a bit too frosty for my butt!

Out of about 80 photo's this is possibly my favorite: A mutilated, but proud-looking tree stands in a clearing. This is the highest point of the woods and you might be able to make out the pale blue sky above the fog line.

The sun starts to set and I'm blown away by the colour.

Ooh, very gothic looking.



Climbing down from the top of the hill, the sun is lost in the fog. Possibly an alternative cover to Anne Radcliffe's The Romance of the Forest? ;-)

In an open grassland area I was half expecting to see the ghosts of past Impressionist masters trying to capture the lighting effects with brush and canvas, but I had to settle for the odd phantom dog that came bounding out of the fog.

Let's play spot the dog!

Bodies of plague victims are buried under this particular patch of land.


The last photo I took, and a fitting 'end of the line' subject: This is actually the end of an old towpath beside a series of canal locks which have long been filled in.

DS+3

Trees III

I made the most of the few hours of sunshine we had over the Easter weekend and slunk off into the local woods. It's probably my second favorite place to sit and draw - my favorite being my bed. :-D