Plein Air Sketching in Northern England

Joel and I returned to England again this spring, but this time we headed north. We toured Manchester, the Lake District, Yorkshire and finished in the Peak District. The weather somewhat co-operated, but we persisted anyway and managed to do six sketches. Is there anything more pleasant than sketching in an English garden and/or countryside? No, I don’t think so 🙂

Dorset and the Jurassic Coast – plein air sketching

Joel and I finally had the chance to go back to one of our favourite destinations: England! We spent two weeks there in total, the first 5 days in London and the next 10 days touring the New Forest then heading into Dorset, the Jurassic Coast and ending up in Lyme Regis. We were excited to get back into plein air sketching again (it’s always more fun when you’re on a trip).

We had an absolutely amazing time! We had two weeks of sun and beautiful spring weather. It did us a world of good 🙂

Prints are available to purchase in my Etsy shop.

Corfe Castle view from the village of Corfe.
Corfe Castle
Easily our most ambitious subject; the Helter Skelter in Weymouth.
Working on the Helter Skelter sketch.
Thomas Hardy’s Cottage.
Joel and I at Thomas Hardy’s cottage.
view of Lyme Regis.
Beautiful day for sketching in Lyme Regis.
On our way back to London, we stopped in at Monticute House with its “wibbly wobbley” hedges.
Another view of Elizabethean mansion Monticute House.
And of course, a trip to England is incomplete without the requisite afternoon tea, this one at the Dalloway Terrace in London.

Sketches from Devon and Cornwall

Joel and I spent two weeks in the Devon and Cornwall area of England recently. We had excellent weather for plein air sketching. Words can’t describe how inspiring I find the landscape in those parts. Lovely! That’s all I can say. I especially love Dartmoor National Park.

These sketches are available as prints in my Etsy shop.

This is a view of Dittisham, in the south of Devon. We took a tiny “ferry” boat to go over to Greenway from here (Agatha Christie’s summer home). I highly recommend the experience to everyone. It was a beautiful day, ideal for sketching. I was sitting in the churchyard while sketching this.

While in Devon, we stayed in Dartmoor National Park near Dunsford. We sketched this house, name the Olde Court Farm in Dunsford. The owners informed us the house is over 700 years old! That is madness to my Canadian ears. The owners were such lovely people, they served us mint tea (from her garden) and delicious cake while we were sketching! It does not get better than that.

Our AirBnB was across from the Teign River and these old stepping stones (the Old Stables on AirBnB, check it out). We decided to paint them one day. It was very relaxing to wake up to the sounds of running water. You could cross the stones to get to a network of walking paths on the other side.

This was sketched on a drizzly day in Lustleigh, in the Dartmoor Park. I like how much the cottage is leaning (not an exaggeration, I measured). I like what the rain did to the sky and pavement part of the sketch. There is a fantastic tea room next door, The Primrose Tea Room, where I had one of the best afternoon teas of my life.

This is a view from the harbour of Porthoustock in Cornwall. We started drawing this at around 7pm so it was pretty quiet there. Of all my sketches with boats in them, this is the only one that turned out. I’ve since given up drawing boats and put them in the same category as drawing cars, i.e. unpleasant things to draw.

Ah, the Tin Coast in Cornwall. Another great day for sketching. If you’ve watched Poldark like I have (and are mildly obsessed with it) then you will recognize these chimneys. They are all over the coast in this area of Cornwall. This was at the Levant Mine complex, an old tin mine ruin.

 

 

Plein air sketches – around Westport

This past summer was the hottest summer on record in Westport (and everywhere else by what I gather). As much as I love plein air drawing with Joel, we really are at the mercy of the weather. I’m very intolerant of heat, so as a result I only have two sketches to show from the summer, one of which was drawn in September.

perthroadvillage_sketch_web

Seemingly abandoned storefront in Perth Road Village, ON.

athens_sketch_web

Stedmans was a longstanding general store in Athens, ON until fairly recently when it closed.

 

Mackinac Island

Joel and I recently spent my 30th birthday on Mackinac Island, in northern Michigan. This island is a very special place, because it is completely car-free (only horses and bicycles ride on the roads) and has been since the 19th century, when the island became a popular Victorian resort destination. Everything on the island is ridiculously picturesque. The Victorian summer houses are massive, beautiful buildings.

Joel and I toured around on our bikes, ate great food, drank nice beer, sketched and generally had an amazing time. Mackinac, we shall be back.

The governor’s summer residence

Sketch of Fort Mackinac

Here is a selection of photos from the trip: