Last week we stayed in a cottage in Settle on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales. In the main the weather was overcast, particularly in the morning when I went out to sketch. Towards the afternoon and evening the sun broke through the clouds. Here is a sketch from, memory, of a view I saw as we drove back from a walk in Hawes – another Dales’ village. High on the moorland these isolated farmhouses dotted the road and as we climbed the hill the silhouette of the buildings stood out against a break in the clouds.
I did another version, even more sparsely:
This was at a stage before I started to add detail and ruin it.
Because of the flat light my morning sketches disappointed me. I was also hindered by drizzle and inquisitive cows which nearly trampled over my painting gear.
The middle sketch above shows similarities to the first sketches, except that the building was a small electricity substation. I sat balanced on a dry-stone wall painting it, packing in when a light drizzle started to fall.
Other landscape paintings are available for sale on my website: grahammcquadefineart.com
graham mcquade 
I don’t know how many paintings/sketches I have I ruined “trying” to make it fit an ideal or idea of what it should be w/detail! At least you thought to capture what you really liked beforehand; I “try” to do that, to remember, “oh yeah, that was better, less was better that time” – wonderfully moody pieces those top two, Graham! 😊
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It’s part of the learning process – it’s just that I’m a slow learner.
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Well I’m sure glad I’m not the only one, lol! At nearly 71 I’d thought I’d “be there” by now, wherever “there” is 😏 but strangely enough, I’m mostly ok with it. I’m enjoying learning, seeing things happen in my art when they do, and very grateful to have “some” time and energy to pursue it. Art heals, art sustains, and sometimes art just is 😊
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Wonderful work, Graham!
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Thanks Tiffany
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Lovely atmospheric scenes. We really love the landscape around Hawes.
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Thanks Margaret. The Dales, Lake district and Trough of Bowland, we are spoilt for choice. I should make more of them.
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Not throwing shade on your process (everyone has their own way of creating) but, the first sketch/painting looks like a scary house on a hill. My first thought was, it looked like an illustration for a book.
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There you are Vic, the less I put in the more room for your imagination. If it’s a scary house on the hill, that’s what it is.
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Excellent! LOL!
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Sometimes it just doesn’t need anything extra, I really like the sky and the building on the second one!
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Thanks Sirri. Yes the building is softer and more enigmatic and the sky simpler – though the foreground is too plain ( I was going to say flat, but it’s the side of a hill.)
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