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
Another painting done whilst on gallery duty on Thursday. It was from a walk I did last Tuesday in an area north of Settle in god’s own county of Yorkshire. We were returning to Settle along the River Ribble when we had to do a detour as the landowner didnt like the riff-raff on their land and we walked along a country lane to the wall in front of the farm ahead and then through the gap in the wall by the barn on the left and then onwards beside the river again. I liked the way the walls and road curved ahead to reveal the farm and way forward.
graham mcquade 