I knew there were bales in the fields around the village as I could see them from the car as I drove through. I also saw many of them being transported by tractor and trailer and thought I would never reach them in time. My days were full. At last I had some time and I wondered, would they still be there? I went back and thought I knew where I would be able to see them, but it turned out they were some fields away from the track I was on. I thought it might be worth continuing on a little way, but my hopes were fading. Then all of a sudden, the track opened and there were bales, masses of them, on all sides ! And there was this view, right in front of me.

The moral of this story? Never give up. Follow your instincts. Persevere. You never know what might be round the corner.

Sketched earlier this week, I always tend to draw this from the same place. This time, I decided to move around the buildings and sketch from different viewpoints. All worth exploring further, I think. It’s true that I have painted these buildings before, but that shouldn’t stop one from returning to the same subject. There are always different choices to make. Different light conditions, different seasons, different moods. The addition of figures would change things again, but there were none around this day. Funny how there are always hundreds of them getting in the way when you don’t want any!

Out in the meadows all the grass is about this colour at the moment, with only thistles and a few other plants to provide a bit of colour. Some of the grass is as high as my shoulders. Mechanical noises from a few fields away make me believe it won’t be long before this is cut to the ground and then baled. All ready for another sketch!

I went out early for a walk yesterday morning before there were too many people about and more to the point, before it became too hot to be pleasant. Despite what the weather people say, I think we still have a certain amount of humidity in this, our third heatwave so far this year. After making a few sketches in my pocket sketchbook, I decided on this one to draw up and paint when I got home.

This is another version of the cotswold cottage which I did at home with a fibre tipped pen. I added another cottage which is actually there, but which I missed out in the original version. I quite enjoyed the process, although if I were to do another, I might use something else to make the marks with to give me a more varied line. But I wasn’t concerned about that at the time.

Later, I stumbled on another view (not in the same place or anywhere near it), which I thought leant itself to a line and wash method which I adapted from a rather rough pencil sketch in a pocket sketch book. This time I used a fountain pen with a slightly thicker nib.

Phew! We’ve been having a bit of a heatwave, like most of Europe, but perhaps not quite so hot. However 30-33 degrees celsius is about 86-90 degrees fahrenheit which is unusual for us. Even the nights are uncomfortable.

I did take myself to a nearby village within walking distance where, from some partial shade from a wall, I was able to make a pencil sketch of this cottage. It looked as if it might be empty, but equally it looked as if someone might have been doing some work on it. Behind the tree on the right was an Estate Agent’s sign. Despite the little bit of shade it was still hot, so I added colour to it back home. It occurred to me that I might possibly be able to make more than one painting from the same image over the next week or so, if I can find the time. If I haven’t melted in the meantime.

It’s been a very wet, miserable week, despite the weather forecasters telling us it is Summer. (I think the weather is trying to tell the weathermen not to hurry it. Summer will be with us in its own time). So I looked back at a sketch I did a while ago, looking through a gateway into the garden at Chastleton House, a National Trust property near Moreton in Marsh, just to get the sense that one day, in the not too distant future, we may be able to sit out somewhere like this and enjoy the sun, the smell of the Honeysuckle or the Roses, and know we have the day stretching ahead of us to paint with friends. It’s a good thought!

The beautiful garden at Hidcote Manor was lovely to see last weekend. There were so many views which would have made beautiful paintings even this early in the year, but I was drawn to an area where the Alliums in the foreground led back across some poppies and up to part of the house in the background. It wasn’t the best day for sitting out and the path was too narrow in this area for me not to be a nuisance, so I took a photograph of the bit of the building I could see, decided on the format and later made some small pencil sketches. I painted it the following day at home, before I forgot what I wanted to do. It is a place where you could spend all day every day, and never run out of something to paint.

This cottage is just along the road from the Manor House Gardens which is where we were headed, hoping the rain would stay away long enough for us to have a quick look around. We were lucky as it turned out, and although it wasn’t the warmest of days it stayed dry enough until we went into the cafe for a bowl of soup. There were more flowers than we expected for this time of year, but the Gardening team have apparently been hard at work to extend the flowering season to please the large numbers of visitors they have throughout the year.

The next post will show what I painted after we had been around the gardens.

This cafe regular usually sports a flat cap. I wonder if he felt the need for extra warmth this week, or has he recently celebrated a birthday?