October colour
firstly I have to squeeze in a succession of photos from the last day in September, really worthy of a separate post, but I put it off, so this is a catch-up
on Monday 30th September we arrived early at Morston knowing it would be a big tide, but after an overnight blow from the north-west the water had not got out of the lagoon behind Blakeney point between high tides and had risen right over the marsh
giving an impression of how things may be in a few years? decades? when more polar ice has melted
even the coastal path was impassable without waders or a boat
and B got several cold wet surprises leaping about in the long grass
but it was peaceful and very beautiful
and I took a nice clean dog with me on my taxi run for my good friend who has just had a lung transplant.
only two days before
I was taking photos of autumn on the edge of the marsh, where the samphire has turned all sorts of lovely colours, from maroon to shocking pink.
the sea asters are over but the sea pinks survived the inundation
inland colours are mellowing. here is an ivy bee, a specialist wild bee species that’s become more common recently
a little bit of bracken bronzing
and early leaf fall – at Holt Lowes it’s mostly the birch
of course Bims is a nice autumnal colour herself
the dartmoor ponies will stay out all winter, they have great resistance to cold and wet and are able to stay fat on very little
pools reflecting sky and leaves
as for painting I found these colours in a book of Diebenkorn paintings, this abstract done in 1951
and happily tried to transfer them
but my painting seemed so dull when I got it indoors I went back into it
with lighter versions of these early autumn shades
these details give me points of departure for new paintings
in the meantime I visited the original church of Edgefield, near Holt, in the 1880’s most of it was taken down and incorporated into a new church in the centre of the village. they left the Saxon octagonal tower
and some of the doorways and windows
the churchyard is full of hawthorns, bloody with haws – our visit on 1st october, the anniversary of Mary Tudor’s coronation – and some late tombstones
in heavy rain I took this photo of the biggest remaining window arch
which inspired me to add the shape to my painting