autumn at Partrishow

What with painting and publishing and stuff, I needed a break. And where better than the Black Mountains, when it's pouring down and the lanes turn into rivers? Where indeed? So off I went to Crickhowell, and then, with Marta on board, onwards and upwards into the seriously hilly bits. The Trav faltered a little at the last steep hill up to Partrishow, but a second good run at it got us to the church at twilight.

The fine rain, the chill in the air, the mist, the wind and the tang of sheep conspired to remind me powerfully of Hafod Fach, where I once lived, and I was grateful that, these days, I've got a more comfortable means of transport at my disposal than a pair of old army boots.

It was flymageddon in the eglwys-y-bedd, where all the local flies appear to have congregated in hopes of living out the winter. Heaps of them lay dead below the window.

Marta was very impressed by the church, as who would not be? -and as the twilight deepened and we emerged onto the mountainside, a pair of ravens bounced up the wind across the valley.

Maybe they were the same ravens that we saw back in March, who inspired Deborah to poetry  

ravens over Partrishow

ravens over Partrishow, originally uploaded by Dru Marland.

When we went to Partrishow in January, it was a beautifully still day, and a pair of ravens made use of as much sky as they could, which was quite a lot. Deborah's written a poem about them, and I thought it would make a good picture.

I used olive green for the fields, as they have that just-before-spring colour to them.

And burnt sienna for the bracken slopes in the half-distance.

And I drew branches in white wax crayon before putting down a sepia wash for the trees, which worked quite well; not done that before.

Had a major goof on the sky; I was putting down masking fluid, then realised I was masking the sky and not the ravens; and while I was removing the mask before putting it where it should be (on the ravens!), it ripped the surface of the paper. And there was a horrid dark patch on the the sky (cerulean blue). So I put a band of cloud across behind the raven (dampening the area, then lifting off the blue by dabbing with a sponge).

Partrishow

...a remote church in the Black Mountains, with the shrine of St Issui, and, in the valley below, a holy well. A good place, and I like going there. There's all sorts of things going on in the picture, but I'll leave them for you to find and put your own story on. (Click on the picture to see it large)

A picture for the year's turning. I've been thinking of how to do this picture for ages, and then just got stuck in and hoped for the best. There are bits of it I'm really happy with, and I'm also happy that I've started the new year with a new picture. Even though it meant I was very antisocial on New Year's Eve.

I've got some prints done, and they are available in my Etsy shop. There are two sizes, small (roughly A4) and large (roughly A3). 

There's a Fibonacci spiral in there somewhere, by the way!