Wensleydale Sheep

Wensleydale Grazer

5 x 7 - oil on panel

SOLD

One of the things I do besides paint is spin wool. England has an amazing amount of sheep of all sorts. I met the owners of this on at the county fair and visited the farm to take reference photos. I ended up buying 2 fleeces - one blue/grey and one white. The cool thing about these guys is the quality of the wool is remarkable. Very luminous. Very long. This is the only time I have bought the fiber here, generally people just give it to me. This was worth it.

I did this painting also in the limited pallet of white, ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. I am very pleased with this one. I do love losing edges as the dark values of one object become indistinguishable from the dark value of another object next to it.

The Side Entrance

Tripped on this as my painting buddy and I were looking at a water feature nearby that was much darker that I wanted to do on this really grey day. The photo doesn't really come close to showing the greyness of the day.  

 

I wanted to play with a limited pallet of white, burnt sienna and ultramarine blue. Interesting what happens to the mind when you don't have a fuller range of colors and you have to reinterpret colors to what you have on hand.

I didn't think that the scruffy little tree would be the center of interest. I was going to make it smaller and have the entrance as the centre of interest. But, as I began to downplay the tree, it's presence started to speak to me of more than just this view. England has many paths and entrances and walkways that have a bit of overgrown foliage in the way. I have come to like that. Not all is neat and in order here, but it remains beautiful for sure. Thus the attention I gave it.

The Side Entrance

12 x 9

Finished product got more of the grey day in it. There are lots of them here. The owner invited me to come back to paint there again. I love the perk of meeting new people when you paint out.

I will do some more paintings with this limited pallet to explore it even more.