Tuesday 27 September 2011

Week 38

Week 38 and My page is this beautiful feather with a white circle.  It has been sitting in my kitchen window and I keep looking at it as I am washing up or making a meal.  Each time I walk past it I keep thinking I will draw it,  I just need to find the time.  The dark nights are here, the days seem so much shorter and my days seem full,  and now my eyes don't like the evening light.  The evening was a relaxing time for me to sit and draw but until I get a daylight bulb it is no good,  I just can't see the detail or the colours properly. So after all the other jobs I finally sat down today and raced against time and the light to draw my page. It was photographed as the sun was going down,  the camera flashed but the feather is there to see.  I used my new grey coloured ink, cool grey, and black Indian ink, white, burnt umber and yellow ochre drawing inks.   I have recently stocked up on the FW acrylic inks and have some new colours that I have not used before.
Grey was the colour of the sky on Saturday,  it seemed to brighten up late afternoon after the tide has gone down.  At about 6pm we ventured down onto the shore for our walk.  My husband noticed the erosion of the banking and how wet the ground was,  it has been a few weeks since he walked with me.   I think maybe he thinks I exaggerate  when I tell him about how wet it was on my walks.  Another hairy caterpillar crawled in front of me, would it survive to become a moth  I wondered.  There are so many feathers,  I sat on the boulders and examined a find.  The view out to sea was lovely, so still and calm and quiet.  The grey clouds hang over the hills and the sun is dropping,  it won't be long until the light fades.   With my hand full  of feathers we slowly wander along the crumbling banks and  know it is getting darker as the station lights are switched on.    As we make our way to the area where my swan usually lives,  it so silent and  still.  The railway bridge has been unwrapped of all the plastic and the wooden boards and scaffolding are gone,  the fresh green paint makes it look brand new again.  As we make our way back to the station the reflection of the station lights make a line of yellow shapes in the water.   The sky has darkened and the daylight has almost gone. It is just after 7pm as I climb the steps of the foot bridge over the railway line,  the sky is darkening.  As  I glance across the shore I can see the lights from the houses on the other side of the estuary.   No one will been seen here until the early morning walkers and their dogs.
I place my feathers in the kitchen window,  grey and white from the gulls,  and they whisper to me, try out your new grey ink....so I did.







Hope you like the feather for week 38.  Thank you for the lovely comments which I always enjoy reading.            Millyx

9 comments:

Mary said...

Your painting is even more exquisite than the actual feather - beautiful.

I'm really enjoying clicking and enlarging the landscape photos - the estuary is spectacular in the failing light. Like the one of you on the rocks, and then walking across the freshly painted bridge. It all looks so peaceful Eileen - and so different from here in the clammy, humid heat of Sept. My English blood needs coolness..............I want to come home!

Hugs - Mary

martinealison said...

Je suis vraiment fascinée par la fraîcheur, la délicatesse et l'exactitude de ton travail... SUBLIME...
Merci de partager avec nous ces magnifiques photos... J'ai eu beaucoup de plaisir à te lire, bien que mon traducteur ne soit pas toujours très fiable!
Gros bisous

Lynn said...

Beautiful feather. Your depiction of it is gorgeous.

Such a beautiful open space to walk in, and beach comb in, and to think in is something I'm craving these days. It's so nice to get a vicarious taste of it here!

I sympathize with the eyes - I've been finding that of late it's harder and harder to do things in dim light...I find myself squinting and getting frustrated and wondering what on earth is going on, and then I realize...ah, yes. Time.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful feathers and photos, makes me miss the seaside!

Melody said...

I love the look of warm golden windows glowing out of houses this time of year, when dark comes earlier....
Lovely feather you have created, they always looks so real! :)))
I think i may have to find a "daylight" bulb... it is a hard time of year to draw and "see" properly!
Happy Day to You! :)

Frances said...

Milly, I do love the look of this week's feather painting, but also want to tell you how much I enjoyed seeing the photographs (yours or your husband's) of the landscape. The way in which that luminous sky was reflected in the lake was sublime.

I know that this week's walks by the shore will also show you much beauty as the season changes and with that change the light's effects will alter.

xo

Renee Howell said...

Oh my gosh - that feather is fantastic! Fantastic! thanks for sharing it!

Susan Scheid said...

In the right hands (yours!), gray can be glorious. The photographs are lovely too. (Over my way, I've been thinking of your feathers--if you look at the photograph top of the post, I think you'll see why!)

suz said...

Love the feathers - so soft looking. Thank you again for sharing your walk with us and the lovely photos.