A Walk on the shore

It has been a week of high tides.  I have watched each day as the water gushed in and covered the estuary.  I really wanted to go and see if it had brought something for me to draw,  and  there was also another reason why I wanted to go for a walk.  So on Friday we decided to venture down to the shore.  I say venture because the sky was really black over the hills, a sure sign of something coming our way.  We decided we would risk it.  As we crossed over the railway line and climbed the steps of our smart newly  painted footbridge the  large heavy drops of rain peppered the ground.  Then as we opened the gate we could feel the chilly wind,  already had our hoods up and jackets zipped tight.  Then suddenly it started to drop large hailstones which  really sting as they hit your face and hurt as they increased in size and number.  We turned our back to them and could feel them battering our head and shoulders and stinging the backs of our legs. It lasted about half an hour and then in an instant  the black clouds formed  an opening and bright blue sky appeared.

 It was like it never happened and we walked in sunshine.  The shore is like this, the views are always changing with the weather, and the colours change accordingly.   I found oak leaves,  I had to collect them.  At this time of year they are wonderful shapes and colours, some really dark, others rusty coloured,  some  full of holes whilst others are breaking and collapsing as they deteriorate with age.   I saw feathers and small crabs and shrimps and seaweed.  All reminders of my weekly finds from last year.
I was also delighted to see my old friend had returned one day,  the beautiful swan, my reason for a walk.

It was lovely to take a walk on the shore, lots of memories here.  The high tides had given the stones a good shake up and my husband found the piece of china.  He handed it to me upside down and this side was just covered in crackles,  so when I turned it over I would  see  a lovely maroon coloured patten of leaves, it made me smile, a great find.  I  always feel so much better after a long wander on the seashore but today was very cold so an hour was long enough and the black clouds were building up again over the Lakeland hills.  Someone had really cold hands from playing in the water!

  I washed my finds and chose this oak leaf and  I added the new piece of china.  It is painted with my acrylic inks with a number 3 sable brush.  I used sepia, brown umber, yellow ochre and a little black.  The china was in my new ink but as it is not waterproof  I carefully went over it with acrylic paint and also used white paint  over the china.  I love painting oak...perhaps you have noticed.   It is done on a sheet of textured watercolour paper.   Hope you like it.

Thank you for your comments and the emails I have received.  Welcome to the new followers too.
Bye until next weekend.   Millyx