Bus to Lee during middle of
Thursday to sketch, there and at Hill Head. A bright, calm day with little
wind. Solent calm. Best of the light earlier on when still cloud about and sun
not quite so high. Very clear across the Solent and westwards along it.
Certainly the easiest day for plein air sketching in a while. Worked with some
watercolour, oil pastel and water soluble pencils, on a Reeves watercolour
board (watercolour paper on cardboard) and the small watercolour sketchbook I
took to Arundel and Lancing last weekend. This was the first such day and the
first reliably dry day of the Easter school holiday period. Of course, everyone was out, especially along
the coast. A bit fraught, or at least irritating in the honeypots and pinch
points while out along the coast; particularly car parks, Hill Head
visitor centre cafe and the area by The
Shack tea kiosk at the western end of Lee. It's rather like this / hits me like
this every spring on the first fine day over the weekend. Depending on the
weather timing of this varies: usually middle of March onwards. A bit later
this year and not the weekend, but it
felt as if the family spring bursting out after being stuck indoors with
kids Easter Sunday postponed several
days until now. Funnily enough, Arundel pretty quiet last Sunday, but for the
area by the Castle.
Thursday easier in that it wasn’t
windy. Friday, though was more breezy. A bit too warm in my violet rainproof-windproof
walking to Warsash in the sunshine; but too cold by the Hamble at Warsash in
the wind. After a relatively cloudy period, the strong sunshine feels like a
shock. It strong now, strong enough to be hard on my eyes everywhere along our
local coast / roads / pavements etc. Things are growing, and really growing,
meaning we’re hopefully through peak mud. Still someway to go before the larger
trees are in leaf. When they are not in leaf, the glare from strong sun feels
worse. The sun is as strong now as it is at the end of August.
8th – 9th
April Wet and very murky. Unappealing outdoors.
Week beginning 16th April:
I do this every year, every time
the seasons change: go through a period of adjustment in body and mind; and
yes, a whinge for every season. Every season has perennial hassles / challenges
I don’t miss out of season: short gloomy days of late autumn / winter; maybe
ice; maybe mud; yet it’s much easier to get productive work done in the artroom
then as there are fewer distractions and it’s more comfortable, easier on the
eyes without the glare of sunshine off concrete, PVC etc. Spring – happening now,
with different, mixed feelings. The heat and light OTT of summer; then just as
that’s wearing off, the days drawn in again and all the blooming Christmas
stuff clutters the shops 2+ months out of time.
This winter, as already said felt
like a long one. This has a lot to do with the dull, damp January – early February,
with several weeks of our own private chill when the boiler went down. Then
something happened in the high atmosphere above the Arctic, triggering the late
cold spell of late February / early March and ensuing snow. That was followed
by a lot of cloudy damp weather; particularly over the early Easter. Though spring
relatively late, it’s not as late as it was 2013; though there was less snow then. When it does come
later, everything goes mad when it starts, as if all let off a leash / lid
lifted. A real sense of that happening any minute now, as April went on. When
spring is early like last year, everything seems too far, too early, too fast. Whatever
the weather and timing of it, I always go through an adjustment to the warmer
temperatures, stronger sun and generally different vibe. Invariably the wrong
clothes (usually too thick / too many on a warmer, brighter day, meaning I feel
too warm. On another, overly optimistic only to feel cold in the wind.
And there’s also the blooming
garden weeds growing. No, I’m not a gardener and I feel guilty about not making
full use of what is a larger than average back garden for the neighbourhood. It’s
either that or art.
The good news is that, thanks to
the abundant rainfall in January and the wet, late spring, we have had a good
water recharge season. Groundwater levels and river flows are all good, meaning
we can afford a summer.
