Just me and the birds
In the shadow of The Reek
The small chapel on the summit of Croagh Patrick (known locally at The Reek) was shrouded in mist this morning.
By the time I’d managed a truly bracing dip in the Atlantic, it was just visible from the lovely Betra Beach. 
Chattri
The Chattri sits in an unlikely location on the rolling hills above Brighton and Hove.
It’s a peaceful spot to sketch, but I had to navigate several fields of frisky cows and bulls to get to it!
South Downs Lambs
Inktober 2017: day thirty
Paragliders over Firle, South Downs, from the Ouse river near Lewes.
Inktober 2017: day three
The University of Brighton Cockcroft and Watts buildings
I carry my sketching kit with me everywhere, so I usually keep things minimal. For Inktober I’ve gone deluxe and invested in a sack of Faber-Castell Pitt pens, they are a dream to use on a Moleskine sketchbook, super smooth!
Today I lugged my kit up the hill behind Moulsecoomb station, where there is a great view over Brighton and Hove. I managed to just squeeze in the i360 viewing tower on the far right.
A sample of the Inktober kit
My usual kit
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Memories, Massacres and Muggles
Vintage 2006
I last visited Coire Gabhail (The Lost Valley) on a tranquil day in May 2006. Following directions my brother had scribbled on a scrap of paper, we arrived at a deserted car park as the mist silently lifted from the Glen.
Looking towards A’Chailleach
Up to that point, drawing was just something I did to pass time when I visited my parents at Christmas. I had a small, slightly weird collection of pencil ‘still lives’ – odd shoes, misshapen candles, a Swedish Christmas gnome etc. Sometimes I’d bring a sketch pad and pencil on holiday, but it generally stayed unused in my bag. However, this time, it was so quiet that I plucked up courage, pulled out my pad and captured the view.
Eleven years later, I’ve overcome my shyness of sketching in public and discovered the joy of pen, watercolour and properly bound sketchbooks. So, armed with Google maps, I was desperate to recreate this special moment.
Sadly, the first attempt had to be aborted, as all the car parks were full of tour buses, tripods and people flying drones. The Lost Valley, it appeared, was no longer quite so lost. Not a wasted journey though, we parked further up the pass and walked the path to Buachaille Etive Beag. Time for a quick sketch looking towards A’Chailleach, shrouded in shadow, whilst we basked in the sunshine.
Castle Campbell, previously know as Castle Gloom
Oban
That evening, seduced by fish and chips in Oban, I persuaded my ever patient partner that it would be worth making a second attempt the next day. With an early start from Dollar, a belly full of coffee and gorgeous weather, the mission was accomplished before lunch, I even managed a bracing dip in the icy stream below the valley.
The Lost Valley
Glenfinnan Viaduct
I found out later, that there is a grim irony in setting out from the shadows of Castle Campbell in Dollar to The Lost Valley. In February 1692, this idyllic place provided one of the escape routes for the MacDonald clan during the brutal massacre of Glencoe by the Campbell soldiers, under the orders of William of Orange.
Finally (and slightly inappropriately after that serious note) in a blatant attempt to get more hits on my blog, the evening ended at the Glennfinnan viaduct, made famous in the Harry Potter films and now featured on the Scottish £10 note.
The Wallace Monument
To make up for that, I also sketched the Wallace monument.
The colour of fear
Porthminster beach, St Ives
St Ives Harbour – pen and ink
Be warned that there is a dark underworld of gull-gangs hanging out in St Ives.
They swig bootleg cider and place bets on whether tourist scalp has more protein than Cornish pasty. Then feed endlessly off both between 12 and 2pm every day.
My advice is NEVER sketch near someone eating a Cornish pasty in St Ives. Not unless you have a bucket and several heavy duty wet-wipes to clear up the mess. I know from experience.
So ferocious they mess with your brain
The intense lightning storms over the UK this week started here in the South West.
I would have loved to sketch them, but it’s hard to mix up a good ivory black when you are cowering behind the sofa!
St Ives Harbour
After all that drama, you might think those vivid colours were a result of adrenaline rush, but the light here is truly something else. Even a grim misty morning blazes with an eerie quality.
“The Island” from Barnoon cemetery
It’s not surprising that this landscape inspired an art movement.
I took a trip to Barnoon cemetery to find fisherman and self taught painter Alfred Wallis.
His grave is beautifully tiled by Bernard Leach. I was moved by this tribute to a man whose honest paintings, with their wacky perspective, inspired the early St Ives artists.
Pencil in the mizzle
The morning after the storms
Sketching, Swiss style
A gentle start in Chur…
The Glacier Express in Switzerland is one of the slowest express trains in the world, but still makes for high speed sketching.
On to Gornergrat.
The final train journey home, via Geneva. Even the Brighton train was on time!
cmoorelife 