This is my latest painting from our recent trip to Bournemouth. We drove to Studland and walked up to Harry's Rocks the weather was bright and sunny but rather windy and not conducive to drawing, nevertheless  quick sketches were made and some photographs taken. This is the first completed painting with another nearly done from this trip along the cliffs and there should be at least another one as well.

We went down to Bournemouth for the weekend and were lucky with the weather as it was a lovely sunny day on Sunday. We decided to go to Studland and walk along the cliffs to Old Harry's Rocks where I did a couple of quick sketches which I finished at home. Although it was nice and sunny it was quite cold in the wind so the drawings were completed rather quickly. I have a mind to work them up into a pair of paintings when I get home. The portrait of Alexander Dryburgh is proving to be rather elusive so I am going to leave it for a while to consider how it is going. I might start a new painting from scratch.

This is a sketch from an old photograph of Alexander Dryburgh. He was born in 1887 and died in 1916 during the infamous battle of Fromelles in the first World War. This battle was to be fought as a diversion to the battle of the Somme which was taking place elsewhere. During the battle over 5000 soldiers were killed, mostly Australians, and up until recently the resting place of several hundred of the dead was not known. Two years ago 8 burial pits containing 300 bodies that had been buried by the germans had been found and a lengthy process of identification began. At the end of this process a 100 of these bodies were identified, unfortunately they were not able to identify my uncle. We were able to attend the ceremony at the new cementery at Fromelles. This sketch and the old photograph will help me to paint a portrait of another of my ancestors.

Lucian Freud self-portrait

This is a self-portrait painted by Lucian Freud and it is on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London which I visited today. It is part of a display of 70 plus paintings spanning most of his life. I found the portraits the most interesting paintings and this one was a particular favourite as was the portrait of David Hockney and the man in the blue scarf. I was a less impressed by some of the later paintings which I found rather overpainted by lots of lumpy paint. All in all it was an interesting exhibition and well worth the visit. To finish off the visit to London we visited the National Gallery for a quick look at the "Impressionists"

This is a Rock Pipit which I painted after our trip to Durdle Door.There were several of these birds along the beach and my painting shows one of them on the cliff edge. As the cliff was chalk I thought that it would make an interesting picture on the greyish white background with the succulent growing in the cracks. At home the Tawny Owls are becoming a regular visitor at 06.00 every morning when they returns to roost in the large hedge of our neighbour's garden. For a week now both birds have returned to this roost and we often here them calling through the day. I doubt that they are going to nest here as there are no large trees available with suitable holes in them.

Long Tailed Tits, favourite birds of mine, just merging with the dying leaves. The birds are getting busy in the garden now with the breeding season approaching, the blackbirds are very active. The Tawny Owls are very vocal at daybreak and from time to time one is to be seen in the tree at the back of our garden. On one occasion I looked out to see them both sitting together in the tree. Unfortunately the light is never bright enough to see them properly just enough for a grey shape against the sky, even with the binoculars. The highlight last week was a male sparrowhawk who flashed into the garden scattering all the birds from the feeders. He stayed for a couple of minutes or so, just enough time for us to get a good view with the "bins". A lifetime tick for me, We have had the larger female sparrowhawks in the garden but never a male. 

More work from our recent trip to Bournemouth. I had been thinking of a painting of Durdle Door , so we took the opportunity to drive to Lulworth Cove and later to Durdle Door. It's quite a hike to the cliff top from the car park and a tricky set of steps to get down to the beach. Well worth the effort although this painting is the view from the cliff top and not from the beach. Close up the chalk cliffs are grey and marbled with green succulents growing in the cracks. While on the beach and the rocks there was the occasional glimpse of a rock pipit. There must be a painting there!