Summer has passed....

Where has the last few months gone?  I'm now in the middle of packing for my return to Spain.
I haven't had time to do any painting as I have been busy renovating our cottage in Sligo.  (Well in as much as I can until tradesmen turn up!)
Now that I am back in Dublin I have time and internet connections to catch up on a few things.  I have been lax with my blogging, but I hope to get back into the groove next month.  In the meantime I will leave you with a Sligo sunset....Lough Arrow.

A little Spanish colour...

I'm looking forward to a full days painting tomorrow.  I've been busy doing other things for the last few days, a bit of sightseeing too, looking at the Almond blossom in the landscape among other things.

There is colour everywhere here now, even in areas where they are dumping stuff to compost.

green leaves, tomatos and oranges.

There was a dead partridge hanging in a little country bar, next to the same bird on a calendar.

One of the old windmills, without it's sails.

orange groves

and Almond groves too

All this and beautiful reds and oranges in the earth too.

What more could a colourist want?

I'm back, but still in Spain.

It is an age since I posted on my Blog.  I have been busy with our new life in Spain.  With so much to do, and so many new things to learn including the language, I'm afraid blogging is a habit that I fell out of, but I shall endeavour to start blogging again.
In the meantime here are some of my plien air knife studies from the last few months in Murcia.
They are all small 10 by 8 inch Oils on Panel.

the view from our front terrace/patio

near Mazarron, (old mineworkings)

Isla Plana and Puerto de Mazarron from our terrace again.

near Mazarron

North from Isla Plana

a pen sketch from the Marina at Puerto de Mazarron

the Marina in oils

looking Northwest from Isla Plana

Almond trees 

one of our sunsets again from our patio area.

a Pine tree at Cabo Tinoso

Bolnuevo

Isla Plana sunset, from the patio again

Bolnuevo from Percheles direction

Mullet in the Marina (Puerto de Mazarron)

Bolnuevo cove

Torre (tower) at L'Azoiah from the road to Cabo Tinoso

Percheles

another patio sunset

Near Leica

near Leica again

El Amillo, Puerto de Mazarron

Broccoli fields near Leica

Isla Plana cove

Rock pool, Bolnuevo

Percheles looking south

Percheles looking North

Until later, I shall leave you to enjoy these.  I will post some larger works soon.

Flying south for the winter.

I've had a very busy, non-art related summer.  But tomorrow we head to Spain for the winter, to a house pictured below. (it's a hard life, but somebody's got to do it )  Over the next few months I will have lots of paintings and other things to show and talk about.  I've missed my blog, but I have had a very boring summer, with lots of jobs to be done and a new way of life to get organised.

Flitting around with the swallows.

I can't believe it's six months since I posted on this blog.  I have been busy with life.....
We spent January in Murcia, Spain.  While there we explored the area and decided to stay around Isla Plana this winter.  To this end we have rented a house on the beach from October on, and now we are looking forward to spending next winter in sunnier climes.

This has other opportunities, we are learning Spanish...slowly in my case... and I am looking forward to starting work when we get back to Murcia.  The landscape is full of rich warm colours, just the kind of landscape I love to paint.  A selection of pictures below will illustrate my point.

Our house backs on to the beach, so fishing will be on the menu too, as will the fish.  

The house has a beautifully lit basement with a large high level window to use as a studio when I'm not painting on site so I will have no excuses not to work.  In the meantime here in Ireland I am still not working at my painting, although I am very busy with my angling guiding this year in between trying to get home improvements progressed for when we return next spring.  

Photo's from Normandy..

Following on from my last post from Normandy, here are some of my photographs from the area these first ones are of the fortifications, beaches, monuments and the American cemetery.

Utah Beach monument

a gun emplacement

tank,

another monument to the fallen

another of the many tanks to be found on display

The beaches as they are now, quiet...

......but still watched over by silent gun emplacements...

the first house liberated on D-Day, by the Canadians..

A memorial at Utah beach

a view of a portion of the American cemetery, over 9,000 war graves.

Omaha beach from the American Cemetery

Cherbourg, from inside a bunker/gun emplacement

the emplacement from outside

a look-out post above a fortified gun emplacement

and the emplacement with the zig-zag trench from the bunk-house.

Normandy is not just about the war though, we did visit Bayeux and the Tapestry.

The town itself is very picturesque, but the weather was rather wet and cold.