RIVER NENE, March, Cambridgeshire. UK

Summer 2007 Journal

Met up with the girls in Town today for lunch at Panini's. After lunch we took a stroll along the River Nene before stopping to sit in the long, bank grass to chat and sketch for a while.
I sketched Joan sketching, full of concentration with the warm wind blowing through her hair.

RIVER NENE, Benwick, Cambridgeshire. UK

Summer Journal 2007

Took Harry, my youngest, to Benwick river this afternoon to feed the ducks. The sun shone brightly and quite unexpectedly and together we took full advantage of this rare pleasure.

RIVER NENE, Benwick, Cambridgeshire. UK

If you drive through Doddington towards Benwick and turn right at the junction marked Whittlesey you will find yourself passing over a small bridge, a quick left at the bottom of that bridge is my local, little piece of paradise.

The left turn takes you right alongside the River Nene between two bridges with a backdrop of beautiful gardens and houses. The old graveyard on your right is full of long forgotten graves, leaning among a dense bed of nettles, the pathway leading you through to the more recent graves where a wonderful woman I had the pleasure of knowing named Christine Thacker now rests. The pathway goes on taking you past many gardens while the other side of the river homes agricultural fields and a few scattered barns.

Butterflies, dragonflies, birds, ducks, fish, insects are all in abundance here and the turquoise flash of a kingfisher can often be seen soaring along the bank. It is peaceful, calming and excellent therapy!

I often take my younger Son Harry here to feed the ducks, they are most attentive and very comfortable with human presence. We also walk the dogs here at times through the summer. In distance, it isn't a very long walk but you can spend hours here lost in the natural display that greets you.

The weather today was glorious, so I took the Floods Ferry road home from town this morning and detoured into Benwick with my moleskin and camping chair. I set up my chair approximately halfway down the bank where an old willow hangs, it wasn't long before I felt like Snow White; ducks at my feet, birds singing and butterflies circling around me, I began to sketch the sunlit scene before me. I felt a million miles away from it all and it seemed I had been lost in my spot for ages, so you can imagine my surprise when I returned to the truck and realised I had only been away from it for 35 minutes!

Visiting the river at Benwick always makes me feel refreshed and grounded, like a secretary it seems to file all the mixed up paperwork in my head and like a tonic it lifts me.

Magic water?...Some would say that it was indeed magical, made so as a gift from God in remembrance of Mary Ireton (otherwise known as Gresalda) to allow the community the power of foresight.

I certainly feel more able to tackle what the world throws at me after a visit to this beautiful spot along the Nene!

RIVER NENE, March, Cambridgeshire. UK

On the 14th, I met up with my friend Joan in March. We have been meeting on a Wednesday for some time now, alternating studios and homes to catch up and generally chatter the day away. When I told Joan I would be sketching regularly on location throughout the summer, she was keen to join me and we intend to spend our Wednesdays on location together until the weather drives us back into our studios.

We met at Panini's, a cafe situated in the Town Hall building, we both have work on exhibition in the cafe as part of the Fenland Visual Arts Collective. We indulged in a long latte before heading towards the Bridge on the High Street and beginning our leisurely stroll along the side of the river Nene. The weather was glorious, we've been so lucky with the sunshine here this week.

It wasn't long before a subject caught my eye, a fisherman sat on the bank with all of his equipment around him - Perfect! I sketched him in my large moleskin sketchbook using staedtler pigment liner. I had just finished when he received a phone call on his mobile phone and began to pack his things away. "The Boss has called me home" he smiled, referring to his good lady wife.

We moved along the bank and promptly found "Little Belle" a pretty little boat sitting beside a well loved garden along West End. It's a strange feeling sketching a boat, at times I forget if I am moving or the boat is and have to flick my eyes onto solid ground to remind myself it's not me!

I sketched "Little Belle" in my large moleskin sketchbook using Staedtler pigment liner and coloured it back at home using Derwent watercolour pencils and a wash of water.

A beautiful March day along the riverbank.

FOX'S MARINA, March, Cambridgeshire. UK

On Tuesday I got a call from my photographer friend Rob Morris saying he had taken the day off work and was out and about in the glorious sunshine taking photographs. Sadly Tuesday turned out to be pretty busy for me and I could only manage to join him for an hour in the afternoon with my large moleskin sketchbook.

















We spent our hour at Fox's Marina in March


The longboat I sketched didn't have a name, at least there wasn't one visible, which is a shame. 'Rainbow' was parked to the left of the boat I sketched and is the boat I sketched last year when I visited the marina, it hadn't changed at all.

















Like swift water, an active mind never stagnates - Author Unknown