the magic of Autumn

October morning, Rothamsted Park
© Teresa Newham

The clocks have gone back and the nights are drawing in.  For the last few weeks I've been making the most of any sunshine: taking a walk when I can, hanging washing on the line for a few hours, coaxing the last of the tomatoes to ripen on a sunny windowsill.

turning leaves at the side of the road
© Teresa Newham

September may have been cooler than usual, but October started deceptively mild; then suddenly we had a cold, damp, misty day, all the trees and hedgerows dripping with moisture; and all at once I was aware that Autumn was definitely upon us.

elderberries in the lane
© Teresa Newham

Everywhere you look trees and plants are preparing for Winter; leaves are turning, berries are ripening. There's still plenty of colour. but it's gradually fading; squirrels are much in evidence as they gather food ahead of going into hibernation.

red berries in the hedgerows
© Teresa Newham

I spotted plenty of red berries on my walks: an abundance of holly, hawthorn and one other which I couldn't identify but which struck me as being potentially poisonous - White Bryony, perhaps?

ivy on the trees
© Teresa Newham

Ivy, too, is starting to develop its berries, which are an important food source for birds in Winter, while toadstools are showing through the undergrowth.  I had no idea whether they were edible or not, so I left well alone. Where's a forager when you need one?

toadstools near the golf course
© Teresa Newham

A walk in the park

January frosts
© Teresa Newham

#HertsOpenStudios is less than four weeks away, and I should be in a frenzy of mounting and framing the various pieces I've made over the last twelve months, ready to exhibit.  Instead, I've been trawling through old photos and collating them for a piece I've called All the year round in Rothamsted Park.

Spring bulbs
© Teresa Newham

The idea began in September 2013, when I found myself wandering through the sun-dappled park at nine in the morning - a time when I would have normally been on the train to work.  Revelling in my newly-retired freedom, I began taking photos in the park whenever I had a spare few minutes.

trees in full Summer
© Teresa Newham

I soon discovered that the park has a regular rhythm of its own - as well as the changing seasons, the view is determined by the time of day - you can be elbow to elbow with joggers and dog walkers one minute, and disconcertingly all on your own the next - at least, it seems that way until the next person appears round the bend or at the top of the hill!

fallen leaves in Autumn
© Teresa Newham

Over the last few years, Rothamsted Park has been the source of several photos for the calendars I make as Christmas presents, various sketches, and one watercolour, which comes close to saying what I felt about the park that September morning without in any way excluding the possibility of making more paintings, perhaps of the park at a different time of year.

mysterious mist
© Teresa Newham

I've enjoyed putting together this montage of the park in all its glory all the year round, and I hope that visitors to my studio will enjoy it, too.  In the meantime, I have work to do.  I've just given myself something extra to frame, after all!

All the year round in Rothamsted Park
© Teresa Newham

#HertsOpenStudios runs from Saturday 9th September - Sunday 1st October 2017.  Full details of participating artists and studio opening times can be found here.

calendar memories

bluebells, Thames Wood ~ April 2016
© Teresa Newham

Making a calendar to give for Christmas helps me review my year in photos, some of which have been posted on Facebook or exhibited, but have not made it onto the blog. So the New Year seems a good time to share those here, starting with some April bluebells to remind us that Spring is just round the corner!

Along the Bog Road  ~ May 2016
© Teresa Newham

Along the Bog Road was taken on a visit to County Kerry during the May Day Bank Holiday and shows an approaching storm over Caherciveen.  The weather there can be particularly interesting at that time of year - or any time of year come to think of it . . .

Classics on the Common  ~ July 2016
© Teresa Newham

For July I chose a shot from Harpenden's annual Classics on the Common.  It's a huge event with hundreds of cars on display, but this Morgan really stood out thanks to its gorgeous colour - by far my favourite of the day.

Autumn, Rothamsted Park ~ November 2016
© Teresa Newham

The local park provides a lot of photo opportunities - this autumnal scene was a breathtaking sight, as the path had disappeared under a carpet of leaves.  I hope the picture will be a reminder of the glorious Autumn of 2016. . . .

motorbikes, Barcelona  ~ December 2016
© Teresa Newham

Motorbikes is one of several pictures I included from Barcelona - such a photogenic place, and I love the juxtaposition of old and new.  I had great fun putting the calendar together and I'm looking forward to making next year's already!

Here comes the sun . . . .

Art on the Common 2015
~ sketch by Teresa Newham

Regular readers of this blog will recall the fun we've had over the years at  Art on the Common - dodging gales, rain, hail, thunder and bitter cold - but this year came good with glorious sunshine throughout.  True, there was a chilly breeze on the Saturday - one or two bits and pieces went flying, and I found myself wearing a fleece as well as a sun hat - but that's par for the course with an open-air event.

our stall with straw bales on the Common behind us ahead of the Carnival celebrations
© Teresa Newham

This year we set up just outside the entrance to Rothamsted Park - much nearer town than usual - as our regular spot was taken up by Saturday's celebrations for the 50th Anniversary of Harpenden Carnival.  The new location was a lot easier if we wanted to fetch a coffee from the local café, and meant that diners in the nearby restaurants and visitors to the park could see that there was an exhibition on.  We also had an excellent view of the Carnival procession:

colourful floats and costumes in the Carnival procession
© Teresa Newham

The shadows crept across the grass as the afternoon wore on, and the stalls were bathed in dappled light.  There was wonderful pottery and ornaments on show as well as paintings and photography - around twenty to thirty local artists displaying their work.

evening shadows stealing across the grass
© Teresa Newham

If anything, Sunday was even brighter, and the good weather continued to draw the crowds - we had even more would-be customers than on the previous day - and luckily we'd put out a table and chairs, as many of our friends paused for a sit-down and a chat.

Sunday morning ~ the sun is still out!
© Teresa Newham

Despite the constant stream of visitors I did find time to make a few quick sketches, even if I did have to finish one or two from memory as people moved on - as I started to draw a group of teenagers sitting on the grass their mum arrived to take them home and I had to turn one of them into a backpack . . . . !

quick on-the-spot sketches
© Teresa Newham

All in all it was an excellent weekend, and I had great fun sharing a pitch with Hillary Taylor again.  Here's to next year!

out & about

Artists, we're told, should always carry a sketchbook and pen. So when I had to leave my car at the garage for a few hours the other day, I decided to while away the time by making practice sketches in the park.  I gathered my Zig pens, Hahnemuehle sketchbook (last used in September!) and - very important this - fingerless gloves - and drove to the town centre.  At 8.30am it was bitterly cold, but to my surprise there were plenty of dog walkers about; unfortunately they were walking so briskly to keep warm that I had trouble getting anything on to paper, and didn't manage to draw any of their dogs!

sketches of dog walkers (minus the dogs!)
© Teresa Newham

I hoped it would be warmer when I came out of Mass at quarter to ten.  It was; and drizzling. When I originally had the idea to sketch while the car was being mended, I'd imagined a cold, frosty morning with sunlight filtering through the trees, and folk enjoying a morning walk in the crisp, clear air.  Instead, there was nobody about at all:

Rothamsted Park (minus the dog walkers!)
© Teresa Newham

Gloomy, damp and deserted.  There was always the trees, of course  - but I'd sketched them many times, and besides, drizzle is not the best environment to be putting anything onto paper.  Eventually I wandered into the rose garden, which I thought might be more sheltered.  It has an interesting layout which is quite striking when the flowers are not in bloom:

the rose garden, Rothamsted Park (minus the roses . . . )
© Teresa Newham

It was sheltered enough for me to attempt a quick sketch which was fun to do but frankly a bit of a dog's dinner to look at (in lieu of any actual dogs, who appeared to have deserted the park in disgust at the weather).  I really must remember that I don't have to include everything in a sketch, or use all the colours I can see!!

sketch of the rose garden
© Teresa Newham

Thoroughly chilled by now, I retreated to a local coffee shop to warm up, and managed to secure a discreet table by the wall.  To my relief, nobody batted an eyelid when I took out my sketchbook and pens; they were far too busy chatting to notice I was drawing anything!

warming up in the coffee shop!
© Teresa Newham

A couple of days later, I took a walk to the local shops.  This time I took the sketchbook and pens with me, but left the fingerless gloves behind; which was a mistake, as in the ten minutes it took me to walk there, the sun which had tempted me out in the first place had vanished:

shopping parade, Southdown
© Teresa Newham

Despite the cold, I managed a quirky little drawing and this time remembered not to include all the colours I saw in front of me.  I was attracted by the red blinds, and looking at the sketch now I wonder if I should have left it at that and not used any brown.  Still, I can always go back to make another one!

sketch of the shopping parade
© Teresa Newham

painting the park

My favourite painting amongst those I've produced this year has to be Rothamsted Park.  Like much of my work, it started with a feeling and a photo, and took almost a year to bring about.  The photo was taken at ten to nine on a lovely early September morning in 2013.  In my previous life I would have been halfway to London on the train; yet here I was with sunlight streaming through the leaves and not a soul about.  I've taken many photos of the park since, but I'm most fond of this one, largely because of the way I felt when I took it.

initial photo of Rothamsted Park
© Teresa Newham

It was July this year before I got round to making anything from the photo; I started as usual with a couple of wet watercolour washes and let them dry more or less as they wanted, runbacks and all:

first washes
© Teresa Newham

I didn't want to stick too closely to the photo, so I added in some fairly random splodges of green and red to suggest where the grass and the path might be.

adding colour
© Teresa Newham

Now for the trees - to get the effect of sunlight I blocked these in using yellow and red first, and hinted at the first of the fallen leaves beneath them.

blocking in the trees
© Teresa Newham

The next step was to firm up the trunks of the trees and give them some leaves, without losing the effect of the sunlight.

trunks and leaves
© Teresa Newham

Finally I added the shadows at the base of the trees, which gave the painting the atmosphere I wanted!

Rothamsted Park - the finished watercolour
© Teresa Newham

This painting makes me smile every time I look at it; I've shown it at Herts Open Studios and the Harpenden Art Club's annual exhibition.  I hope it's had the same effect on everyone!