Painting outdoors

My painting

Thanks to Herefordshire Painting Club's invite to a painting day at Queenswood Country Park, I plucked up the courage to paint in the open air for the first time. Why did I need courage? Firstly because I have been reluctant to do any sketching or painting where the public can see what I'm doing. A poor reason really as I've taken part in painting workshops and what I've attempted has been open for other participants to see and comment on. The second reason stems from an incident in 1970 when I had pencil and paper and was trying to sketch some birch trees on the Gareloch. I was held at gun-point by the Naval Provost Marshall's merry men while they established that I wasn't sketching the Clyde Submarine Base and that I was cleared to enter some parts of the base that might be barred to them.

What it really looked like

Several LAS members also belong to HPC and I plan to join when the summer programme starts up again in April. They have a weekly programme of visits to country houses, gardens and estates. I shall bring some leaflets with more details to the LAS demonstration on Tuesday 4 October. If you can't wait then take a look at their website http://www.herefordshire-painting-club.com/