June and July at Markshall
Just catching up here with news of my Twelve Months on an Essex Country Estate painting project!
My June visit was rather brief, as I went in the afternoon, and the gardens and arboretum close at 4.00pm. However, I had already decided that this month I wanted to paint a view which included the lake, so I walked straight there. The lake was looking very green in the sunshine, and surrounded by lots of very green vegetation. I chose a view where one of the brick weirs crosses the lake as the warmer tones of the brickwork contrast well with all the greens. I found a bench to sit on by the lake to make my sketch.
And here is the finished painting.
June, Weir
When I’d finished sketching I walked round the walled garden to find my Pickings and Flowerings subjects of the month. The pickings turned out to be the large leaves from a Magnolia Grandiflora, already dropped and brown due to the drought we have had for weeks.
And for the Flowerings I chose the Dyer’s Camomile – a plant I have not seen before. They had some plants for sale in the reception area, so now I have Dyer’s Camomile flowering in my own garden!
And here is the little painting I did of it . . .
When I made my July visit the gardens and arboretum seemed very busy with families enjoying the sun, so I set out on one of the woodland walks to the south of the gardens, and branched off along a track – and found a field of Chicory. The pale violet blue flowers made a beautiful contrast to the pale yellow of the wheat field beyond, and the greens of the hedgerow trees.
This is the painting I made of the field.
My Flowerings picture for July will be the Chicory, although I haven’t yet finished that, and my Pickings were various grasses and an ear of wheat that I picked as I walked round the field.
This little drawing is in Pitt Pastel Pencils and is 23cm square, whereas the main painting July, Chicory is 40cm square in acrylic on canvas board.
Heybridge Dinghies
If you’ve been following me for a few years you may remember that I used to paint a lot of dinghies, and sailing dinghies in acrylic. A few weeks ago I thought I’d experiment with painting a dinghy in soft pastel, just to see how it would turn out.
I went down to Heybridge Basin at low tide and walked along the sea wall. There were quite a few dinghies that I recognised from having painted them years ago! The one I chose was a new one though. nicely beached on the mud with a yellow buoy reflecting in the water of the mud wallow left by the movement of the boat as the tide had receded.
Here is the painting – which you can view on my Gallery 2025 page, too – which I have called Low Tide.
It was very different from painting a dinghy in acrylics, but I was quite pleased with the result. What do you think? I may do some more . . . .
Markshall in May
Yesterday I visited Markshall as for my monthly Twelve Months on an Essex Country Estate painting project. It was the 29th May, which you may know is Oak Apple Day. This commemorates the restoration of the monarchy with King Charles II in 1660, and was for many years a public holiday.
Bearing this in mind, I decided that the Honywood Oak should be the subject of my big painting this month. I found a sunny spot to sit and sketch this veteran tree, which is estimated to be over 800 years old.
The Honywood Oak
It has a little fence around it to protect the roots from soil compression caused by people walking close to it.
I used Caran D’Ache Neocolour II water-soluble wax pastels to make a little sketch of the tree.
While I was walking around the arboretum afterward, by a strange coincidence I saw a twig of oak leaves with an oak apple lying on the track, which I have brought home to draw.
An Oak Apple is not, of course, an apple at all, but is caused by a tiny parasitic gall wasp who lays her egg in the bud of the oak, prompting the tree to develop this swelling. The new wasp eats her way out when she has hatched. You can always see the tiny hole where she made her exit . . .
The Walled Garden, and the Coach House Garden were both looking really lovely, full of roses, irises, poppies and peonies. Here are a few that particularly caught my eye . . .
A cuckoo was calling intermittently all the time that I was walking round, the peacock was screeching and the geese on the lake honking! Everywhere was very lush and green, and – away from the busy café – there were very few people around, so mostly I had the place to myself.
It is a lovely time of the year to visit Markshall – do go if you are in the area!