Frosty misty mornings, falling leaves, swallows heading off means autumn has arrived here at Leam Cottage.
This is the time of year when these hills change colour rapidly, and the skies can be slate grey one moment, then a startling shaft of golden light can create astonishing effects on the hills. Painting these autumn scenes requires a bold approach, a lot of paint, plenty of water and nerves of steel!
Our evening swims are much shorter now that the river water is so much colder. We also take our fishing rods with us and try to catch a fresh brown trout for supper. Most of the time we draw a blank, but it’s a peaceful time, just watching the water, the wildlife, contemplating life, planning
This year I achieved my longest ever outdoor swim. After training all summer, my swim buddy and I finally found our weather window at the very beginning of September and had a perfect day for our end-to-end Wast Water swim. Since we very nearly did it two years age, I’ve had to endure endess teasing from Fifey about being a fraud and a cheat, claiming to have swum it all when in his eyes, we didn’t!.
We began our swim a short distance down from the east end of the lake, and those few hundred metres have haunted me, so this time we started right in the river that feeds into the lake, and completed the entire swim on a beautiful sunny day with a stiff chop, and the wind behind us. Both of us were thrilled to have managed the three mile/five kilometre swim, but we have our next swim challenge already in our sights for next year!
With the lamb sales approaching, all the farmers in our area are extremely busy preparing breeding lambs for sale. In order for them to look their best, they often dye the fleece, making the ewe lambs stand out and there are various traditions connected with this practice. Many sheep farmers trim the neck and belly fleece, then the final preparation is to wash the face and legs as close as possible to the sale. This is where I usually spend a day or two at the thick end, scrubbing lambs feet and faces while they are held astride a wooden sheep dressing stool, its rather like a fancy barber’s chair for sheep. It’s a bit of a change from painting, and there’s usually a slap up lunch and a lot of leg pulling and laughter which is probably why I go back every year!
Here in the gallery we are enjoying welcoming visitors to the area who are often looking for something to take home with them as a reminder of their stay in this part of Northumberland, the landscape prints are an obvious choice and I just love to think of a little bit of this area hanging on walls in homes all round the UK!
Mary Ann Rogers Gallery, West Woodburn, Hexham NE48 2SE.
Original paintings, limited edition prints, cards and exquisite gifts.
Open: Tues, Thurs, Fri 10-4 also Sun 2-5
www.marogers.com 07967550772