It’s almost a full week since we landed back in Sydney and our sunny holiday in the UK already seems such a long time ago. We both agree it’s been the worst jet lag we’ve ever suffered, but life’s finally returning to normal… and I promise there will be more painting now.
The long, long sunny days of British summer have been replaced with equally sunny winter ones, which caught me out today by fading at 5pm while I was still painting. However, it’s a totally different quality of light, with high contrast and colourful vibrancy that hurts your eyes after the haziness of the UK in summer. I’m definitely missing it, not to mention the sweetness of the birdsong compared to our squawking lorikeets and magpies… but I expect I’ll get used to it again soon enough.
I finally moved all my pictures off the camera and onto my computer today giving me a chance to look back over the trip, and I picked out this one to paint. This small (and brief) watercolour sketch is from a photo of the old granite chimneys that could be seen from our hotel window in Aberlady, East Lothian. I would heartily recommend The Ducks at Kilspindie House, it was an amazing experience with very friendly staff and an astounding range of wines and whiskys for a small hotel in the countryside. They also had the biggest, fluffiest bath towels I’ve ever seen 🙂 .