Summer turns into autumn

Well after a fantastically hot summer, we're now starting to see slightly cooler days and I must say, I always anticipate the start of autumn with a dregree of pleasure.  The colours become more subtle in the countryside and as I'm not out in the garden all the time, there seems to be more time in the evening for drawing and planning paintings.

I took part in a bird painting challenge on Instagram and painted five birds, the only one I was truly happy with being this American avocetc.

On a bird theme, I found myself on the River Thames last month at a point where swans gather to strut around on shore and do whatever they do when in large social groups.  I painted a sketch at Caversham Bridge and managed to get quite a few swans into the picture.

I had a bit of a gap in the middle of the month as I was building website for the church and also developing my daughter's online shop.  I soon realised that painting was too precious to me to leave it for long so sat down to draw this painting of Chateau Chenonceau

There have been quite a few other paintings since I last posted so I'll finish with just one more, a sketch of a house that took my eye when I was walking around Eastbourne one morning last month.