Ambleside

an artist’s trip….

Watercolour a m schneider Beatrix Potter’s House Cumbria

I make excuses now about why I don’t do things the way I used to. I say things like “I really never did things without my husband.” It isn’t really true. I can only admit that I no longer want to do some things, that they don’t matter. But, I remember things I did do, years ago, that he was so generous in helping me be able to do. Always, he was eager to take over all of the pet care and anything that needed to be done for our kids. And, he always did that even when I was home. I forget occasionally how fortunate was my life.

This quickly done little painting, that was sold many many years ago, was done on one of those trips that I made without my husband but with, I think 10, women watercolor artists. Some of these women were amazing, I was ok, but I love the way this came out and I hope whoever bought it placed it in a perfect little child’s room.

The day was drizzly, which was the way it was sometimes in the Lake District of England and I’m grateful that someone had an umbrella over her head that day. I think it makes this very loose work. The two artist’s who ran this trip did the most wonderful job of organization and I will never forget it. We sat in fields of sheep and painted with very talented artists who lived in that area. We stayed in Ambleside, a town we came to know well and loved. Look it up and enjoy. I did learn to do stone bridges… and if I can find one I will edit this and post a picture of one I painted.

One side note… One woman became very ill with a cold so bad that we thought it might be pneumonia. I took her to a small clinic in the town. It was a little house, all white and sweet, spotlessly clean, and they treated her with genuine concern. When we were finished I asked what we owed them and they all kind of looked at each other and then said,”oh, there is no charge.” I asked if there was anything I could do to repay them and the dr gracefully refused. I think that is the way strangers in a strange land should be welcomed, a very good lesson. We found all of the people in the country so gracious and so kind.

Stone bridges…the way they begin and where they end up… these are not the same painting, the first two are sitting in a pile, on top of each other, forever to be unfinished.