OAG - More Pictures

Geoff Mitchell took this great photo of the OAGers at the start of our day out when the temperature was still a bit on the cool side.  And Lisa Bendel's  shot has captured the sense of vast space within which the rocky outcrops and swirling grasses dominate.

The pylons are a prominent feature of this bit of moor and from an artist's point of view their complex shapes add interest. 

Vicki certainly looks very cheery as she makes her lively pastel drawing.

You have to admire Harry's insouciant style when at lunch time he nonchalantly drew out the bottle of wine and 3 glass tumblers he'd been quietly lugging around! The afternoon took on a rosy glow all of a sudden.

The strong wind never abated and this photo of Sue trying to draw in it brings to mind the image of a ships figurehead or one of those winged Nikes.  

Afterwards Sue sent me this fascinating contribution: Writing of his struggle across Blackstone Edge in 1724, Defoe said: "here, tho' it was but the middle of August, and in some places the harvest hardly got in we saw the mountain covered with snow; but we found the people had a way of mixing warm with cold together, for the store of good ale which flows plentifully in these mountainous parts of the country make up for all the inclemencies of the weather." Sue added, "our windy weather was not quite as bad as poor old Daniel but adventurous nonetheless! Pity we didn't sample the store of ale - though the wine was pretty good!"

Exhibition at Cliffe Castle, Keighley

The Inspired By Landscape Exhibition is now up and running at Cliffe Castle until 15th January 2012.

The opening on Saturday afternoon was well attended with lots of people coming over from Hebden Bridge, Bradford, Leeds, Harrogate and even Chester. 

Until the doors opened on Saturday I'd not seen the complete installation with all the projections running and the lighting in place so it was a lovely surprise to see that everything worked well together.  The giant charcoal drawings of the reservoir valve towers looked suitably dramatic on their individual walls overlaid with the projections of rippling reservoir water, with the blue light behind giving a feeling of space.

Big thanks are due to the very hard working team at Cliffe Castle, who really put the time in to ensure the large octagonal gallery was looking its best.  Special thanks to Paul Mahoney for his technical wizardry with masking the projections so precisely and understanding the effect I wanted to achieve. Thanks also to Mark Wharton for filming the water with me.

Something about all the different lighting used in the show makes it strangely difficult to photograph. The projected water disappears if you use flash, but without it the ripples take on a reddish cast. On the above photo I've had to do a lot of Photoshoppery to make it more like the real thing and its still not right.  I'll be going back with a tripod to have another go but to get the true picture you'll just have to go in person!