A long walk (or ‘wawk’)

Ages and ages ago, my partner and I decided that we’d walk to Stratford-upon-Avon at some point over August bank holiday weekend. Back then, I’d assumed this would be about as long as the road route. So, around 9 miles. Quite long but definitely doable in one go.

A few weeks ago, however, it was revealed that, following the Shakespeare Way, the walk would be no less than 15 miles…! I have to say, my feet were very sore by the end – one of my toes was more blister than toe! – but I absolutely LOVED the walk and it was the inspiration behind a different kind of piece from my usual birds and butterflies.

I’ll quickly take you through the walk. We set off at around 07:30 on the Sunday morning after having a very quick breakfast and packing a few supplies into the rucksack. We’d booked somewhere to have a big lunch when we arrived so our only form of sustenance en route was a bag of jelly tots. 

There’s something really refreshing about going out for a walk so early in the morning. I think the sunshine definitely helped, but everything just seemed so peaceful as well. We passed a few key places – Honington, followed much later by Halford, then Newbold. Finally, we arrived at Alderminster and that’s when the jelly tots were cracked open! This was quite a milestone, as it meant we were definitely over halfway there. 

The last few places came in relatively quick succession (Preston on Stour, Atherstone on Stour and Clifford Chambers) but I was definitely starting to feel it in my feet! When we finally saw Stratford ahead, I was ready to throw my shoes off but, first, we needed to descend a small hill – oh the pain! Needless to say, we rewarded ourselves with a rather mega roast dinner at the end of it all!

The weather was so beautiful during the walk itself and my partner took quite a few photos of our journey (which he has been duly credited for in this post – apparently I’ve ‘forgotten’ to do this on previous occasions 😂). And looking back over these photos last week made me want to paint. Landscapes aren’t my best, but I’m definitely getting better at them and, like most of my artwork, I wanted to do it largely for the joy of the experience rather than the outcome at the end.

Ironically, I decided to use one of the only photos taken when the sun had pretty much disappeared. I wanted to paint this one, though, because I just love water. Wherever you find water, you can usually find a bird of some kind. Or, failing that, a dragonfly or a butterfly. So this watercolour is inspired by the River Avon.

Confession: I’ve definitely tweaked it. And I didn’t mean for my version to look so gloomy. I wanted to use some of my favourite colours – yellow ochre and prussian blue – and just thought I’d see what came out of it in the end. I also tried to use the white of the paper while painting the river. Utilising the paper itself is definitely a skill and I’ve definitely got it wrong at times! I didn’t think it went too badly this time though.

For the reed bed, on the other hand, I decided to try out another technique. I used one of the sharp corners of the paint tube to draw the individual reeds in the paint. That was a bit stressful but it was another useful skill to practice!

And next time? Well, maybe I’ll try and include a duck, swan or moorhen in my river scene. But I’m not sure I’m brave enough for that yet!!!