Aberglasney - Graham Rankin

The painting above is of Pidgeon Wood Aberglasney. Aberglasney is a Mansion in the Towy Valley with a magnificient garden that goes back to at least the early 1400's. The Mansion was saved by a trust when it was in a derelict state and the gardens have been restored retaining some of their unique features. There is still work to do but the place is truly a jewel in the Towy Valley.
http://www.aberglasney.org/
I have painted quite a few paintings and sketches in the gardens most of which have been sold.

Now I confess I am no gardener in fact I hate cutting the lawn. I do enjoy lovely gardens but I have no real interest in knowing the names of the plants or reading gardening books.
So Alex and I are members of the gardens and we visit it regularly throughout the year. We also exhibit once a year in the Mansion for a fortnight. As Alex says," it is a magical place".

The person who has been in overall charge of bringing the gardens back to life for the trust has been Graham Rankin along with his wife Frances. They are both leaving now to work on another challenge. So good luck to you both, what a great job you have done.

Today I did some work on my waterclour techniques. I am trying to reduce the time I take to complete a watercolour sketch or painting. When I am working at home this is not an issue but when I am outside speed is an important factor. A scene may change rapidly with the change of light or sky so it is important to get the painting down or you end up painting 2 or 3 scenes in the same painting. I am quite a quick painter if I need to be but there is always room for improvement. Today I also heard from David Cowdry (a fine artist and friend ) who unfortunately has been sufferingly with bad flu.