Summer in England

Some images from an English summer. I have been trying to capture the heady mix of colours of the fresh new growth, dry straw, wild flowers and butterflies using my 'sketch, photograph and run (or cycle) away' technique. These are two more successful efforts.

Of course an English summer is not complete without cricket. Yesterday was a big day...we beat the Aussies at Lords (the 'home of cricket') for the first time since 1934. This was 5 days of elation, hope, dread, fear and then finally.... a fantastic feeling of well-being for us die-hard England supporters. I couldn't resist putting a page in my journal. Our hero, Fantastic Freddie (named after the Flintstone) and his nemesis, Ricky 'squishy-green-cap-head' Ponting (yes, I know...)

It always surprises me that from the Surrey Hills you can look North towards London and it appears as though the towers of central rise out of an uninterrupted forest - like a vision of the future where nature has taken over again.

Effingham Common/ In defence

Two new pictures from the weekend, both of them experimenting with photoshop collages. I think the Effingham Common scene with a blend of foreground and distance sektching works best on the blog. The other one is more powerful in my journal. In cae you are wondering it combines some chalk graffit on a WWII pillbox with nearby twisting tree roots. I finished it with my own chalk graffiti in my logbook, using Surrey Hills chalk 'borrowed' from the site.

Sun Light Shade & Counterfeit Polesden

Two pictures from the weekend. Polesden as it is nor nromally seen - hosting the Counterfeit Stones for a group of Bookham Oldies. Inks from a mbile phone photo. Then Sun Light Shade - a semi-abstract trying to capture the woods in the summer - intense patches of light and deep, green shade under a wide blue sky.