Kim Atkinson

Coastal Birds in February 27th February. I went out to Pen y Cil after lunch. I had primed a piece of card delicate pink. Constable used red and pink grounds for oil sketches. When I found that there were orange turnstone legs and oystercatcher bills, in strong light, I was pleased to have done that! Oystercatchers and Turnstones.      All are gouache on gesso primed board In bright sunshine there were five Turnstones and an Oystercatcher directly below me, and as the tide was low they were feeding on barnacles and limpets. The Oystercatcher would probe and pry all around the edge of the limpet rim which eventually loosened it. Then it took the limpet to a place where it could be placed upside-down in a slight dip and its body prised loose and swallowed.  Shags and Turnstones The mother Porpoise and her calf were there again, close to the rocks. The adult has a tea-plate sized worn patch on her right side just behind and below the dorsal fin. The calf invariably sw

Lichens and a densely tufting moss on Pen y Cil, 20th February 2020. Close to the headland was a Porpoise and her youngster, who still swims close to her but also makes forays on its own. I have seen this pair here more than once before, she is recogniseable by a slot torn from near the tip of her dorsal fin. The calf invariably swims on her right side. Pen Y Cil : lichens including Ramallina, and a boiling sea. I painted this a few days later, and just around the corner facing Bardsey Sound. There was no sign of the Porpoises, but with a strong westerly wind the sea was rough and its easy to miss them. Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls passing almost continuously, all heading towards Bardsey Sound at the end of the afternoon. This is a regular fly-past, I wonder where they are roosting? Lesser Black-backs and Herring Gulls both breed on Enlli (Bardsey) and perhaps roost there also. Its a safe fox-free site.

Today Noelle Griffiths and I began our 2020 seasonal paintings in the mixed woodland at Ceunant Llennyrch below Trawsfyfnydd Lake in Snowdonia. For the past several years, each season, we get together to paint and draw in the landscapes near Noelle's home in the mountains of Snowdonia, and my home on the coast of Llyn. Noelle is a painter and maker of Artists' Books, and we have over the past ten years or more collaborated to make limited edition handmade books, as well as our Season Paintings. Currently we are making an edition of five unique folios of 32 microscope and in situ paintings of  8 common mosses and liverworts of this woodland, two in each season with 8 relief prints, 8 paintings of sounds, and digital text. Details on Noelles website www.noellegriffiths-art.co.uk  As often seems to happen in this particular woodland, it rained during the day and we had to try to prevent all the paint being washed off our boards. I use gouache and its  very vulnerable t