in my picture I have framed the view with the ash tree on the left an oak tree on the right and the wall in the foreground from where the two magpies lead your eye to the third bird aided by the frozen stream winding away into the frosty distance. The same birds in both pictures peck through the fresh muck looking for food
muck spreading
three for a girl
Tunnicliffe’s winter coated cattle are eating kale whereas the already very hairy highland cows are eating haylage. In my sepia the landscape is a mixture of ochres and browns with snow on the distant hills to emphasize the cold a hawthorn bush offers a little shelter but the fieldfares ignore it as they fly south to warmer lands.
kale for cows
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Highland cows
To make my picture I visited a nearby loch where I have seen siskins and red-polls feeding on alder seeds that they pick out from the little cones. There were no bulrushes or sedges nearby so I composed my sepia from what was before me just a few mallard and no coots they are a rare visitor to this loch.
alder tree by the lake
alder tree by the loch
To walk up one of my local burns is always a pleasure the water flow can be a torrent or a trickle flickering with sunlight or moody and forbidding but never dull. If the burn is graced with a healthy supply of trout parr kingfisher and goosander maybe seen but almost always a dipper can be found feeding on insect larvae and very small fish.
The lednoch burn
In this sepia I chose a spot where water is diverted with the aid of a mini weir to a derelict millrace a gnarled old oak bows over the water and sunlight falls with a golden glow in the distance.
This burn is a regular walk and is visited by goosanders and the occasional kingfisher but the dipper is always present and I can’t wait to hear him singing in the spring.
Tunnicliffe’s hawthorn tree with the aid of the stile, bramble and old man’s beard creates a window onto the farmyard where the men are threshing corn something that is now history because the threshing machine is now encompassed within the modern combine.
In my picture I have removed the farming scene and settled for a wintery mist and then chose one of my favourite hawthorn trees where redwings are feeding on the berries. Below the tree is an rickety old fence with overhanging bramble and rabbits feeding in the unmown grass.
threshing corn
the hawthorn tree
I have Scottish relatives but they all lived south of the border so my real introduction came in the early 1980’s when a gallery owner drove me to Scotland and asked for paintings following in the footsteps of Archibald Thorburn which meant in the subsequent trips north before I moved to this beautiful country it was important to find my subjects in the limited time available. In the picture below is a view looking south from the road to Applecross and just a short walk from the pull in after the treacherous hairpinning road that leads to the summit ptarmigan can be found within minutes if your lucky.
ptarmigan tops
In this picture I have included three iconic creatures of the mountain tops ,ptarmigan, mountain hare and the golden eagle.
The ptarmigan is a glorious little member of the grouse family which has the ability to moult three times a year in order to be always camouflaged against its background often when looking for them I have been at the point of giving up only to find they are all around my feet so effective is their ability to vanish which is just as well with the golden eagle and other predators on the prowl.
In Tunnicliffe’s rendition it is early winter the leaves are on the oak tree and beech sapling the ferns are still green the soil still has enough warmth to push up various fungi.
In my picture I have moved the pheasants to centre stage into the foreground along with a fallen branch which is heavy with moss inspired by the damp conditions near my home. Instead of a recognizable distant view I chose a distant light shinning in the glade that one could be walking towards.
The Oakwood
the pheasants wood
When I was a child laid hedges bordered most fields and were rich with bird nests and wildlife. Hedge laying has become a luxury as it is time consuming and therefore expensive as it is not an everyday farming activity as shown in Tunniciffe’s picture which was reflecting on rural life sixty plus years ago I have decided to show few farming practices as they date the picture instead I wish to emphasize the timeless quality of nature.
In my picture I have used the misty day to make the the wren centre stage as he is there to search for insects in the ivy which has lost some of it’s flowers to show the beginning of the berries to come I have included the bracken and snowberry but have included the bramble that was growing through the ivy that covers an old chicken shed in the garden.
hedge laying
bramble and ivy
December, January, February.
.Tunnicliffe very wisely made the whole of December, January and February the period covered in ‘What to look for in Winter.’ book which is obvious when you study the images for instance in the second illustration page seven the oak tree still holds it’s leaf and the fern is green while fungi is still emerging from the little warmth left in the soil. I started recording my images at the winter equinox more fool me because taking into account the three week difference in start time and the fact that I live in the Highland Scotland and Tunnicliffe spent most of his life in Anglesey Wales there was going to be a miss match time wise with the decay and rebirth of flora and fauna pictured
I was hoping to respond. to each week with two sepias relating to two illustrated pages in the book and also a picture weekly related to particular Scottish environments such as Caledonian pine forest, mountain, moorland, birchwood and lochside to mention a few.
These four books illustrated by C.F.Tunnicliffe beautifully capture the turn of the seasons and I have enjoyed them for many years. In December 2021 I decided I would produce a sepia sketch in response to each page as a starting point to other pictures.
The four books
Ladybird published these books between 1959 and 1961 each book measures 7 x 4.6 and contains 25 pictures opposite a text written by E.L.Grant Watson who describes the contents of the view before you. In addition to the 25 sepias per volume I will also add 10 extra images capturing wildlife and scenes particular to Scotland that has long been my home.