Painting “View from Little Hograh Moor”
Plein‑Air Painting – Oil on Canvas Panel
North York Moors, North Yorkshire, England, UK
The last painting on one of my first full day's Plein‑air sessions, and the beginning of my outdoor oil painting addiction.
The light was beginning to fade, clouds were starting to collect, and the temperature was beginning to drop.
Even in high summer, the North York Moors are an elemental place. I had to work fast to capture the last of the sun on the foreground and in the middle distance. And this was when I wasn't very experienced in using oils outside.
This view is on another great route through the high moors, which I've often travelled from Great Ayton.
The village of Westerdale – which always sounds like a name a writer would invent in a classic Bronte style novel to me – is just up the road.
Arriving back home in the late evening, I dug out my ordnance survey map to work out exactly where I'd set-up my easel.
I discovered the name of the land I pitched on is equally magical, because of its strangeness: Little Hograh Moor.
I was also able to determine that Castleton sits in the distance, just out of sight in the painting.
Part of the joy of making landscape art is exploring places I'm either unfamiliar with, or only vaguely know. I'd driven this road quite a few times by then, but hadn't stopped here before.
During the time it takes to create an art composition on paper or canvas, you witness nature in action. Wildlife, shifting air, and any number of unexpected things.
All of nature happened here while painting this little gem, and it explains how I became a plein‑air oils addict – there's no hiding it.