Fifty years ago today after lunch I was off on my bike on a research trip to Thornhill for my natural history of Wakefield sketchbook.
I was going for a wide perspective. In the morning I’d made my first attempt at painting our galaxy – with Wakefield marked towards the end of one of the spiral arms.
For my theme about our place in the landscape, the ‘Very Celtic Decorations’ and runes on the early Christian grave stones appealed to me.
Church – 1495 window best viewed through 10×50 binoculars
My diary, 22 August 1973
This expedition was mainly as a break from work on the book. I didn’t intend doing much drawing but made these notes of the plants.
Typical wasteland plants on the track by Healey Mills Marshalling Yards; Rose Bay, Tansy.
But it wasn’t all work. Before I set out I’d watched the Oliver Postgate/Peter Firmin children’s programme Pogles Wood. I loved Firmin’s relaxed illustrations and the homemade feel of the stop action animation and I envied them their Smallfilms studio, a converted barn in the Kent countryside.
