I had marvelous day yesterday. I woke up quite early and decided to go out to paint before breakfast. There was a bit of a wheatfield not far from the B&b I'd had my eye on. It's nice to have a few nearby spots scoped out to paint easily without a long hike.

Then I went to Rievaulx Abbey. It's my favorite ruined abbey, as well as a special place. I was there for the first time with my grandmother at age 17 on the trip the two If us took around Britain, and I really felt her presence there again. I am so grateful to her for that early adventure and the confidence to strike out alone on a train with no reservations and just see what happens.

I painted at Rievaulx Terrace, a site up the hill from the abbey itself with views down into the valley. I feel like my work regressed a bit, though, with the focus on the architecture. Or maybe I just had an off morning. But a couple of people have kindly pointed out latelythat my landscapes on this trip are a departure from the work I've been doing and that my handling of paint is richer and more layered. I loved being at Rievaulx, but I wasn't happy with the work from there.

I did a quick journal sketch both to loosen up and also just remember this lovely tree. I mostly want to put time and effort into work that at least has the possibility of being exhibited if I like it, but sometimes it is fun to do a little sketch work in my journal just for me.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous yesterday, and I decided to pack a snack supper and head back out on the moors as soon as I got home. Never waste sunshine in Britain, and I also wanted to get quickly back to the painting that I had been feeling good about.

The sky and clouds were just glorious. I'm still not capturing clouds in watercolor as happily as I can in pastels or oils, but this trip has been good practice, and I do feel like I'm learning a lot. Sometimes getting away from my normal subject matter stretches me and challenges me in ways that remain after the trip itself is over. My summer in Greece eleven years ago forever brightened my palette, and I hope I can carry over the richer paint handling and different compositions to work after I get home.

I've been eyeing this line of trees from every angle and had painted it once already, but I wanted to get it from this vantage point with afternoon light, if possible. It reminds me if a very different line of trees in Bergama, Turkey, that also haunted me and made repeated appearances in my work there.

Walking home was an amazing sunset. I was utterly spent after doing seven watercolors in one day (I think that's a personal record), so I just took a photo to enjoy instead. I couldn't stop smiling all the way home. The beauty out in the moors is incredible, and I feel so lucky to be painting here after ten years of wanting to.

I spent a semester abroad at the University of York when I was in college, and in the process, I fell in love with the North Yorkshire Moors in general and Levisham in particular. A friend took me walking here, and the landscape instantly took hold of me. I've been wanting to return and paint here for some years now, and I'm delighted to have five full nights in the village of Levisham.

The village is tiny (one pub) and right on the moor. I can walk out the road and very soon be on the footpaths among the sheep and heather. I spent my first full day yesterday walking a circle out on the moor and painting as I went.

The landscape looks similar to me in form to the mesas Georgia O'Keefe painted, with their steep sides and flat tops, where you can walk for miles and feel on top of the earth. But the palette is very different, of course, in this green and pleasant land.

I am also delighted to have found the Rectory Farm B&b. Michael and Heather have made me welcome in so many ways. Tea and cake in the afternoons, big, cosy leather chairs, a fire last night in the lounge when I was the only one there, and a heated bathroom floor. I'm so happy to get to spend a number of nights with kind people in their very pleasant home.

I just went to Sunday service in the tiny stone church across the green, and I'm off to paint. Hope all of you have a lovely day as well.

I went to Sunday services today in the tiny stone church just across the green from my B&b. it was a beautiful service, very close to the prayer book Rite I that I remember from going to early church with my grandparents growing up.

Then I walked out to the moors to paint. I'm enjoying my lunch breaks with a view. I took this photo from my lunch site yesterday and went back there to paint the same trees today.

If I can get back out there in the late afternoon, I want to paint from the same vantage point as the photo.

My hosts greeted me with tea and cake, as they do every afternoon, and I'm currently sitting in a huge, cosy leather chair with a fire going for the evening. I can't say enough good things about Heather and Michael and their Rectory Farm B&b here in Levisham. I'm delighted to be spending five whole nights here with them. Their kindness makes me feel very happy and at home.

I'm behind in my blog because I packed a couple of sketches from Wells that I forgot to photograph, so I'll circle back around to post those later.

After I dropped my family to hike the Thames Path, I headed north solo in the car to paint. I'm spending most of my time in Yorkshire, but I had a couple of nights before I could check into my B&b there, so I decided to stop partway in The Peak District in Derbyshire. It seemed appropriate on a Jane Austen trip to visit Mr. Darcy's home county.

It is stunning. After several false tries for a B&b, I gratefully ended up in Hartingon. I could spend a month painting here. It's a small stone village with gorgeous gardens, a cheese shop, a chocolate shop, two tea rooms, one inn for dinner, one excellent dry goods store where I got a neat hat to paint and walk in, and (best of all) absolutely gorgeous countryside the minute you step onto a footpath leading out of town.

I walked out in the evening the first day I arrived and did two watercolors in the late, slanting sunlight. Today I did five. I am going to have to come back someday with more time.

We are now in one of my favorite places. I was here as a teen with my grandmother and utterly fell in love with the cathedral town of Wells. It's small enough that you can walk straight out the back of the Bishop's palace and be on the footpath to the next village, so that's exactly what I did yesterday morning. I did a couple of paintings from the footpath before the family got moving to go see Bath.

Here's the cathedral green, with our hotel (the Ancient Gatehouse) on the right. It's part of the medieval wall around the cathedral. I'm up under the eaves sleeping under half timbers.

We spent the afternoon in Bath seeing Jane Austen sites. Marian and I had tea in a tinty tea shop built right into the Pulteney bridge. Here's the view out the window from our table.

And I did one watercolor of the sycamore grove (of course) at the center of the circus.

We stopped by Salisbury on the way to Wells today. It's one of my favorite cathedrals, with its tall, graceful spite and cohesive architecture. It also happens that my favorite painter's best friend was bishop there, so John Constable painted it extensively on his visits. I certainly felt that bit of extra pressure as I sat down with my watercolors today, but I couldn't resist trying anyway.

By the time I'd reacquainted myself with the marvelous Medieval stone frieze of Genesis in the chapter house, I didn't have a lot of time left, but I wanted to try my hand at the soaring nave. The architecture is complex, but I tried to keep it extra loose, due to time constraints. I'll have to look at it again tomorrow to see how I really feel about this one.

We arrived in Wells tonight and had dinner in the Ancient Gatehouse hotel, right in the wall of the cathedral close. I can't wait to start painting here tomorrow.

The family walked through the water meadows to St. Cross today. It's called a hospital, but it's really the Medieval alms house that The Warden is based on. We toured the church, saw the courtyard where the"brothers" live to this day, and then spent a lot of time in the utterly gorgeous garden. I settled in to paint and did two right off, sitting underneath a gorgeous sycamore at the center of the garden.

I loved this topiary hedge. Not sure I completely captured it. Here's a photo.

I wasn't that happy with the next one. I liked the color and pattern, but it feels static. I'm going to blame the jet lag.

I decided to loosen up and do a quick sketch of the sycamore just in my journal.

Marian showed back up at this point, and we went in search of tea. We didn't find any, but one of the brothers found us, told us about living in the States in the 60's for a bit, and very kindly carries us off to your his quarters where the alms men live. Lovely high ceilinged sitting room with a tiny narrow bedroom and kitchen. Such a treat to see and very kind of him.

I went back to do a larger watercolor of the sycamore after while Marian struck off to walk more. (The parents were long gone.)

I sketched a second sycamore in my journal on the way home.

And did two watercolors of a St. Catherine's hill. I've been waiting years to paint the Engliah countryside. I'm delighted to be making a start today.

Probably more of a museum day tomorrow, so I took advantage of the easy afternoon.

We landed at Heathrow and drove straight to Winchester. Our first stop was a sidewalk lunch at the Eclipse Inn from the 17th C. I couldn't resist a quick journal sketch to get warmed up. And it was lovely to sit there with the family and be embarking on a journey together.

Everyone else napped, but I do better if I stay up, so I camped out on a gorgeous day in the cathedral close and did two sketches of the east front.

I love the tree arched avenue leading to the main doors.

A walk in the late evening sunshine, but I was too pooped to paint any more. Bed quite soon.

My most excellent father is taking his bride, my sister, and me to England. Given that he's now married to our favorite high school English teacher, who got all three of us hooked on Jane Austen, we're going to do a bit of a tour of JA country -- places she lived, worked, wrote about, and died.  I did a similar trip many years ago with my best friend from high school who wrote her master's thesis on JA, and I'm looking forward to revisiting some of the places we went.

I'm also going to go north on my own and paint for a week in Yorkshire. I fell in love with the North York moors when I was an exchange student in college, and I've been trying to get back ever since I started to seriously paint outdoors when I traveled. I can't wait.

Above is the stack of watercolor blocks I bought for the trip, and with luck I'll have to buy one or two more....

Watch this space for updates from the trip. I'll be posting snapshots of my work as I go along.

Tower Grove Park, one of my most favorite parks (and places) had an anniversary picnic on Sunday, and the board of directors put on an art show to go with the food trucks and concerts. What a beautiful idea. I really wanted to go, since I love making art in that park, and it was fun to get to show it right there. Thanks to the park board for letting this Memphis girl crash the St. Louis party.

My friend and fellow artist Bonnie Hopkins was kind enough to ride up with me for the night, help tote stuff, and just keep me company. I was so glad to have her along. And I was also really grateful for seven of my dance friends who made the effort to come out on a Sunday night and support me.

In between visits, I did a small sketch of one of the original composers' busts that circled the 1870's band stand in the park. It's now inside the Piper Palm House, where the exhibition was.

Below are two sketches that were in the show of the Palm House. It was originally a Victorian greenhouse to supply plants for the park, complete with stained glass at the top of the arched windows. Amazing. They have a Sunday brunch inside it each week, and otherwise it can be rented for weddings to support the upkeep of the park. A perfect venue.

More of my Tower Grove watercolors are here, along with a bunch from the Missouri Botanical Gardens as well, both of which were founded in the 1870's by Henry Shaw, one of my heroes.

Karen Jackson and Dan Klarmann were two of the friends who stopped by, and Dan took this of Karen and me talking. I love how it captures the afternoon light and the way the stained glass paints the floor in the afternoons.

At the end of the show, Bonnie and I visited the food trucks and sat outside in a gorgeous evening to hear the last few songs of the jazz band. Perfect. I took a food truck self portrait.

Then we took advantage of the late light and perfect temperature to walk a circle of the park, especially since Bonnie had never been there. Here's a catalpa tree we stopped to visit with as we walked. It's one of my favorites.

The new moon was rising over the bandstand as we circled back to our car.

Finally we joined the rest of St. Louis in treating ourselves to Ted Drewes frozen custard. They talk about it every single night on the baseball radio broadcast, and I always go when I'm in St. Louis. Amazing stuff.