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.