Portraits of real country

"The only limitations I should put upon subjects would be upon landscape painters; and to them I should insist on all their pictures being real portraits of real country. I mean I take no interest in made-up landscapes: where is it? is my first question when I see a landscape."                        

From a letter from William Morris to Thomas Coglan Horsfall, April 7th 1881.

I want to come up with a design during this residency that captures the characteristics of the landscape around Kelmscott. So far, I have been drawn to the River Thames and the rows of trees that line its banks. My drawing above was done from the path towards Buscot, looking back to the river that is hidden in the line of trees that I also photographed on my walk to Lechlade.

Some drawings

Photos, plans and some of my drawings in the Brewhouse. What a great place to work.

My drawing from one of the attic windows and today's drawing of the Manor from the lane that leads down to the River Thames.

Drawing around the Manor

My first week here was in the Easter holidays so I had some young visitors. One of them was Aza, whose drawings of things that interested him in the corners of Kelmscott Manor you can see above. 

With half term coming up I hope that I have more visitors, of all ages, who like drawing and  make me guess what they have drawn and remember where I've seen it. Paper and pencils available from The Brewhouse.