Sketchbook work West Pennine Moors Rob Miller

January 20, 2011

Sketchbook work West Pennine Moors Rob Miller

I had a good walk over the moors today taking the old Road. This winter the moors have been under a cover of snow or iced rain for most of the last three months resulting in a deeper red brown colour, with flashes of pale grasses. The deep red colour comes from the bracken, its Latin name Pteridium, which has grown here in these sub Arctic conditions for millennial, interestingly the name comes from the norse language. The bracken which has been here the longest has been the source of many a fight from the 1750's onwards between itself and the hill farmers who have tried to burn it rake it, and bury it by ploughing it under. The effect of all this for me is the multitude of coloured patchworks which are so great to paint. Today as well as mooching mentally over bracken I also saw an Arctic hare which as usual was trying to hide in the grass its white coat making it stand out like a sore thumb against the deeper red bracken...