Tuesday 6 September 2011

Lindisfarne

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne is one place I've always wanted to visit. It is too far North for me to do it in a day trip so I need to take advantage of being in that area. Despite a holiday many years ago in the North Yorkshire Moors and another some time later in the Durham region, both within and hour or two of the Island, I haven't managed to get there. The nearest I managed was in 2007 as we were travelling back from a weeks holiday in Scotland. We passed within 20-30 minutes of Lindisfarne, but there wasn't enough time to make a worthwhile detour. So the island remains one of those places I just long to visit.

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne Castle sits on top of a volcanic mound known as Beblowe Craig. The castle was built in the 1550's following the dissolution of the monastries by Henry VIII, in defence of the realm against attack by Scotland and in pursuit of their Spanish allies. The island is reached via a tidal causeway that is completely submerged when the tide comes in. I think the boyish sense of adventure of being in the castle when the tide comes in, totally cut off from the mainland, is one of the attractions for me.

Ingrid provided a photograph of the castle for my Art Forum's latest Painting Project, and this is my effort. It's been a while since I last had time for a painting and I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

9 comments:

  1. Lovely fresh painting John and a nice composition too. I would love to see Lindisfarne, but like you I've never been! Charles Evans paints and draws this quite a lot and I did one of the island as an exercise from his watercolour pencil book. The view is from a different angle to yours, looking along the coast rather than out to sea.

    ReplyDelete
  2. John, This is one of those painting that brings to mind the English style painting that I have always liked.
    Fresh, clean and soft colors, that fit the subject. It's so well done ..Frame it, hang it, it deserves to be viewed. BJ

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amazing castle with a fascinating history. Your painting does it justice.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Is this one that you have sketched in a previous post?
    It's lovely John and so nice to hear a bit about the place too :0)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lovely painting of Lindisfarne.
    It has a wonderful history, as I found out when I recently painted a pic of St Cuthbert and his final journey away. He was the Bishop of Lindisfarne.
    Its a place I'd love to visit for its history - and the causeway :) xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. This painting is a natural progression from you previous sketch John - very nice.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you Michael. One day, eh?

    Barbra Joan, you're always so generous with your comments. Thank you.

    Thank you very much for visiting Kathryn and for your lovely comment.

    Indeed it is Sandra. It's the first time I've sketched something before painting it and it certainly helped me to 'see' the subject. Thank you.

    Thank you Pat. I remember your St. Cuthbert painting but the link to Lindisfarne escaped me. I hope you get there one day.

    Thank you Frank.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great painting John. You must get there one day, it's stunning in real life and very atmospheric. I challenge you as I travelled up from Colchester to visit it! Never been to Scotland though - one step too far.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you Sue ... I'll get there. ;-)

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are very much appreciated and I value every one. Thank you