winter hill

Rivington Sunset

Originally uploaded by David Pott

Today has been a showery and warm day with big, dramatic clouds scudding across a very clear blue sky and occasionally dropping heavy showers on the parts of Lancashire beneath them. The clouds themselves are towering pillows of whiteness underlined by dark grey bands that produce the rain. When the rain falls from beneath the clouds they trail dirty veils of water behind them.

With the youngest child in bed, and the rest of the family playing computer games on the Wii, I packed my sketching equipment and headed up towards the high moorland at the back of Horwich, seeking out the dramatic views that I felt would be produced by the weather.

I wasn’t dissappointed. Anvil shaped thunderclouds made slow but majestic progress from Snowdonia, past the Wirral and alond the Sefton and Fylde coasts where they met the setting sun, silhouetted with the outline of Blackpool Tower below.

I came home with two or three quick sketches, countless photos (like the one at above) and a sense of marvel that nature can create so many rich and contrasting hues in a single sunset.

Hopefully I’ll be able to paint several oil paintings from the sketches, small watercolours and photos I took tonight. Sadly I don’t think any of them will match the original version!

Winter Hill Clouds

I’ve been told many times that, on a clear day, you can see the Isle of Man from the top of Winter Hill. I had begun to wonder if that wasn’t just an urban myth, passed from generation to generation of ramblers.

Now along comes www.viewfinderpanoramas.org - a useful site that contains computer generated panoramas  of views from many mountains around the world, with a special bias towards UK panoramas

Here’s the panorama it generated of the view from Winter Hill. And yes, you can theoretically see the Isle of Man in perfect conditions.

If you’ve ever seen the Isle of Man from Winter Hill, will you let me know? Better still if you can send me a photo!