Blog 545
Our nearest farming neighbours (affectionately known as the ‘Down-Belows’) are trainers of sheep dogs. They buy young pups and train them up; they take them to trials to hone their skills and to showcase them, and then they sell them on as working dogs. When we first moved into Y Gorlan, (we became the ‘Up-Aboves’ being farther up the hill) we used to listen to him training them in the surrounding fields. When he shouted ‘sit’ we used to stop whatever we were doing in the garden and sit!! Back then, two of his dogs were called Tam and Tess which just happened to be the names of our daughters so it was somewhat inevitable that we would become firm friends. This week we made our annual visit to their lambing sheds to greet the new arrivals. These are Zwartble sheep and they had a mixture of black and white lambs between them.
Three of his dogs were romping around the field close by and it was these
that captured my attention. I watched what they were doing beyond the perimeter
of the pens and saw them run, swerve, creep and stalk, with their eyes always
on the sheep; they were totally fixated. One of them (Gill) had a habit of
using her paw to remind us that she was there; she even looked as though she
was smiling! Anyway, by the time I had walked the hill back home I was determined
to try and put this rural scene into a wall hanging.
So, as with all pieces of work, I started with some quick sketching to
help me to establish the simple shapes of movement. I particularly liked the
creeping attitude where the dog is fully focused on the sheep. Here are the
rapid sketches.
The one that follows is the one I liked the best so I added more shading
detail. This was traced and a grid was added over the top. I used this small
sketch to enlarge the image onto a working paper pattern. And that was where
this creative thrust stopped dead. Looking at the sketches, the expression
‘lost in translation’ comes to mind. I had totally lost the grit of the sheep
dog and come up with a benign Labrador!! Back to the drawing board!!
On a lighter note, I had a birthday recently and Daughter #2 got it spot
on again. If only I could get my leg that high!!!!
My little old school friend was also spot-on with her card. She’s the
third one in the line-up!
And after a year of Covid-driven lockdowns, I was reminded today that it
is the simple things in life that are important. We took the family on our favourite
‘clints and grykes’ walk which is just 2 miles away from home. This is the magnificent
reward for a not too strenuous climb.
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