Two more oil paintings from the Lake District

 Detail from "Towards Buttermere from Gatesgarth", Gatesgarth, Cumbria.
Oil. Alistair Butt © 2013 - #AB 021381

This was one of those occasions when it's a battle against nature - sunlight, clouds and wind. I'd left Borrowdale as it was clouding over and climbed over Honister Pass and headed towards Buttermere (just behind the line of trees) hoping for some sunlight.

Approaching Gatesgarth it was clear that I couldn't get to Buttermere (find parking and get down to the waters edge in time) so stopped on the road to Gatesgarth and headed for Gathesgarthdale Beck, a delightful beck that has been the subject in many of my paintings.

The clouds were increasing by the minute and the sun was about to drop behind the fells on the left hand side. It was gather as much info while the sun shone but sadly it didn't last very long and within 10 minutes the whole sky turned grey.

Detail from "Bright Spell in Langstrath", Langstrath, Cumbria.
Oil. Alistair Butt © 2013 - #AB 021380

Almost the reverse of the above happened with this day... rather than clouding over, as the afternoon progressed the sky cleared.

The above reference was gathered while a large amount of cloud was still in view, I felt it added more interest than the clear sky that was available an hour later.

Langstrath Beck was doing it's best to clear all the snow melt (from Bowfell (the distant peak) and the Lanstrath valley) and a great contrast to the very low level it had been a few months before having had months of drought.