Painting of the river Ouse, Sussex

The river Ouse in Sussex

Returning from my bluebell walk the other day I followed the path back along the edge of the river Ouse.
There has been hardly any rain for several weeks and the water level was so much lower than usual causing sunlit ripples around the rocks and plants.

        "Rippled reflections around rocks flow.
                When the rain didn't come
                               and the river ran low.
         Sun scorched lilies strive to grow.
               When the rain didn't come
                               and the river ran low "

                            "When the river ran low" 
                                            Acrylic on canvas 24"x 18"

"When the river ran low" Acrylic painting of the river Ouse

  

"Piddinghoe Reflections"

The river Ouse at Piddinghoe, Sussex

The Spring sunshine took me to Piddinghoe. A picturesque village on the banks of the river Ouse just south of Lewes.
 The church here is has an unusual round tower and surrounded by a mass of snowdrops in early Spring.

  The village also has the only remaining bottle shaped brick kiln in the country ,which you can just see behind the house...

Brick kiln at Piddinghoe

  My path took me along the river bank and past the farm where I lived for a while back in the mid 1960's. It seemed strange to think I was walking in the footsteps of my past !

It all looked so very colourful (unlike my black and white photo ) and the reflections upon the river as it headed out to sea made the view just perfect to paint! 
                                     "Piddinghoe Reflections"

"Piddinghoe Reflections" Acrylic on canvas

 
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Finally, an extract from Rudyard Kipling's Poem "Sussex"
"And the deep ghylls that breed
Huge oaks and old, the which we hold
No more than Sussex weed;
Or south where windy Piddinghoe’s
Begilded dolphin veers
And red beside wide-bankèd Ouse
Lie down our Sussex steers. "