Dartmoor: A new project begins

We've spent most of our time since moving to Devon exploring the coast, but it's a county of contrasts and the moorland was always going to pull me in eventually. I've painted rugged upland landscapes before, in North Wales and the Lakes, and Dartmoor has that same quality: ancient, open, and full of atmosphere.

Timing matters on the moor. Summer midday light can appear flat, so Jon and I ventured out twice, once in the late afternoon and again early the following morning. The difference was worth the early alarm. Evening was warm and dramatic. Morning was cooler and clearer, with a freshness that felt completely different.

The landscape itself is full of features to paint and draw- rocky tors, stone bridges, bubbling streams, and long views down towards the coast. But it was the ponies on Dartmoor that stopped me.

Herds of ponies have grazed the moor for thousands of years, and the Dartmoor ponies I met looked they look like they belong to it. Rough, thick coats, long tangled manes, completely unbothered by passing humans. We came across small herds grazing by the roadside and further out across the moor, including some mares with foals. I made pencil and watercolour sketches on the spot, and I'm planning to develop these into larger paintings.

I also encountered Swaledale sheep with lambs and came across Belted Galloway cattle, with their distinctive black and white markings, which were roaming around the roadside,  breeds I know well from painting in the north. Old friends in new surroundings.

Dartmoor is known for its rocky tors, granite outcrops rising up in the landscape. I visited Haytor in the morning light, and also Hound Tor with its distinctive shapes, it is said the name comes from the rock formations having the appearance of dogs. The rocky features would be a good subject for charcoal so further exploration is required.

There are 160 tors on Dartmoor altogether. I'll be busy for a while