This sketch was made on the spot in this ancient lonnin going down to the river near my dad’s house in the lake-district. Apparently it was used by packhorses to carry the stone to build the village which was sourced from a castle that had been dismantled. The word ‘lonnin’ is a dialect word from the Northumbrian going back to Anglo-Saxon times. I saw this view and immediately know when it fell on my retina that it wanted to become a painting. Magical in so many ways. I’ll share the stages of making the oil-painting on some beautiful heavy linen that I found, again that my father had given me a long time ago. I’ve rabbit-skin sized and gessoed it, and want to keep the raggedy borders as part of the piece to show the history. All deliberate, almost meditative.