We couldn’t make up our mind about exactly where and when to go on holiday and, with the school break rapidly approaching (filling attractions with people constrained by those dates), we decided to instead have a few days out. The first of those was today — a drive up to Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield and then a short, impromptu visit to Wakefield Castle Gardens (National Trust).

I’ve got more photos to come but clicking the above image will take you to the new album I’ve started on Flickr. I’ve begun with a series of images looking at Two Large Forms by Henry Moore. Moore was often inspired by the landscape and created many pieces designed with outside display in mind. I don’t know what they looked like when they were brand new but, sitting exposed to sun, wind, rain and snow, they are gradually developing a fascinating patina. This is particularly apparent on works such as this one, with its large, smooth surfaces and was the particular thing I wanted to study with this first group of photos.

We also had a delicious (and instagrammable) lunch at the Weston restaurant on site, I discovered a Spanish artist I’d not heard of before and I did some sketching on paper thick enough to handle water-based work for the first time in a while so expect more posts based on today’s trip soon.