Our holiday in Exmoor in July 2025 obviously left me in an Exmoory mood, because within a couple of weeks of our return home I found that I had painted nine miniature watercolours of Exmoor Views. These were in the same small square format that I had used for my previous miniature watercolour series (Dartmoor Scenes , House Plants, Capital City Landmarks, Cornwall Landmarks, and Trees), with each one being painted quickly as part of the ‘morning routine’ that I generally try to get through each day before I try to settle into some more substantive activity.
Most of the subjects for these pictures were locations that we had visited during our holiday, with a couple being other Exmoor locations that I was familiar with from previous visits (including the many family holidays we had in Exmoor when I was a child). Working from top-left, across and down the grid of pictures above, the paintings show:
- a ruined barn in Porlock Bay
- the Valley of the Rocks near Lynton
- Landacre Bridge over the River Barle (possibly my mother’s favourite spot)
- the bridge and ford at Malmsmead at the head of the Doone Valley
- Dunkery Beacon – Somerset’s highest point
- St Bueno’s Church at Culbone (said to be the smallest parish in England)
- Oare Church (where Lorna Doone was shot on her wedding day)
- Robber’s Bridge
- a view across Porlock Bay from Bossington Hill
At the time I painted these pictures I had not fully settled into a pattern with my miniature watercolour pictures, but at some point in late summer 2025 I decided that I wanted all of these series to consist of twelve pictures, and so in October I painted three additional paintings to complete the set. These depict:
- the ancient clapper bridge – Tarr Steps (also over the River Barle)
- Dunster Castle
- a group of red deer
Of these pictures, the most surprising one, both in terms of the subject matter and how the picture turned out, is the last. As I noted in Trees, my paintings generally avoid having people or animals in them (at least not in any detail), so the decision to have a go at drawing and painting Exmoor’s most dramatic wildlife was, for me, an unexpected and somewhat brave one! I was pleasantly surprised when they turned out quite well, in fact I think that this final picture is my favourite of the twelve:
As with my other miniature watercolour series (the ones listed above and several more that I have produced more recently), I sell greetings cards featuring the individual pictures, and home-produced prints with either nine or twelve of the pictures, in my Etsy shop and on Facebook Marketplace.
Tim O'Hare 