This weeks paintings are of estuaries mainly th Dart and the kingsbridge. The works are in all different sizes but mainly quite large. They range from painting in just oils to works made from China clay and engine oil. These are sellers, I am making them because I want to explore tone and light. The composition is fixedwith slight variations on the theme.The look of the land isnt important I am not trying to paing a convincing tree or water suface but capture the way the tone of the painting conveys the space.
I have been working on charcoal drawings for a year now and find the limited pallette of greys easy to get a grasp of the tone of my drawings. The better the tone, balance, compostion and veriety in the sketches the better the final image.
I have been working from photos of nearby places on the rivers I find photos can reveal the lights and darks easyer they are easier to simplify. I take photos of moments of insiration when the light is right when a object casts a shadow of some intrest. these moments are fleeting and soon pass. This is way I find the camera a good tool to collect and catologue these moments.
I have made a image bank of a year and a half so far of the farm on which I rent a house. The months are put into days that I have gone out and captured the farm at different times and seasons. These photos act as reminders and inspiration to draw when I am in my gallery in Salcombe. The drawings expand on the photos limited field of vision I try to explore the moment in charcoal simlifing the photo into the elemnts that intrest me. In doing this for the amount of time I have I have just started to see the themes in my practice. I like to draw the doors of th barns open and closed, I like to find sculptural objects the slice up the picture plan, I photograph the same things again and again draw them again and again in different times and lights.
I then take the successful and intresting drawings into paintings on canvas more in the next post
