Whenever I travel, I pack a sketchbook, paints, and a hopeful heart, always on the look out for ideas for paintings. I’m in the here and now. It’s that spontaneity that will make a characterful sketch enabling me to connect with the landscape.
This time I am in the charming county of Devon in Southern England. I want to capture my impression of what’s out there, to later work up my ideas into finished paintings back in the studio. Keep reading to see how I get on ……..
There is a charming profile of trees receding along the headland at Blackpool Sands in Devon. It’s my first opportunity for a quick sketch and I don’t have much time. I use soluble pencils and a basic range of acrylic paints. I settle myself down in the Jurassic shingle and get sketching.
Next up, is a quick ‘colour sketch’ of a shady glade along a quiet stretch of the river Dart. I search for patterns and ways to abbreviate what I see by using a variety of brush sizes. Next, I look at basic shapes, colours and tonal values to capture a ‘feeling’ rather than a sense of exactness.
Visiting Dittisham on the river Dart at low tide, catches my imagination. A characteristic breadcrumb trail of small boats, leading the eye towards the landscape beyond.
Alchemy in the Studio – from Sketchbook to Painting.
On my return home I work up some little ‘river paintings’ in my sketchbook (above image).
It’s now time to scale things up. I prime some paper deciding on a limited colour palette of indigo blue, magenta, raw umber, black and white and working on two paintings at once.
I make fast gestural marks initially not relevant to the river scene, but gradually ‘carving’ into those marks finding a ‘whisper of ‘truth’ depicting life along the river Dart.
I then continue with a playful mindset allowing marks to dictate the outcome, all the while remembering the ebb and flow of the tide. The patterns in the sand and that breadcrumb trail of boats leading to the landscape beyond.
It’s rather nice to see how a painting can look in an interior setting, so here is an idea of how ‘Boats at Dittisham’ would look. From scruffy studio floor, to a clean interior setting.
You never know what ideas might come out of a sketching weekend, so low tide at Dittisham, proved a fruitful source of inspiration. I hope you’ve enjoyed the process of using a sketchbook to work up ideas to full finished paintings. Like to see a short video about my painting process? Click here.