About water: From sketches

The stream is an obvious constant of the tight, narrow, twisting valley that informs my current work. Despite this, until recently, the water has only featured indirectly. This has changed with changing seasons, as the stream rises and falls with downpours and dry spells, so with my sketchbook. The pages are now filling with water-related line drawings and annotation. All describing the short, relatively unremarkable sections of that small watercourse.

These sketches and notes are what I take back to the studio, working initially through small scale works on cartridge paper (two examples in this blog post)- and then on larger sheets of watercolour paper.

Sketch for water drawing. Charcoal and chalk on paper 41 x 30 cm

Sketch for water drawing. Charcoal and chalk on paper 41 x 30 cm

The resulting drawings explore the flow of water, the obstructions, the water coursing through narrow straits, juggling pebbles as it flows- the leaves, branches, soil and pebbles pulled along with the current as well as the bubbling, rocking and roaring that that accompanies it.

Review and new work

Since my last posting, I’ve developed my drawing and painting; a sample of which below…

Untitled. 2021. Charcoal and chalk on watercolour paper. 76 x 56 cm

This is one of the largest pieces I’ve made in a while, and is on a single full sheet of watercolour paper. Preceding this, lots of drawing on a smaller scale, and associated paintings. This perhaps needs a bit of context, so here goes…

I make art about landscape, most recently about my immediate surroundings. I make expressive drawings and paintings that document local landscapes and my responses to them.

For many years I have explored favourite landscapes across the remoter parts of Britain through painting, drawing or photography. My regular local walks are now the starting point for my art work; taking notes, photographs and sketches. These are the source material for the drawings and paintings that I work up in my studio.

The paintings and drawings are often dark and near-monochrome. They are dominated by large organic forms, which emerge from dark grounds. These are memories of my local walks, developed by variations on the 'exquisite corpse’ game (in which I am the sole collaborator). Cut and sectioned charcoal drawings reassemble fragments of landscape forms (rocks, falling water, horizons, clouds) but in disrupted combinations. Expressive marks also meet and merge suggesting eyes, faces and figures. These non-topgraphical readings are more evident in more recent, larger drawings, where suggestions of some written observations and recollections also appear

These works document the experience of passing through this enclosed space, and offer an opportunity to reflect on living through constrained, unnerving and uncertain times.