Work in progress

No completed work to post this week as I have been working on a number of pieces, none of which are finished yet. The two drawings above are roughs for a lino cut print, based on the Pen and Ink field drawing below. I've been experimenting with slightly different perspective points, trying to get a satisfying balance of black and white. In the second drawing, the barn appears slightly further back into the picture giving the illusion of greater depth, much closer in character to the original sketch.

Roadside Barn near Litton in Littondale. Pen and Ink. 148mm x 210m.

Dipper

Dipper. Watercolour (with Chinese white) on Ingres Paper. 225mm x 160mm.

Another interpretation of the previous post. Using the watercolour (with Chinese White added to make it more opaque) sparingly, allowing the dark toned paper to show through in parts of the picture. The opposite of my usual style as I normally prefer to work on white paper leaving unpainted areas for the highlights, rather than painting them in.

Dipper Song

Dipper. Pen and Ink Scraperboard.145mm x 125mm.

A drawing inspired by the imagery in a collection of poetry that I recently received from an old college friend.

Autumn in the garden

I've been struggling with a watercolour landscape for the last few days, which for a variety of reasons just didn't seem to be going right. It eventually became an acrylic painting as I stopped trying to rescue the watercolour and began overpainting it. Sometime this afternoon I gave up on it altogether and went outside to mow the lawn. Having finished that I spent an hour or so outside in the garden sketching these images of autumn.

Threatening weather

An opportunist sketch . Whilst driving home this afternoon along a moorland road the sun suddenly shone across the landscape against a brooding sky. Above the moorland it also lit a small cloud making it shine almost pure white infront of the darker stormclouds. As quickly as it happened the moment passed and the light darkened. With no place or time to pull over I made this sketch from memory as soon as I reached home. An attempt to fix the abstract patterns of light and dark tones and colours with no real concern for topographical accuracy.

Buzzards

More drawings from yesterdays walk round Denaby Ings. In good weather there are usually a couple of Buzzards soaring over the woodland. Yesterday the weather was hardly suitable for a large soaring raptor, so I wasn't sure I would see them. Walking around the edge of the reserve I found two birds feeding (presumably on earthworms) in a newly sown field. Surrounded by the fresh green of the young shoots.

Denaby Ings

Lesser Black Backed Gull preening. The bird flew off soon after I started drawing so I only had time to complete these two drawings.

Immature Cormorant. Perched on a fallen tree trunk against a background of reeds and brambles.

Immature Cormorant. A different individual to the one above, this bird having much darker underparts.

Fungi studies.

Landscape near Denaby Ings.

Saturday 4th October 2008. Field Sketching at Denaby Ings.

Not a particularly good day, cool and overcast with the constant threat of rain and a strong south westerly breeze. These drawings are the result of a three and a half hour walk round in the afternoon. I spend a lot of time at this small Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve. Its quietness appeals to me more than the crowded hides at the nearby Old Moor Wetland reserve. Here I can settle to concentrate on drawing without too much disturbance. It may not attract the range of species that can be found at Old Moor but there is always something worthwhile to draw, and even the most humble of species is worthy of closer attention.