Friday, October 16, 2009

By the Stream


Just back from sketchercising... I sat next to the stream that runs into the dam with my original little kit of watercolours and waterbrush. The morning sun was coming through the bright spring leaves, lots of dappled light and dark shadows, leaves, sticks and branches, rocks, water and reflections. The sound of the water trickling a very pleasant start to the day, though I couldn't get it to show up in my little sketch. While that dried I did two tiny sketches, squinting to try and just see bigger shapes and values instead of being distracted by all the many visual things going on. I could have quite happily spent all day there.
I'm reconsidering the waterbrush for this type of sketching - I'm sure I get far more colour and water on my towel than I do on the paper!

7 comments:

Teresa said...

Your woodsy/leafy/sunny painting is so pretty!

Distilling a complex scene is a struggle for me- guess that's one reason why I like portraiture... only one nose, one mouth, two eyes and two ears... instead of a zillion little objects!

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

Such a sunny scene and although the waterbrushes are great for a quicky, something as bold and colourful as this piece of outdoor work may need more water.

Thanks for info on how to create a virtual book.

Off within the hour for long weekend sketching with Anita up on our north Norfolk coast. (hired a caravan!). Plan to take waterbrushes and pots of water with good quality brushes in various sizes.

Cathy Gatland said...

Thank you Teresa - it is a struggle, I so admire artists who make simple landscapes but still say so much about the terrain.

Hello Joan - your weekend sounds wonderful - enjoy yourselves! I'll be looking for the resulting paintings...

Carol King said...

What beautiful sketches! And I love the phrase sketchercising!

Cathy Gatland said...

Thanks Carol! I can't claim the credit for 'sketchercising' - it's a term that Katherine Tyrell of Making a Mark (see my sidebar) coined... I really love your blog - it gave me a good belly-laugh first thing in the morning!

Suzanne McDermott said...

Lovely work. I am transported and can almost hear the water! Do you know Werner Pfarr's work? (Awaiting A Drawing)? Werner records his sketches and does all sorts of wonderful and inventive projects with his pencil.

Cathy Gatland said...

Suzanne, I don't know his work - am going to look him up now... thanks for your comment - I was frustrated that I couldn't get the water to 'show up' in the ditch there, so glad you still felt it's presence!