Today starts the second weekend of the Chichester Art Trail but so far today no visitors have appeared but there is time yet, probably when I stop to have lunch. I have managed to spend time in my studio working on two pictures. Having several pictures in progress means that I can alternate between them…
Today is bright and sunny, a lovely spring day but I sat in the shade to draw a yew tree trunk and got very chilled by the time I had finished. I hadn’t bargained for the wind. The greens in the park are so vibrant especially against the bright blue of the rain washed sky….
What a scramble to get ready, busy right to the wire vacuuming studio at 7 this morning unwrapping canvases to stack in the browser. Help I didn’t wash the kitchen floor and it’s not going to be done now. Rush, rush, rush to blow up balloons put up signs lay out sketchbooks, cards notices and leaflets.What next?…
As I had no drawing to show from yesterday here is one I drew a little while ago. I set out on an early bus on a Saturday morning, walked through the park stopping to draw this stand of Holm oaks in the sunlight and went on to open the Cloudhopper Gallery.
The park was glorious today, the spring colours of trees are so bright which is more than my attempt at drawing which I binned when I had finished. It is rare for me to do that as even bad drawings can serve as a memory. I console myself that even some of the great artists…
Yesterday I went into the Park in the afternoon and sat at a picnic table to draw this tree again. It has been cut many times by the look of it and this makes for a very complex branch system. I rather like this antiqued effect of my drawing, a change from grey pencil.
This morning’s effort, adding the flowers. In Hotham Park there are several of the large stone balls seen at the bottom of the picture. They mark the edges of one of the paths and I think they lend drama to the landscape.
What do artists do all day? Well this. I’ve worked on this most of the day with a bit of diddling about for meals and short breaks. Its oil paint and I have gone as far as I can without messing up what I’ve already done. I’ll let it dry before I continue. Watch this…
This morning I have finished this decorative work. The final touch was to paint over the entire surface with a golden yellow glaze which serves to unify the colours and pull them together. I think its worked, but the whole painting is a bit of an experiment and where would we artists be without those.
16 April. A productive morning inspite of feeling chilly in the deceptive spring sunshine. I started by drawing a lovely old Horse Chestnut tree just inside the gates. I have wanted to do this for a while but I’ve always got there too late when it has been in shadow.
ritasspot, a blog about Hotham Park by it's Artist in Residence 