…the graver sides of life, the deaths, the partings, the yearnings for love, have their deepest expression in the heart of the fields

EM FORSTER.

So, last August we downed brushes in Berlin and took up a 1 week artists residence in the fields, tracks and byways of East Cambridgeshire, and briefly to Suffolk, sketching, drawing and of course painting. Aside from the obvious need to practice drawing from life, the trip was important for two reasons; This year I will continue screen printing sessions at Cut Editions in Suffolk - and field trips in the English countryside are helping to inform and provide vital new material and ideas for the next screen print editions. Secondly, the lure of and yearning for the English countryside endures and grows stronger with each passing day, and without it my heart feels heavy.

In this blog I will focus on some sketches, drawn or painted with charcoal or gouache, on a Seawhite acid free paper. 

Happily the weather provided strong bright light for most of the trip. The sun would get a little too high around noon, the shadows and contrasts are generally strongest morning and evening, but on an intensive short field trip one must take every opportunity to make the most of the time available. Around Midday I would spend time scouting for interesting areas of landscape, or simply concentrating on little moments, such as the sunlight and shadows on the tree trunk in the image above. I would put down the brushes or take time away from a drawing to commence sketching around Midday simply for the benefit of exercise. At the end of the trip I noticed a number of these sketches had an intriguing 'washed out' quality, which I put down to the fact that much of them were drawn when the sun was at its peak and shadows are less defined. 

I did a number of fast-paced gouache drawings on the trip; here is one next to a charcoal version drawn moments before. I struggle to maintain full focus and concentration after around 5 - 6 hours of drawing, especially on a bright and warm day. Switching to an alternaitive meduim as immediate and fluid as gouache later in the day is a welcome change and freshens up the hand and the eye. 

I drew these two drawings one after the other, I think from the cab of my van. As the trip progressed I could begin to feel more tuned in to how I wanted to approach and use the charcoal. I was drawing predominantly for reference and with a view to develop some of the more interesting or successful compositions and ideas into colour screen prints editions. I wanted to simplify the charcoal lines and smudges as much as possible, to limit the amount the charcoal and paper was worked into each other, to keep the drawings fresh and airy. I found myself trying to subtract and distill as much as possible rather than filling the paper with charcoal. 

Thank you for reading. 

Thank you also to my good friend Alec and his wonderful family for providing accomodation on this trip and invaluable company in the evenings.

In my next blog I will discuss the making of unique five-colourway screen prints, created in December of last year in Suffolk. 

 

Happy New Year all. 

I've been slow off the mark this year, slow to get going. However, this isn't an empty post! Before I post or discuss any new work on the blog this year I'm going to look back at the LandEscapes - New Charcoal Drawings exhibition (which already seems a year ago!), and want to share some pictures on the blog for those who didn't manage the trip to the wonderful Centrespace Gallery.

LandEscapes - New Charcoal Drawings at Centrespace Gallery, December 2013. 

There were seventeen pieces in total, which filled the fairly cavernous Centrespace rather well. You will soon be able to see all the pieces on my website which is being updated shortly.

I feature three drawings from the exhibition in this post:

'Fallen Branch, Near Ashton Brook'   2013   112cm x 86cm   Charcoal on paper

Fallen Branch Near Ashton Brook is one of many pieces created last summer around a small plantation of trees that grow beside Ashton Brook. As soon as I saw this storm damaged tree I knew it would provide a wonderful subject not least for its obvious compositional strengths. I was fascinated with the way in which the branch had fallen away and left such an emptiness. The view through the hedge at the base of the tree also captivated me; often I find myself gazing through a hedge taking in the dark shapes that are formed by branches, twigs and leaves. I recorded this scene several times before committing to this relatively larger scale (112cm x 86cm). It is a place I will return to again soon, at this time of year it looks quite different of course.

'Ashton Brook In Grey Light'    2013   113cm x 58cm  Charcoal and chalk on paper

Ashton Brook In Grey Light. A week or so after  finishing this drawing I returned to do another study and found this magnificent old oak tree on its side, sadly blown over by autumn winds. From this angle the tree and other structures around it created an arch shaped motif which I really enjoyed working into the drawing; I was also taken with the way in which this contrasted with the many vertical shapes, creating depth and structure.

'A Gap In The Hedge'    2013   76cm x 56cm    Charcoal and chalk on paper

A Gap In The Hedge was one of the last drawings created near Ashton Brook last summer. I undertook several drawings of this gap in the hedge, mainly in sketchbooks, before completing this drawing. I wanted much of the structure of the drawing to be created from patterns of recurring or similar shapes. It is the silhouetted shapes against a blanket of light that I found particularly interesting. Paul Cezanne once said "To paint from nature is not to copy an object, it is to represent its sensations".

Special thanks to everyone who helped set up the show and made the opening night a great success!!

Stay tuned for more posts!

LandEscapes - New Charcoal Drawings 
Mossie Quille
6th-18th December, 11am-6pm
Centrespace Gallery, 6 Leonard Lane, Bristol BS1 1EA

Not long to go now until my first solo exhibition, LandEscapes, opens at Centrespace Gallery, but what can visitors expect to see and what is it all about?

Twilight, a time to work fast

As the clocks go back, the weather worsens, and the dark nights draw in, there is time in this post to reflect on the last few mild sunny evenings that we've enjoyed here in North Somerset and Bristol. I have been spending time on these sunny evenings on a farm track near Long Ashton, drawing the sun setting over a small village nearby called Yanley.

'Oak Tree near Yanley' Somerset   22-9-13   42cm x 59cm   From A Somerset Sketchbook

Introducing A Somerset Sketchbook

A Somerset Sketchbook has been added to my website.

This new sketchbook features drawings created between May 2013 to the present, at locations around North Somerset. Many of the drawings have since been worked on and developed further, some of which are due to appear on the walls of the Centrespace Gallery in December, as part of my charcoal drawing exhibition LandEscapes - New Charcoal Drawings.

Featured in this post are three of the new drawings now uploaded to my website.

'Tree Roots, Colliter's Brook'   Hanging Hill Wood, Somerset   21-5-13   42cm x 59cm   From A Somerset Sketchbook

    Exhibition Announced!




I am very pleased to invite you all to my first solo exhibition this December! Invites for the Private View, which takes place on Saturday 7th December between 6 - 8pm, will be mailed out shortly. 

Watercolours from Europe 2012


I thought I would take a break from the Charcoal work for this post and introduce a little colour to my blog by sharing this short slideshow of Watercolour pieces taken from one of my Europe sketchbooks. These works were created whilst on a long holiday in Europe through the summer of 2012. All the works on the slide are of the Spanish and French Pyrenees except 'Pierre's Roses' which was painted in Limousin.