I am now holed up in my studio – for obvious reasons and I’m not complaining – making small painting studies of Herefordshire Landscapes.
I am currently a little bit obsessed with River Wye images.
I guess its because I grew up with the Wye at the bottom of my garden. It was the backdrop to my childhood. The walks by its banks to peer into dark water and the excitement to see the long shadow of a pike lounging in the shallows or a brief silver splash of unidentified feeding fish. The earthy smell. The trill of a kingfisher. Fishing with my brother and nothing better than messing about, to quote from Wind in the Willows, in a small rowing boat. Swimming respectfully across its deep pulling depths and afterwards my mothers hot cups of tea on the bank. Now I’m older I realise how very very lucky I was.
We are all drawn to water and its ever changing spectacle of form and surface. Water is challenging to draw or to capture as a moving, changing, reflecting subject. I am rediscovering ink, wax candles, wax crayons and oil pastels to explore this subject and to see where it takes me.
