French Pictures

soft pencil, watecolour and oil pastel sketchThe painting I’m working on at the moment is another piece based on a sketch made from that same long holiday spent in France visiting friends that ‘The Lane’ came from. It really is true that it doesn’t matter how long it’s been since creating the initial sketch, and finally taking up my brush to paint. I think it’s because when I draw on the spot, and it works, time takes on a different quality. I am completely in the moment, and it’s almost as if it’s not really me doing the work. I get impatient and excited so that I don’t lose that mix of experiencing something so completely , responding and making the drawing. It all happens very quickly. I always know when it’s working even as I do it. Sketches wait for me to dig them out, and wherever I am I can relive the experience through the work. It is happening with the cornfield and fence that I am working on at the moment. I just have to be careful to know when to stop! Always a problem for me. I did some work on it last Monday  with my new turquoise brushes. The end is quite near I think. The next jolly will be to go to the sea again. I’m missing the sea. I’m in conference with my friend, and the Northumbrian coast is beckoning. Though there is a quarry with a pool in a forest near us that is also providing food for thought. I’ll let you know what happens in my next blog.