Easton Workshop, Sketches & Flood

Yesterday was my last workshop at Easton for this year, and the Garden’s last opening day for the year. After all the rain the sun came out and it was a glorious day with long shadows and beautiful light and the flooded lower meadow by the bridge was quite something.

As always we are keen to get out and draw but we were also looking at some ideas for developing a sketch into a painting.
Colour, composition, detail, scale and orientation are all things to consider. Also you have to ask yourself if a sketch will actually benefit from working up. Some sketches are beautiful and as finished as you would ever want them to be. But some ask to be developed into a more considered painting.

There a million variations of colour combinations and many different reasons for choosing one composition over another, and then there is the question of size, and all this is dependant on what you are trying to say.  

The Arch

There is a beautiful old  “broken” arch at Easton, a relic of a road that now goes nowhere. It begs to be painted. 
 

Some initial sketches. It’s a tricky image because of the gap which has nothing in it.

 

Sorting out the tones……

and a few colour thumbnail experiments using limited palettes.

I have started a painting. It’s on the drawing board  to be hopefully “finished”… (whatever that is?) soon.

 

I shall miss my trips to wonderful and inspirational Easton and all my excellent workshop artists who have soldiered on through wind, rain and flood and taken themselves and their sketchbook outside to work. 
But we will be meeting up again next year for more workshops and an exhibition of our endeavours in August. Hurrah …watch this space!