Visit from Arttutor.com

Art & Soul had a visit this week from a couple of the team from arttutor.com - Hannah and Jon. They came to film us in our 'natural environment' and asked us if we had any thoughts on filming content for the day. So I decided to work on some ideas in my sketchbook for future work on waterscapes - both for myself and for arttutor content later in the year. So below are the pages I had begun for Thursday's filming. They are 'work in progress' involving images from the work of other artists, water images and some rough sketches and studies of my own

These pages focus on the dramatic movement in Seascapes and the rolling wave image towards the top left is one of Maggie Hambling's. My own rough studies were about capturing a sense of movement through gestural mark-making. In the right hand image, the top study is in pastels and the lower one is in watersoluble 'Derwent Graphatint' pencils

I carried on with the gestural approach over the next pages. This study was produced very rapidly using acrylic paints and a broad brush. It was based on the work of another artist (image bottom left). I'm afraid I don't know who it was but I liked the movement and the energy and it felt good to flow with the paint in that way.



























To the left, I did some pastel studies based upon Monet's impressionistic approach to water. The lower one is just mapped in ready for some more work. To the right, I collected some images that were more about pattern, some of them done by other artists, and they lift up to allow me to do some studies underneath and around them

These images are all about 'going with the flow'. I'm looking forward to using these as inspiration for some creative play - experimenting with energy, flow, movement and of course, different materials

Being a moody artist, I couldn't pass by the opportunity to collect some evocative images by two of my favourite artists - Whistler and Rothko. I've linked these to some of my own photographs and I'm hoping they will lead me into some very subtle painting. In contrast to all that movement and energy, these will be about contemplation and stillness.

So that's it so far. I'll upload the pages again as I develop my own studies and experiments - hopefully something interesting will develop out of the theme!