Baffled

It’s late and the weather is taking a turn for the worst, we’re in a windy spot in a caravan the rain is drumming on the roof but with the wind whipping up there’s a new noise, there is either some fool in a helicopter or something stange is happening to the caravan. It’s too wild outside to investigate so we check all is ok internally; no partially open windows or ceiling vents, it all seems to secure. The only option is to put my head under the pillow, which I do without my wife’s help.

The next day is still windy with occasional percipitation, but it’s light and I can see there is no helicopter on the roof. The cause of the sound becomes obvious now, the webbing that is anchoring the caravan to the ground is acting like a giant double bass string and our caravan is the giant double bass. The wind is coming at just the right angle to set it off vibrating and it’s resonating throughout the caravan, hence we couldn’t pinpoint the sound from inside. The question is what to do next and in the end Rachael’s yoga mat wedged between the webbing and the caravan provides the answer, a baffle is required.

It must be part of suffering for your art, because in this weather only someone with very waterproof, windproof equipment would paint en plein air and even then the view they’re painting would be pretty grim. I’m not that person so I’m reduced to painting from photographs, something I’m no stranger to. It is curious because although the results seem just as good the experience is nowhere as good. There is a lot of ‘cheating’ that you can take advantage of; trying several compositions by resizing and cropping the photographs, it much easier than making sketches, you can also view the image in black and white allowing much easier tonal analysis that the squinting option I usually employ. Once you have your image suitable edited then transfering a 2D image to canvas is also much easier than from a 3D start point. I have marked my tablet up with grid points to make a 4×4 grid and, as it has the same aspect ratio as the canvas ( or close to), I just mark the canvas up in the same way. I then pick a point of interest and start sketching with the paintbrush. My sketch is pretty simple, its going to get covered in paint and I quite like painting alla prima.

It’s also a chance to paint subjects that move quickly or change, such as boats, sunrise or sunset. The boat in the painting above, and I stand to be corrected, is a Galway Hooker and was the result of some indoor painting. It has also been a lot more cosy painting sitting down with the painting on a table accompanied with cup of tea and some chocolate biscuits rather than trying to juggle with things on a fencepost. I’m seeing it as a welcome break but hope to get back to painting outdoors again before this years art ‘in residence’ comes to an end.