Anyway....I'm here now. So this weekend was spent down in Weymouth, visiting family. It was a great weekend and it really is a very beautiful part of the world, especially with it's Jurassic coastline. The weather was meant to be grim, however, apart from a few small showers, we were treated to some moments of glorious sunshine and dramatic skies.
I had intended to take my sketchbook, but in the whirl of getting home from work on Friday, getting everything into the car and getting on our way - I left my sketchbook behind. No sketchbook certainly does not mean no inspiration. With the cameras on phones now being what they are, the fact that I also left my camera behind (I know, I know!) proved to be no problem either.
I managed to get some great shots, a couple of which I've included here, and some walks along the coastline have certainly given me some great ideas for work. I think that as a landscape painter it's really important not to just observe or record or place, but to stand and just absorb it. Experience the moment you are there, the quality of the light, the effects of the weather.
Standing on a very windy Portland just as a weather front was moving in, gave some wonderful colours in the sky, but to look down at the rocks beneath your feet and see the remenants of prehistoric sealife, frozen in the rock for millions of years certainly adds to the sense of being very small standing out there.....very small indeed. I have had some great ideas for the next series of works once I've finished my "Essex" series. So it seems that to be an artist in a great landscape without a sketchbook, isn't such a problem as I'm sure it once used to be.
Only thing is.....I might need to make quite a few more trips back down to Weymouth!!
Very interesting blog post Eve. I'm often struck by how often I see people looking at beautiful places through a lens and not really absorbing the atmosphere or experiencing it themselves at all. I'm glad that you made that point because I feel your work is very atmospheric and now I can see why. I look forward to seeing a new Weymouth series from you!
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