Wet on Wetter
My Workshop is out on the Clifftops near Botallack in west Cornwall.
On a clear day there is a 270 degree sea horizon, from Lands End to the South ,round to Pendeen & the North Coast, with the Scilly Isles clearly visible, out to sea,forty miles due west.
The weather sweeps in from all points of the compass, but mostly off the ocean,& is always changing, strong winds, gales rain & fog can be expected in the winter months, & sometimes we get all of these at once! The weather sets the mood & determines what work might be done. Sometimes,but not often its calm, still & sunny,But this time of year it’s usually blowing a gale, with horizontal rain. The wind howls,screams & whistles,my workshop roof shakes & shudders like a ship in a storm,an atmosphere sometimes difficult to ignore.
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This is the time of year for “cabin fever”,which I try & resist,by going with the flow, & painting the magnificent cloudscapes, squalls & dramatic sunsets ,as they engulf my workshop.
These watercolours are painted “wet on wet”,a technique very suitable for catching the vapourous effects of the weather( which is after all, mostly wet)using dampened paper & a big sable brush. I work very quickly, as the light, the clouds,& the weather are usually moving & changing very quickly.
The sea & the sky are constantly changing & nothing ever stays quite the same?
