Well, here I am, back from my “art retreat” in the depths of rural Derbyshire. It has been unlike other trips of the same kind, in that I have not returned with a new theme or body of material to be worked over, but rather with an interest in different techniques.
One of the things that has impressed itself upon me has been the idea of “gestural drawing”. This has been almost imposed by the nature of the countryside, in that the shape of the landscape demands a broadly gestural response. The landforms have a broad, rhythmic character that is almost musical. You can’t help but think of that bit in Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony–you must know the bit I mean–that goes “Di-dumm-dum, di-dumm-dum, di dum di dum di dumm.” (Yes: that bit.) In fact, I found that I had annotated my drawings on two successive days as “rhythmic landscape”.
I’ve also discovered drawing with an ink wash, quite to my satisfaction, and I think I’ll continue to experiment with that medium.
The countryside has been idyllic, with trout in the rivers, deer on the moor, and the woods full of birds. I’ve walked every day, around ten km. on each occasion, I would guess, taking advantage of the generally fine weather. It has been a thoroughly refreshing experience, although not without its trials. I didn’t take enough relaxing reading, and the more serious material I took turned out to be far harder going than I had anticipated. Because I don’t allow myself access to radio, TV or the press on these occasions, filling time has occasionally been a problem.
One great benefit of the “retreat” has certainly been my complete insulation from the continuing wrangling about British membership of the European Union. The question seems to be no less intractable than when I left. I was amused this afternoon when my wife drew my attention to a discussion on the TV involving the American psychologist Stephen Pinker, whose comment on the situation was that people appear to have voted for “squared circles”. I guess that sums it pretty well. We are indeed in an impossible situation. Ah well! I didn’t have to think about that for a week.