Several years ago, when I was privileged to receive a grant enabling me to work with the late Graeme Willson, as my mentor, he said that he thought that a significant problem I faced was that I was “afraid to fail”, and consequently was reluctant to push out my art work beyond familiar territory. His words came into my head this afternoon.
I am trying to keep up the momentum of regular drawing, mentioned in an earlier post. Today I decided that I would try a piece using ink wash. This is a medium I have rarely used. Perhaps two years ago I did a short series of sketches of Almscliff Crag, but I can’t recall anything else. It seemed to be well suited to the task of producing something rapidly and requiring the abandonment of inhibitions. It turned out to be a good choice.
On this occasion I decided that I would work from a photograph. During our recent holiday in Dorset me made a very interesting walk to see the “Agglestone Rock”. This is a rather spectacular isolated boulder standing in the middle of heath land, left behind by the erosion of most of its kind. It survives because a stratum of quite soft sandstone is protected from the weather by a superior layer of much harder material. It is quite dramatic, and attracts climbers as well as walkers. There is a real sense of “presence”.
So: I assembled my materials and threw myself into the task.* It was gratifying to realise that I had shed my inhibitions so early and avoided becoming precious about the drawing, just trying to capture the spirit of the thing. In the event I am quite pleased with the result, which I think does capture the massive character of the rock and something of a personal response to it. It seems to have met the high standards of my wife.
I have to acknowledge that Graeme was probably right, and that a good way of addressing that problem is to do more of the kind of drawing exercises I’ve been attempting this week.
Changing the subject entirely: isn’t it curious how the success of plants can vary from year to year? Previously our black currants have grown well, but there have been meagre crops of gooseberries. This year the former have been pretty wretched, but we’ve had more gooseberries than ever. I wonder why.
*I just used a good watercolour paper, a single size 7 watercolour brush, and Chinese ink, as well as a pen to highlight a few details at the end. I’ve decided that I’m not fond of Chinese ink and probably feel more comfortable with Indian.