Showing posts with label #pleinair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #pleinair. Show all posts

Friday, 24 January 2014

Post hoc

Back through the door, casting off layers,  the feeling has returned to my fingers, I am greeted with a disarming question. Dad, why don't you just take photos and then do your work at home?

There is a word for thoughts which colour your actions and influence the choices we make without first passing the scrutiny of reason. Prejudice.

The question was sincere, so I answer. I like the way you see things change. The time it gives you to notice, things you might otherwise miss, the challenge and urgency of siezing them before they change again.

I would like to have added; And because the drawing is more than the image, it's the experience, of getting there, being there, feeling, thinking and seeing there. And I like that too.

When I was a child I would talk to the weather. Argue and compete with it. While mostly grown up now, and a little less quarrelsome, an element of this remains.  Ok wind, we'll dispense with the detail.

Perhaps I am prejudiced. Who, after all, can claim to be in full possession of the facts about anything.

For people working towards verisimilitude, cameras are great. Another valuable tool in the painters kit. I suppose I'm just looking for something else.

Thursday, 17 October 2013

New rig

Mark 2 monopod easel plein air rig.
Light weight. Stable. Versatile.
Five point quick release guy lines.
larger base plate, and battened up.
Tested in winds of up to 30 mph.

Wednesday, 16 October 2013

Formidable

Not great deal to show for the day but an enhanced appreciation of the visscitudes of the location. Neither cave nor roundhouse remained untouched by today's wind.
The new improved rig held up after last week's catastrophic failure, which nearly saw my work disappear seaward. Alas, full safety harnesses remain out of scope for this project. Perhaps a telescopic mast to strap myself to would do?
New homemade fixative performed well in driving rain too. Little may have been gained, but at least no work was lost.