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Turl Street |
OXFORD - City of dreaming Spires
 Seeking
new inspiration in the winter of ’98, I took my sketchbook to Oxford one
day, and began my acquaintance with one of the most beautiful cities I
know. Standing on a street corner, with buses roaring past, and a cold
February wind biting at my fingers, I could nevertheless look upwards,
and lose myself in another world. The architecture in the centre of
Oxford, with its spires, towers and cupolas, and stunning variety of
detailing on almost every building can hold its own with any city in the
world. It was from this point on that the main focus of my painting and
drawing turned to architecture. Another change that occurred that year
was the technique of painting with no preliminary drawing.
By this I don’t mean
painting on site with no preliminary drawing. I almost always do a
preliminary drawing before painting anything, even ‘en plein air’. No, I
will still do a drawing ‘on the spot’ first, even if only a small
thumbnail sketch to think through the basic composition and tone, in my
mind, and in order to ‘see the painting’ in my head before putting brush
to paper. If I don’t have time to even sketch a scene that takes my
fancy, and I am forced merely to work from memory and a photograph, then
I will still work up a sketch from the photo before starting to paint.
So much gets sorted out in the initial sketches, and they also provide
valuable inspiration and ideas. Often one drawing will spawn several
different paintings.
Having done my initial
sketch of a view, then just painting the outlines of the scene with pale
yellow ochre, say, rather than drawing with a pencil can give a
wonderful freshness and excitement to the painting process. I have kept
a half finished view of one of my first attempts, as it still inspires
me to continue with the same technique occasionally. Unlike the method of
‘colouring in a drawing’ it may be hard to control, but is more exciting
to watch the picture unfold. Why are unfinished pictures so often more
interesting that the finished article?
For further information on paintings and commissions contact:
chris@fothergillsgallery.co.uk
Click on
the images below for a larger view of paintings sold at the Gallery. |
