The fish padlock © Peter Gander

I started this painting of my beloved fish padlock a couple of months ago. The padlock is a weighty lump of hand-incised brass and is accompanied by a more golden-coloured key. I bought this beautiful piece of handmade Indian art on Ebay a few years ago from India and though I wish I could say I had an exclusive ‘fishing tackle shed’, it does appropriately guard my fishing gear in my garden shed. Painting-wise, my original, half-baked creative attempt was painted in gouache and not working at all on the strongly-coloured pastel paper, so I abandoned it. The whole thing was wishy-washy, so undeserving of something so chunky and strong and I didn’t know what to do with it. Revisiting it today, I covered the whole coloured image in black Indian ink, creating a black silhouette and started again. This time with soft pastels working in darkest colours first over the black, finishing with the highlight. I then painted the scales, keyhole and fin lines in ink and finally, acheived a good result. Indian ink and soft pastel on Daler Rowney Murano (warm colours) Pastel Paper (160gsm).

The trout pool, Fordwich, Kent

The trout pool, Fordwich © Peter Gander

Many an evening I have stood here as dusk takes shape, my favourite time of the fishing day when trout make ripples as a rise begins to take place after a usually slow and challenging afternoon. This is my local fly-fishing lake, Fordwich trout pool, owned by my local club, The Canterbury & District Angling Association. Only a few acres at the most, but a peaceful haven a long walk from any houses, sitting next to the river Stour and alongside two much larger (coarse fishing) lakes. Fordwich, or rather its trout, were actually mentioned in Izaak Walton’s Compleat Angler too. The ones I catch aren’t wild ones, but the next best thing we have in the 21st century. Now the days are longer I find the evening my most fruitful catching time but even then one has to be very subtle. A small black hawthorn fly or buzzer perhaps. Just to the right of the scene out of view is a small wooden shed where catch returns are kept and a log book reveal the recent working methods, if you’re really stuck for ideas. As for catching a likeness of the scenery, the lovely textured character of this paper honestly makes the work much easier than it looks when a large dry brush is employed and dragged across the tooth of the surface. I use a Renaissance blue squirrel mop. Winsor & Newton half-pan watercolours on Daler Rowney The Langton Prestige 100% cotton Mould-made (forme ronde) 300gsm watercolour paper.

Suffolk sow, Snape

Suffolk sow, Snape © Peter Gander

On the way back home from Orford we spotted this free-range pig farm at Snape, Suffolk. Their bright, chrome-like, corrugated tin huts resembled wartime Anderson shelters amidst a bleak landscape. There were many huge sows like this one snuffling out deep holes in the wet winter earth, looking pretty content. A large, dry brush dragged across the very rough surface of this paper ensures a lovely texture is obtained for the muck and dirt on the sow’s body. Sepia Conté pencil and watercolour on 300gsm Daler Rowney The Langton 100% cotton Forme Ronde (Mould-made) paper.