Misty Reculver Towers

Misty Reculver Towers © Peter Gander

A short distance from home are Bishopstone Cliffs, somewhere I like to take our dog Stanley, for walks. Beyond this to the east in the painting are the ruins of Reculver Towers, once on land when built in Roman times, but now bolstered up by a rocky apron to protect it from the encroaching sea. At low tide you can walk between the two spots like these walkers were doing, but at high tide the sea comes right up to the cliff in the painting, cutting off the route. Winsor & Newton watercolour on Cotman 300gsm cold-pressed (NOT) grain paper.

Sketched in the city: Victoria Railway Station, London

Victoria Station, London © Peter Gander

There’s not a great deal of time beyond a soup or a sarnie at lunchtime to spend sketching, especially when I am trying to be conscientious now I am employed as a freelancer. No more two hour lunches! Thus today I found myself with about half an hour, long enough to do the line drawing for this painting. Believe it or not, I painted it on my return journey home after work to Kent on the train, as I have more than an hour’s trip. I had to wait until the train lost a few passengers, however, as initially it was rather cramped. I referred to a photo I had taken on my phone for colours and tone. The linework was scratched in with a fine Edding waterproof pen. I say scratched in as I don’t really enjoy the very un-smooth sensation such pens convey. I could have used a pencil, of course, but didn’t have one on me. I like subtelty sometimes and you can’t be subtle with a single weight pen. However, after a mix of good old Winsor & Newton Payne’s grey (I use haf-pans when out and about) a touch of black, Prussian blue and some warm, earthy colours, it looked a treat. I only had my travel brush with me, a big filbert, and was glad of the lack of choice it gave me, so I was bold with my brushtrokes. Abstaining from the temptation to fill in the background meant I preserved a good balance of light and dark, essential to keep the essence of what it was that struck me by the scene in the first place. Winsor & Newton watercolour on Grain Fin NOT 150 gsm paper.