Vidya Wolton

The past month has been a fruitful time for pursuing the landscape themes as mentioned previously. There is definitely something that has stayed with me which I can pursue through landscape but which is an amalgam of a number of experiences. I’m painting in earnest with a view to submitting for the Quay Arts Open in about a month’s time. It’s good to have a short-term focus as so often exhibitions are one or two years ahead and can be difficult to work towards without other goals along the way.

Last week was spent cat-sitting in the village of Shorwell, providing an excellent opportunity for some sketching in the fields behind the house. I was able to station myself at one particular viewpoint with a wide vista across much of the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight. I’ve worked directly into the sketchbook and also from a colour copy (shown here). I have to say, this is something of a departure: a straight depiction and the use of naturalistic colour, but then again why not! Be straightforward for a change and as a novelty it worked for me to simply draw what I was seeing. These exercises in observation have proved fruitful in the return to the studio as I’ve been able to work onto colour copies mounted onto canvas or board. There seems to be something of a mini-project emerging so I think I’ll go with the flow and see where it leads.