It started with the photo taken near Tideswell in Derbyshire. Lovely spot. We went there for a week’s holiday some time ago, it was clear and seemed really bright. I took a number of photos and from that week and have done quite a number of drawings from them.

There’s a folder on my desktop called experiments and really they all should be titled thus. All the imagemakng is an experiment, I’ve tried a number over the last six or seven years and more on these landscapes.

First came the line drawings. I’m at home with black and white line drawings, after all I had a career doing them. In this case the drawings were done in ‘the back to basics’ of a pen, a nib and a bottle of Indian ink. Paper was gloss print card, nothing arty of fancy, the gloss makes it very easy on the pen nib. I use a brush, any old paint brush, to do parts as well, even an old toothbrush at times. I wonder what sort of results I might get from an electric one? Might try that some time, could be good for splatter.

After the line drawing came the colour and how to apply it. Not my comfort zone. In this case I scanned the line work and got the computer programme to trace the line work. This sort of evened out the feel of the line, and now I think it makes it all too clean.

With the line work done colour was applied digitally in photoshop. I actually did quite a few of these at the time. Then looking at them my feeling about them changed, I thought they looked bland and uninteresting. I put myself on the naughty step and had a long, but not that long, think about what I was doing. Producing computer aided design was the damning verdict. Time to ditch it. “Get the boots on Carruthers, we shall proceed back into the Creative Undergrowth, I’m about to embark on another journey, pack the paints and the board, let’s go back to basics on that map”

Thus the imaginary Carruthers and I set of for painting Narnia, via a short course on acrylics with eleven female painters up North in the Southern Peak District. They treated me well, we were of course, all trying to reach the same sort of goal. Our leader, a fine woman with many skills was encouraging and enlightening. I was mightily motivated.

“Come the rains and the paints a will come out” I told myself. Difficult to believe now in this week of heat and summer, but earlier in the year we had days of drawing rain and painting cloud.

I’ve done a lot of painting since and the painting here is a the same subject revisited. No digital interference has occurred here and to me it’s better for it.

What am I trying to do? Well, I’m not really sure but in essence I’m trying to get a feel for the place and to tell a bit of a story of the patterns of the countryside, that I so love. Does it do it? Perhaps that’s not for me to say, but I think it’s moving in the right direction. What do you think?

“Let’s get that kettle on Carruthers, time for a think and a rich tea biscuit methinks.”