THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GREAT OUTDOORS
You know those car-stickers that say profound things like ‘Golfers do it with one glove on’, or ‘Artists don’t die, they just lose their bristles’, well, I think there should be one that simply says ‘Landscape painters do it outdoors’.
It was one a recent walking / sketching trip that it occurred to me how much being out in the landscape really meant to me. Not only that, but how much it meant to the whole process of painting landscapes.
I’ve never made any secret of the fact that I prefer painting in the studio to painting out of doors. I say this with the proviso that I might change my mind should I discover a logistically pleasant way to undertake the procedure. Until then, I’m sticking to what I’m most comfortable with, and that means travelling light (not a bad epitaph that: ‘He travelled light’).
Travelling light, in the sketching sense, means a sketchbook and pencil (and something to sharpen the pencil with) and little else in my rucksack but a flask and sandwiches.
What really matters, as far as I’m concerned, is being out there.
Being out in the landscape gives you the opportunity to soak up the experience both visually and physically. The hope is that all that soaking-up comes out at the easel in a form that transmits the same feelings and emotions to the viewer. This all helps to develop observational skills, too. Until you start to paint, there are many things that you tend to take for granted, whereas painting a subject means studying it and understanding it in visual terms. There is no better way to do that, in my opinion, than at first-hand; get to know your subject on its own terms, in a three-dimensional sense.
If you’ve reached a point in your watercolour work where you feel you’re in a bit of a rut, then a short sketching trip or two might be just what you need. And if you feel your sketching skills are not up to the task, then remember it’s not necessarily about accuracy, but more about gathering your raw material from which your paintings can grow. Go on; get your boots on, grab a sketchbook and take a walk – and see what happens!
