When I was on the Portfolio Course in Ullapool, one of the other students shared Sister Corita Kent’s ten rules with us as we started work on our projects for the end of course exhibition. I love these rules and each of them has helped give me a push at different points as I’ve been working. I’d started work on a Wiltshire landscape some weeks ago. I’m finding landscape painting in Wiltshire has a whole set of different challenges to those in Scotland. I saw Scotland as sky and weather dominating almost everything else. Wiltshire’s weather is far gentler, but the land has fascinating folds and contours needing a new approach. I wasn’t happy with my initial efforts, but just like with the cancelled sketch meet a couple of weekends ago:
I went back to the piece and made an effort to develop it further and find a more effective visual language.
I started with charcoal pencil, then went for a change in colour and tried to use brush marks to describe the the rounded hill contours. I stuck with the building depicted in texture paste, liking the way it started to sit into the landscape but remained clearly as something added in. Anyway, I think it feels like it’s getting somewhere.
Now, I just need to pay attention to this rule!
Paint brushes down again and time to stand back and look – I’ll catch on in the end.
Kate Chappell 