Studies and Sketches

It is a fact which cannot be denied that sometimes things don’t go 100% to plan. I was feeling a little despondent with the feel of “Boulder Gate” as it was not the loose style I was seeking, certainly on the rocks.

I decided to have a play with the shapes and forms. These were painted on Rymans Cartridge Paper which is a very smooth surface.

This first version I worked as a loose graphite stick sketch and a loose wash. I almost like this better, though it is very much a sketch.

After this I ditched the lines entirely. This almost looks like a marker pen sketch, taking the forms to their most minimalist.

I did a further graphite sketch, but this time decided to leave the background as a simple sky – this puts the rocks in a totally different environment, which could be anywhere.

For the 4th iteration I started again with just a pencil sketch and aimed again to work quite loose. I decided to add in this stormy desert sky, taking inspiration from the previous version.

This has certainly been a useful exercise and produced some great images in their own right.