Monday 23 January 2012

Drawing of Trees (after John Walter James)

Started the day, and the week, with this undistinguished sketch of a corner of a watercolour called 'Coldharbour Farm':


It was good to stand in front of it and get something down quickly. I enjoyed getting lost in the tangle of trees and branches, and became fascinated by the different degrees of wash used to suggest bulk, depth, volume. Haven't managed to get these in pencil. The artist was John Walter James, who I learn was the 3rd Baron Northbourne (1869-1932). I couldn't find anything more about him. He's not in the ODNB and the Peerage dot com page has the barest facts. I'm glad he left this behind. Did he do lots of paintings, I wonder?