Tuesday 6 July 2010

HOLKHAM HALL AND DEER PARK

Back last October Anita and I rented a caravan on the north Norfolk coast as a base to visit various locations for a sketching break. One of the places we visited was Holkham Hall and ever since I have wanted to create a piece of work from my sketches and photos. Well, I got round to it this week as I need a third local country scene for an Arts and Craft Fair in North Norfolk near Cromer soon.

Here's one of my original pen sketches:

and following is the planned composition drawn with pen onto a sheet of acrylic canvas, as I shall be framing it with mount and behind glass. You will see I have put the buildings behind trees I selected from a wood on higher ground which we sketched whilst seated on a bench with a bronze figure and dog beside us (quite spooky making you keep looking round to see who was nearby)!! I've also added some deer from photos taken in the deerpark.



This following image is an early stage of development using Atelier Interactive acrylic paints, as it was so hot when I started painting these first layers I needed to keep spraying them with a mist water spray to keep the pigments pliable and moist - a great feature of this particular acrylic paint.





I'll keep you posted as to how it develops.


7 comments:

Christiane Kingsley said...

Joan, what a wonderful scene and you are off to a superb start. How do you find that the interactive paints differ from regular acrylics?

DJ said...

Yes, I'm curious about the interactive acrylics, also.
Lovely painting with such an interesting composition, Joan. Nice brushwork, too.

Vicki Greene said...

Looking good! I really like how you did your adjustment from your sketch.

Robert A Vollrath said...

Love the placement of the deer.

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

Thanks girls for your comments. Atelier paints are not yummy like my Liquitex I love so much, not so smooth and creamy. The pigments seem to have a funny separation texture as they come out the tubes, but blend well with some acrylic flow enhancer. For this painting I am keeping the application quite thin for me - not my 'lumpy' painting style because I am framing it to match the other two paintings. I like the way the canvas texture shows through. Maybe thicken as I come forward to the foreground. Working outdoors they are an asset - just keep spraying to keep moist however much the sun or wind dries them out.

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

Ooops! Hey Robert, your comment sneaked in as I was typing my response to the girls above you. I too was pleased how I chose two groups of deer from my photos and placed them up to and behind the trees. Firstly I only had the group on the right, but felt it needed balancing and giving space between them to lead the eye down through the trees to the buildings. It will probably show up more when I get the colour on.

Anita Davies said...

Joan I love that you incorporated the deer and the trees in the composition. Looking good!!!