Finally......a chance to sit down with a coffee and reflect on these last few months. As mentioned in my November post, we took a visit up to Northumberland, visiting the newly opened St Marys Inn. Not only indulging in some of the wonderful foodie treats and ales, but getting a feel for the place as I had been asked to create some artwork to be hung throughout the Inn.
December was time to get busy and embrace the great outdoors, wrapped up and armed with my essentials; sketchbook, pilot fineliners, graphite, white spirit and my camera, I bared the elements. Moving away from birch trees and canopies, I found myself visiting those trees that time and again in the routine of day to day life have caught my attention and have been drawn to and fallen in love with. Getting lost in the twists and turns of overlapping old knarled branches, the layers, scars and stories told in the ancient bark. Working away in the slightly warmer surroundings of my little studio I set to work on these new beautiful compositions.
Resulting in two new artworks, 'Ancient & Veteran #1' (that's right I feel there will definitely be more on the way), which is graphite and ink on parcel paper, based on a tree within the grounds of the beautiful Duncombe Park, at Helmsley. A lovely little North Yorkshire town, definitely worth a visit. The second composition, 'Old Peculiar', is a tree which has caught my eye for so long and I finally got round to studying it. Located within the grounds at Castle Howard, actually the car park, which I must admit is frequented far too often as I sneak in a coffee and something delicious from their deli on my travels. Both these pieces are created using the same method, one which I coincidently discovered by accident when kicking over a bottle of white spirit onto a graphite still life drawing, back in my sixth form days. The white spirit has this way of loosening the graphite, creating a beautiful diffused effect which softens the image, also making the graphite more workable, enabling you to move the material around the page with a cloth. Layering up the detail, I then begin to work back into the image, bringing up the detail using my beloved Pilot fineliner..jpg)
I have absolutely loved creating and curating artworks for St Marys Inn and cannot wait to get feed back from visitors, either those visiting the pub, or those staying in one of the two bedrooms themed with my work. Heres a few sneaky shots of the pieces in situ.
As we move forward into spring (I say that despite the fact that the view from my little studio space window has shown it has attempted to snow this afternoon), plans are been conjured up of new artworks, based on the 'Ancient & Veteran' series I have begun and exciting new contacts made with galleries are made. As always updates of my progress can be followed on http://www.harrietsophiewrightssketchbook.blogspot.co.uk/
