Shade and light summer sketches

Whilst working on my graduate exhibition I began to investigate light and shade more so than I ever had before. This summer, I wanted light and shade to be the primary focus of my sketches, paintings and ink drawings. Naturally, a journey is comprised of forks in the road and dead ends, but so far this is where my work has taken me.

First, I went back to some photos from a visit to Rheidol, and found some cool looking trees.

Ink led me to want to draw more graphically – and especially after getting my first tattoo done, I was looking at a lot of inspiring graphic artwork, as well as eastern art.

As well as returning to my love of graphic drawings, I thought I could try painting some landscapes in black and white to strip back the somewhat overwhelming beauty of colour. I also wanted a sense of place to be significant in these sombre studies.

After I re-visited Devil’s Bridge, I felt inspired. The walk fell into place nicely with my perception of the landscape at the time. I was, and am currently, looking at a lot of Japanese landscape prints.