http://www.painters-online.co.uk artistDecember 2019 35
PRACTICAL
Geof Hunt is a past president of the Royal Society
of Marine Artists and the current chairman of the
Wapping Group of Artistsp The Japanese Gateway, Kew Gardens,
watercolour in Fabriano sketchbook, 12 3 6in
(30.5 3 15cm).
Another example of a diferent approach to
plein-air work, this time what you might call
the ‘sketchbook study’. I was interested at
the time in working with pens dipped into
watercolour. Using that technique, this study
of the Japanese gateway in Kew Gardens
absorbed me for some time. It’s more than
just a simple sketch, but on the other hand
it isn’t anything you would frame or could
even work up into a painting subsequently.
It doesn’t have a painting as its end product.
It’s just what it is, sketchbook work for its own
sake – and it was fun. This is going to sound
heretical to some people I know, but don’t
feel you have to come back from every day
out with inished paintings in the bag. Give
yourself a break sometimes!p Victoria & Albert Museum, December Dusk, watercolour on Fabriano Not Extra White,
183 124in (45.5 3 32.5cm).
I thought the subject was worthy of grander treatment, so I decided to translate it into a studio
painting, also in watercolour. My aim was basically to keep the sense of atmosphere, especially
features such as the lit windows, while tightening up the architectural drawing