On a mound overlooking the river Adur stand the remains of a motte and bailey (a central mound surrounded by an enclosure) 11th century castle. There’s very little left but what’s there is quietly evocative of the past. There are steps to what may have been kitchens, and threaded through the woodland below, is the footpath that once was a deep and steep defensive ditch.

I did one drawing before applying paint. It was a sketch in watercolour pencil delineating general areas of light and dark and over which I applied a wash of alizarin crimson/prussian blue which would provide contrasting colour patches ‘showing through’ the foliage. This first iteration demonstrates again my tendency to neglect the edges, especially those on the right, which could be seen as socio-political metaphor but seems more likely to be down to handedness whereby the edge on the right is a bit of a stretch for us lefties unless we shuffle right and then we don’t have the whole painting in sight. Does the same happen to right-handers? Do you neglect the edge on the left?

Second question: have I reached the point in just two stages where people who know a thing or two about painting are yelling at me to stop here? Maybe this is a question for Instagram/Threads.

4th September. I decided not.

Edges dealt with.

I’m not over-enthused about the tree in the gap. It’s a little inconsistent with the rest of the painting in its style and probably needs blunting somewhat. At present, it feels like the token dog in a field scene, supposedly making the image in some way relatable. And it makes me think of the tree at Sycamore Gap that was vandalised, which means other people might see it that way too.

That’s the tree excised. I think just plain bright white is what’s required there so that the sense of a path out from under the trees is uncluttered by irrelevant detail. I’m intrigued to see that my shrubs on the right are putting themselves forward as large leaves in the foreground.

I’ve put the leaves back in their place because who needs assertive foliage? and the path has some implied movement towards the sliver of sky. Which really didn’t need that tree.

Motte and Bailey Ditch. Acrylics on A1 card.

SCH 2024