Dead Tree, Snape ~ Daily Sketch 23/04/2013

Almost Mid-Winter on the Island

 'Strood Channel' ~ Pastel on Paper

Having just returned from a bracing walk along the Coast Road and with the feeling beginning to return to my fingertips I thought I'd put pen to paper again (or curser to pixel) on what has become a somewhat sporadic blog. The days are almost at their shortest now and although unlike yesterday the temparature has not been minus, the easterly wind coming up the river Blackwater had an eyewatering bite to it. By 4pm it was almost dark, but minutes earlier the setting sun had peeked through the cloud over Tollesbury and set the sky alight for a few fleeting minutes. With the light fading as I turned into the High Street I saw a cloud of Starlings doing that spectacular swirling around they like to do before going off to roost. The Brent Geese are well and truly encamped around the saltmarshes now and I'm pleased to say we can hear their familiar honking sounds down on the Strood from our bedroom at night. And so it's almost mid winter and the island is as cold as it should be, dark about 4.30 and thoughts inevitably are turning towards Christmas, my thoughts have also turned towards producing some winter paintings after my chilly afternoon walk along the waterfront.

In The Studio Again

Well, the month of June is here and I've spent a good deal of today in my studio. I've finished off the old road sign watercolour I've been working on and have stretched a whole imperial sheet of delicious 'Arches' (140 lb rough) paper for a large commission I'm planning to start in the next couple of days. As for the road sign paintings, I can't quite put my finger on why I like to keep painting them, but it's certainly to some extent sentimentality for things quintessentially British and these old cast iron signs are gradually becoming extinct. In fact the one above only has it's post, a small part of one of the direction pointers and the little crescent shaped parish badge left, so I had to radically repair it using artist's licence. For those of you curious as to where this sign is, you'll find it at the junction of Colchester Road and Mill Road in West Mersea.

The Shuffling First 15 Meme...

'The Hottest Day, Feldy Marshes' ~ Watercolour

I've not indulged myself in one of these 'memes' before, but this one from 'Banksy Boy' had me intrigued. Here's what to do...

1) Turn on your MP3 player or music player on your computer.
2) Go to SHUFFLE songs mode.
3) Write down the first 15 songs that come up–song title and artist
–NO editing/cheating, please.

1/ 'Oxford Comma' ~ Vampire Weekend
2/ 'Carraroe'/'Out On The Ocean' ~ Dennis Cahill & Martin Hayes
3/ 'The Meeting' ~ XTC
4/ 'Contusion' ~ Stevie Wonder
5/ 'Sunrise Over Sea' ~ John Butler Trio
6/ 'Come On Let's Go' ~ Los Lobos
7/ 'Brown Eyed Girl' ~ Van Morrison
8/ 'Me And Mr. Jones' ~ Amy Winehouse
9/ 'Some Kind Of Wonderful' ~ Paul Young & Q-tips
10/ 'Fool Who Knows' ~ Nick Lowe
11/ 'Needle & Thread' ~ Richard Thompson
12/ 'Two Dancers' ~ Wild Beasts
13/ 'Nzaji' ~ Mario Rui Silva
14/ 'A Sigh' ~ Crowded House
15/ 'Indian Queens' ~ Nick Lowe

So, this is what I get from a random snapshot of my i-pod, I don't quite know what to make of it as there is simply so much more variety on there that could have cropped up. Only two really contemporary artists there, Vampire Weekend plus the weird and wonderful Wild Beasts. Still an interesting little exercise. Give it a go friends...I'm curious to see what you get on yours!

The Return of The Geese

'View Across Ray Marshes' ~ Pastel

Last night we heard the distinct 'honking' sound that marks the arrival at this time of year of the migratory Brent Geese to the saltmarsh around Essex. We always look forward to hearing them, especially at night when laying in bed, as their arrival here puts another punctuation mark in the seasonal cycle. This usually seems to coincide with the arrival of colder weather and this week sure enough it turned up too.

'Antiques and Collectables' ~ Watercolour & Gouache
We are pleased to see our neighbours at 'The Poop Deck' in Coast Road have started the blogging habit, so here is a kind of welcome to the blogosphere painting. I painted this about 12 months ago from one of Lyn's fab. dressed windows.

Living On An Island

View Across Strood Channel to Wigborough Hill ~ Pastel on paper

"He who has never seen himself surrounded on all sides by the sea can never possess an idea of the world, and of his relation to it." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

We've been getting some pretty big tides this week and of course the Strood has been getting covered for a time each day and as a consequence we're getting all the usual questions in the shop from curious visitors to the island, who have found themselves marooned for an hour or so. From the "how on earth do you all put up with it?" and "how long until we can get across?" to (almost unbelievably) "should we find a place to stay until it goes down?". And yesterday a nice couple visiting from Scotland, with a view to a move down south to Mersea, asked me "as a local, how do you feel about getting caught by the tide?". This, I think is a very interesting question that raises a couple of wider questions, like, how do any of us feel about living on this relatively small, muddy island and do we possess an island mentality? after all we are, in Britain, all islanders in a broader sense.

After briefly trawling the Internet for references to island mentality it quickly becomes apparent most views of this are negative, which it seems is in part due to the fact that most uses of the term island mentality seem to refer to the cultural, moral, ideological isolation of island life, whilst this may be true for some, small isolated, islands (probably not for a heavily populated place like Mersea, only a spitting distance from the mainland) it still doesn't satisfy the question of whether there is a deeper feeling or state of mind associated with living on a small lump of land, surrounded on all sides by water, or mostly mud in our case! I'm not entirely sure myself, but I, like others have a deep affinity with this place, that seems to get stronger as I get older. There is also some comfort for me in living such a geographically defined place as an island, as opposed to a sprawling suburb say.

One of the positive aspects of getting caught by the tide here is that it can be spectacularly beautiful when the salt marsh is covered. For an hour or two we are truly isolated and have our timetable set by nature again, and are reminded that we are not actually in control of everything. I'm sure there are many who live here and have been caught by the tide on a summer's night on the Colchester side of the Strood and like me have got out of the car, rolled up their trousers and paddled around on the footpath under the stars to the sound of the seabirds, until the water has receded.
I think for the couple from Scotland contemplating a move to an island like ours, if you are seriously concerned about the tide covering the road a few times a month, then, maybe you should look elsewhere.

TBTE 08.09.2010 Village Green No.VG247

Village Green No.VG247

I'm just back from my evening constitutional around the seawall with my canine companion Mabel. This, believe it or not, is one of our village greens here on Mersea Island and is also probably one of the most photographed, sketched & painted scenes by locals and visitors alike. I'm not ashamed to admit that this particular corner of the waterfront just at the end of The Lane has been something of a 'pot boiler' for me too over the years.


'Old Trawlers' ~ Watercolour

I admit it's not much like your architypal village green but little spaces like this muddy one of ours are very precious indeed and definately need preserving.

Deckchairs & Ice Creams

Deckchairs and Ice Creams ~ Watercolour

Here's the watercolour I've been working on through all the recent ice and snow. It's a bit strange to try to capture a Summer mood with a blizzard going on outside. It's a composite of elements, the old couple, the interior of the kiosk then the kiosk and beach itself all from different sources.

The Silly Season

'View Up The Beach' ~ Watercolour

As the silly season reaches its zenith we find ourselves at full stretch. We have people off sick and people away on holiday and the light at the end of our proverbial tunnel seems far distant indeed. So blogging inevitably has taken a back seat recently I'm afraid, but that doesn't in any way mean the artist and the tartist have lost their 'blogging mojo', we've simply been far too busy with our day job.

Now, speaking of the silly season, we've noticed at this time of year how the demeanor of certain sections of the café public changes to what can only be described as impatience. We've tried to understand why this might be, as it seems to us a bit of a puzzle, that people on holiday (I have to admit we sometimes refer to them as the 'bucket and spade brigade') might require their cream tea much faster than anyone else or than at another time of year. We're often asked "how quickly can you do me a cappuccino?...I'm in a bit of a hurry", surely a café is not the ideal place to be when in a hurry. I may just be over-tired and cranky at the moment but I have to confess I sometimes want to say (with my best Basil Fawlty voice) "oh, you were were first were you, sorry madam, I completely forgot the world is about to end in five minutes!" I mean, most sensible people, go to a café to relax, or 'chill' (if under 25) over a coffee and sandwich, and hopefully recharge their battery. This is central to the idea of 'café culture' and I'm pleased to say the majority of our regulars use our café for this reason. At the risk of labouring my point I've filched this beautifully succinct snippet from wikipedia..."Although fast-paced coffee service is available, such as at Starbucks, it is still questionable as to what extent such enterprises truly embody the traditional role of coffeehouses in communities as enhancing the local culture". Well I'll get off my soapbox now, and hope I haven't put you off, we'd still love to see you this silly season, but hey, slow down, it's Summer.

Problem Solved

Snoozing ~ Watercolour
...correct colours this time!

The Fourth Plinth

'Plimsole Line' ~ Watercolour

It's Antony Gormley's turn on the Fourth Plinth, starting today.

A Watercolour & Independence Day

Sunshine Over The Huts ~ Watercolour

I was trying to find something appropriately 'warm' for this current heatwave we've been having and was rummaging in my painting archives when I stumbled upon this, painted in July 2007, it has rather too much blue to feel really hot but it will have to do for now. Oh, I nearly forgot to give a little nod to our neighbors across the water (no, not Tollesbury, stupid).



Happy Independence Day.

Snoozing ~ Watercolour
This is weird, somehow blogger is inverting colours at the moment. I've tried posting this picture several times with the same strange result, anyhow I'll wait and see if anyone else is getting muddled up colours, then try again.

View From Artist H.Q.

Washing Line ~ Pastel

This is pretty much the view from the studio towards our house. I am aware that our rotating line complete with sunlit washing is wonky or as we island natives prefer to say 'on the huh!' In fact the tartist is often reminding me of its need for replacement.

East Mersea ~ Pastel on paper
Something to ponder next time you find yourself in a giant tailback on the M25.

Beach Stroll ~ Watercolour

The Studio At The End Of The Rainbow

We came home from closing up the Artcafé this evening through a premature April shower to see this spectacle over the artist's studio at the end of our garden.

Here's one of John Constable's, he seemed quite fascinated by them. Curiously I really think I prefer his oil sketches to most of his larger work, I have a book of them tucked away on a shelf somewhere in the afore mentioned studio.

'The Monkey House' Watercolour

'Shadows in The Lane' ~ watercolour on Arches 300g/m2 rough paper...I simply love this paper, almost without exception I stretch it beforehand. In fact I'll do a post on stretching paper in the near future as I was quite surprised when so many visitors to my studio during Colchester Open Studios were unaware of how and why we stretch paper for watercolour.