Brian Fish, Artist

This year I have given first priority to writing and developing the ideas behind holistic political economy but have not abandoned painting altogether. I attend a weekly life class, maintain the sketching habit and always take my paints away with me.

The pictures from February 2019 in Askrigg are in the previous post. I did put some well received work up on my facebook page, for example my notebook sketches of the XR protests in Leeds reached over 1500 people. This lead me to join both Urban Sketchers and The Plain Air Society groups on Facebook.

What follows is a very brief resume of the year and I am not repeating everything that I posted on facebook.

At the end of February we took a trip to Northumberland and surprisingly despite the time of year I managed to do some en plain air painting.

Lindisfarne Castle – Holy Island

Dunstanburg Castle – Northumberland

I didn’t realise at the time just how difficult a year it would be for painting outside (when I had the opportunity the weather was poor, and frustratingly seemed to be good when I was busy with her things)

In June we joined family and friends for our traditional week in the Lake District and then carried on with an extended trip taking us to Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, rounded off with the Isles of Scilly. I had my notebooks and paints with me here are some highlights;

Fleetwith Pike – Lake District

Generally speaking the weather was dreadful until we got to Scilly. This precluded en plain air work for most of the time – the painting of Fleetwith Pike we completed in the utility room of Bank Barn using sketches. Dorset, Devon and Cornwall yielded plenty of sketches but it wasn’t until Scilly that I managed to do some work outside.

Cromwell’s Castle – Tresco

In both August and September we had visits to Rosedale in the Yorkshire Moors.

Spaunton Moor – Lastingham

And we rounded off our week long trips with another visit to Askrigg for bonfire night andd the week following. Both of these were completed in the flat we were staying at – it wasn’t rain all the time but was windy and cold which, combined with short days kept me walking rather than painting.

Old Barn Warfdale

Above Nappa Scar

This year we managed to join up our regular trips to the Lakes, SW and Isles of Scilly, we were away for most of June, clocked up 130 miles of walking and I managed to do quite a bit of sketching and painting. We generally had good weather but were slightly ahead of the heat wave, the week in Cornwall was OK for walking but we suffered front mist and our flight to Scilly was cancelled because of low visibility. We were transferred to the Scillonian and sailed from Penzance on the same day but our late start had to be replaced with a 5-30am get up.

Here are the highlights

The Lake District (1st to 10th June)

We had a week at Ullswater and 3 days near Grange-over-Sands.

Ullswater

16×12 on 140lb Rough, Mixed media, Watercolour, Plein Air, Alla Prima

This is a great place to get a panorama of the mountains at south of the lake, its an area of rough ground east of Pooley Bridge just below the course of High Street Roman Road. We walked the entire stretch of high street from the peak of the same name to Pooley Bridge on 4th June, this painting captures some of the lighting from that day, although I returned to the site and did it on site on the 6th.

Ullswater Afternoon

Coniston Range from Backbarrow

10×7 on 140lb Rough, Mixed media, Watercolour, Plein Air, Alla Prima

This sketch was completed in about 45 minutes on an extended lunch stop. It was in full sun.

Coniston Range from Backbarrow

Lake District Notebook

Lake District Notebook

Laker District Notebook 2

The Southwest (11th to 20th June)

On our way from the Lake District we stopped at Monksilver near Minehead for 2 days and then moved on to Duloe Manor near Looe in Cornwall. Both the larger paintings were completed at the apartment on on drizzly, misty days – not terrible for going out but with poor visibility, flat light and too wet to paint outside. So long as I can be in a place long enough to get some preliminary sketches down with accompanying photos before such a day happens it’s a really good way to fill the day when the weather is not so kind. Not saying I like bad weather on holiday but its not a disaster unless its really bad (see my blog post “Between the Showers, December 2015).

Cornish Path

16×12 on 140lb Rough, Mixed media, Watercolour, Alla Prima

Cornish Path

I complied this study from sketches and a number of costal path photographs. This was a planned work, I worked out the lighting and approach in my notebook. I wanted strong contrasts and to create a feeling of walking into the view. There are sections of the costal path where you would think you were in woodland – this was one such section on the coast from Polkerris to Gribbin Head. (Incidentally the crab sandwiches at the Rashleigh Inn are reason enough to go). I reserved the foreground plants with masking fluid and made liberal use of wax crayons for the less focussed areas of foliage. Wax resist is a standard watercolour technique, I like to use a complementary colour which will come through on rough paper it gives a similar effect to adding pastel on a dry surface, it look detailed at first glance but is actually quite loose.

Duloe Manor

14×10 on 140lb Rough, Watercolour & Ink, Alla Prima

Duloe Manor

Stayed here a number of times and painted both the house and gardens before. This was a new aspect – the view point is the archway between the newer apartments. The gardeners made a good job of the flower beds and the evening sun lit up and shadowed the buildings in an engaging way.

Fishing boats

I really got into fishing boats this year

Polperro Fishing Boats

Looe Fishing Boats

Fowey Fishing Boat

Southwest Notebook

Southwest Notebook Extracts

Isles of Scilly (21st to 26th June)

This year the weather in Scilly (after our arrival in fog) was exceptional, perhaps a bit windy at times but full sun and not the oppressive temperatures being experienced back in Leeds. We enjoyed the walking so much I was mostly limited to quick sketching – we even managed to go swimming twice.

Cypress Trees at Innisidgen

14×10 on 140lb Rough, Watercolour with Ink

The bump on the end of the promontory is the site of the Innisidgen bronze age burial chamber. This is the beach were we went swimming. The beach itself is behind this small headland and flanked at the other end by an outcrop of rocks which mark the natural boundary on St, Mary’s between The Road and Crow Sound. This little stretch of beach – not enough of an inlet to qualify as a cove is thus sheltered from the strong currents and within its protection there is an area of water where you can be out of your depth and still be close in to the shore. We were lucky to be there at the top of the tide, after the sand had been warming up all day – even so in June it is still a bracing experience.

Inisigden St Marys Isles of Scilly

I did a fairly detailed notebook sketch whilst I was drying out on Sunday 24th, then on the last day I managed to get down the bare bones of a more considered painting which was subsequently completed back home. I am always attracted to the shapes trees make against the skyline especially when the trunks as well as the tops are silhouetted. Viewed from the beach, this is a natural composition, with the few clouds and the strong shadows cast by the afternoon sun on the rocks, cliffs (about 6’ – topsoil), bracken and trees making a converging V shape. I wanted to capture the essence of the scene and was very caution about the added detail.

Pen and wash field studies

The following were completed out and about.

Road to Higher Town Quay St Martins, Isles of Scilly

Hell Bay, Bryher, Isles of Scilly

Old Grimsby, Bryher Isles of Scilly

And the Notebook Extracts from Scilly

Scilly Notebook

And some people watching

People Watching