Well my joy of Rowland Hilder is continuing apace! Here’s a couple of takes on two of his many autumnal scenes. Feels weird that as we’re entering what I hope will be a long hot summer, I’m feeling drawn to painting only autumnal scenes. I think this comes down to the palette more than anything – I much prefer these earthier tones to the bright lush (and often too green for my taste) summer views. As usual too, I much prefer Hilder’s loose and and lively approach to his sketches than the more formal, finished works.
In stark contrast to this painting which felt as if it went pretty smoothly, my next effort was real battle and I nearly gave up on it on a couple of occasions! Finally, feeling a bit exasperated, and looking at a somewhat limp and disjointed image, I decided that I had nothing to lose by risking some final amends. These were to add in a stronger mix in the mid distance… which then left the far range looking a too pale and limpid, so I strengthened this too… which then left some of the foreground looking needy… so I applied some shadows into the foreground and, hey presto – by no means a great sketch, but a huge improvement on where I’d been ten minutes earlier and it actually felt I’d salvaged something!
