Box Hill New for 2022

George Meredith's Writing Chalet, Box Hill, Fountain Pen, Watercolour and sgraffito, @artwayltd A3 35% cotton Studio sketchbook.

Back to Box Hill for several visists- the first time in 2022 during the nice early Spring weather (a false spring?) and some new watercolours in a new-ish style and the new-ish Artway Studio 35 sketchbook. I seem to be fascinated with the budding greenery this time of year, drawing a lot of budding trees and plants…which might be another post but ‘Buds of March’ from the first visit, a view from Box Hill is one of those.

Buds of March, Box Hill, Fountain Pen and Watercolour and sgraffito, @artwayltd A3 35% cotton Studio sketchbook.

Man And His Dog, Box Hill, Fountain Pen, Watercolour and sgraffito, @artwayltd A3 35% cotton paper.

Also from that visit was ‘Man And His Dog’ from the viewpoint at Box Hill of the view and indeed a static man and his very dynamic dog. This seems to have gone down well on Instagram and Facebook, not sure why – you’ll notice I cropped the lower part, shown here because I wasn’t happy with the foreground.

Foregrounds are always a struggle, especially grass – do you hand-wave it or put in distracting detail? Hard call.

Proud of the drawing of the man and the dog though, I was going for a less detailed abstract style, a bit like the abstract wet-on-wet ‘Rorschach’ paintings of old, minimal lines and spreading watercolour – a little too much, hence the sgraffito. Economy of line was praised during my art training, which is a large reason why I went the other way with my maximalist detailed line pieces – but I think I am feeling my work can get a little too busy.

Similar to this piece and in my head a sequel is ‘Distant Spire’ – a return to my free-form watercolour roots, with more control and again, sgraffito. Something very dream-like about this piece, hence the dreaming spires title reference. Unusually no ink work, and not sure it totally works, but I feel it works better than ‘Man…’.

Distant Spire, Box Hill, Watercolour and sgraffito, Fabriano paper.

‘Distant Spire’ and the featured image were both painted and drawn on what’s now called Barrie’s Bank – the hill by the Zig Zag Road which gets it’s name from a famous event where JM Barrie stalked local writer George Meredith by sitting on the bank opposite his house and then fleeing when George came out. On my second visit I spent a day in this area – the view of George Meredith’s writing chalet is one side of the bank, and the Distant Spire is the other.

Cows, Box Hill, Fountain Pen, A4 Flat White Sketchbook.

On Barrie's Bank painting the chalet — Cows, Box Hill, Fountain Pen, A4 Flat White Sketchbook.

Also I think on the previous trip I did the studies of the cows that are currently residing here. Cows are quite hard to draw actually, harder than deer, and I made them look a bit like hippopotamuses!

Proud of the painting of the writing chalet, it’s always fascinated me, as did the relationship between Barrie and him, which I’ve mentioned before.