I went for a walk in the beautiful Epping Forest with a friend before the winter set in. The skies were grey but the leaves, on the trees and the ground, were a beautiful golden colour.
We've all lived through lots of change this year. I was thinking about change, good and bad, and all the decisions waiting for me on the horizon. What direction to take this year? What changes were coming next?
I saw my friend poised at the centre of crossing paths, her figure small among the beech trees. It was like the perfect illustration of the dilemma that was weighing on my mind. For the first time in a while, I wanted to paint something immediately.
As soon as I got back to the house I got out my pencils, sketchbook and watercolours. Seawhite of Brighton makes great sketchbooks of sturdy cartridge paper - smoother and thinner than watercolour paper, but strong enough for some pretty wet painting.
But what is cartridge paper and why is it so sturdy? According to Wikipedia, historical firearms used to hold cartridges, or shells, made of paper and coated with a little beeswax or lard. The paper needed to be strong enough to carry the shot and gunpowder, plus withstand the explosion of firing.
When metal cartridges were invented, paper cartridges went out of use, but cartridge paper still had many uses. Its sturdy weight and sizing works well with fountain pens, ink washes, and light watercolour - as I used here, layering gold, yellow and green with darker brown and grey.
The red and black of my friend's hair and clothes were the perfect contrast for the soft earthy colours. It was satisfying to capture this moment - not just a memory of a pleasant walk in the woods, but a point of reflection that I could express emotionally and visually. Exactly what art is all about!
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