s we sailed up the Morbihan’s winding channel towards Vannes for the first time this summer, I was surprised to find that a large white water tower looked familiar. I soon remembered sketching it over forty years earlier while on a camping holiday with my parents. What really surprised me was that even then my interest in art was there under the surface and even more fascinated when we got home to find I still had the sketch in the back of a drawer.

I am often asked “how long did this or that painting take you?” I suppose the answer is forty years preparation and a few hours painting but the learning process never stops and takes in every stimulus we experience throughout our lives, that brilliant golden light at the end of the day, the colours of a stone just under the water, the shock of the unexpected or the fascination of an unanswered question.

Why I paint

I have to paint for the buzz. For me it is a bit like magic the way an image comes out of the page and I get very excited when it works well, also there is enormous pleasure in going back to the work for a renewed “Wow” weeks or years later. But why does it work, how can a sketch or a painting do something for the viewer – how can it press the button as they say? I believe the only way is for the artist to say something special about the scene, to capture a single moment, catch the atmosphere, the heightened senses and connect with the spectator in a way you may not be able to describe in words.

This is why I always take a sketch book with me and make drawings from life when cruising because it is a rare artist who can conjure up the magic simply from memory. Luckily I long ago passed the

stage of being embarrassed about sketching in public, everyone wants to look over your shoulder, particularly children and that adds to the fun. I sketch almost anything available – people, buildings, machinery, boats and even my foot if there is nothing else. The key is to accept that every sketch is more practice, might come in handy one day as part of a painting and is fun. Also if your memory is not that good, a drawing will take you instantly right back to the moment u in time and the very place anywhere in the world where the drawing was made and can also recall the other senses at play at the time – a remarkable characteristic.

p Anchorage in the Morbihan. Watercolour 275 mm x 375 mm done on site while at anchor in blazing heat. I wanted to catch the translucent colours of the water and the dappled shade under the trees where a blanket of pine needles baked through the day. This painting was done with very little pre – drawing and

The Rules

There is only one rule and that is - there are no rules. Well, almost – I feel you have to understand all the reason for all the so called rules then you can begin to do what you want but there is no right way or wrong way. This is the way all artists have made “progress” and revealed their own voice or style and pushed beyond the boundaries.

When sketching I look for the exciting essence in a scene and try to capture this while ignoring or simplifying all the distracting elements, luckily for us the brain is happy with this arrangement and fills in masses of missing detail, so often, less is more.

Cameras

Do I use a camera? Of course. I have a

t Two people. pen and wash 280mm x 200mm I did this rapid sketch of two people simply to catch the posture of the man on the left and the curves of the woman to the right. Look closely and you will see that there is less detail than at first appears. This has been achieved without colour, using only lines of different thickness and a little play of light. These characters will one day appear