This is the pond off Brickhill Drive, opposite the shops. People might say it's not the most prepossessing place. It's true that I haven't included the plastic bottle or the floating basketball, but there is green amongst the gold rushes, and rafts of frogspawn float by the bank. They gleam and wink like caviar. (I will paint them in tomorrow.) I'm preparing for 'Spring' - a small art-for-charity exhibition at the Pavilion cafe in Bedford park throughout April (see previous blogs). I primed the canvas with the left-over colours from my last session. I began by mapping in the darkest darks and the lightest lights. As I painted, I was interested to see how the revealed yellow background helped the spring sunlight to shine through the willow and on to the reeds. That's good - as is the rather weird pink water: I feel I don't open up enough to chance. I let the vertical and horizontal geometry guide me. I also used some viscous gold paint, although I'm not sure you can tell. |