Each year the Isle of Wight Art Club organises plein air sessions between May and September as part of their summer programme. There were 21 sessions in 2024 and I managed to get to 15 of them.
As it’s now October, it seems like a good time to review the work that I did.
Over the course of almost five months I sketched at the Military Museum in Northwood, Seaview waterfront, Shanklin seafront, Freshwater Bay, Gurnard, Bembridge Harbour and Appley Tower in Ryde. I tried painting at Mottistone House, Appuldurcombe House, Carisbrooke Castle and Ventnor. There were also a few weeks where I turned up but was unable to do anything, usually due to the weather!
As you can see, I spent more time sketching than painting this year. This wasn’t a deliberate decision, it's just that for some reason, I was enjoying sketching more than painting and so it was easier to open my sketchbook than my easel.
I made most of the sketches in pencil first and then went over them using a variety of different ink pens. I have been using Jackson’s Pigment Fineliners and more recently a Pentel brush pen. It was tempting to add colour to the different sketches but I limited myself to black and white and tried to find interesting patterns and marks to create different tones and movement.
Here are a few of my favourite sketches:
Shanklin
This first sketch is of Shanklin. I drew it whilst sat on the beach on an overcast day. I had not bought my pen brush at this point, so there is not a lot of variety in the size of the lines but I played around with different marks to try and capture some of the cliff textures.
Freshwater Bay
I was late to this session because I hadn’t allowed enough time to get to Freshwater and there were road works that I had not expected, so I didn't have a lot of time when I got there!
It was a gloriously hot and sunny day and I found a spot tucked round by the far side of the bay to plonk myself down and do a quick sketch. I had a brush pen by now and was trying to get to grips with it.
Bembridge Harbour
This was another morning sat on a beach. The weather was overcast and there were a few spit-spots of rain. I often struggle with drawing and painting boats but I decided to give it a go and was pleased with the results.
As with all of my sketches, I tried to keep the shapes simple and to map out the basic composition without overthinking things. My aim is to work quickly so that I don’t get bogged down with detail. I’m not looking for realism, the idea is to capture an impression of the scene and then to add in texture with the ink over the top of the pencil.
Appley Tower, Ryde
The final session of 2024 and also my final beach sketch. The weather had not been good but it brightened up during the morning and the light was extraordinary. Despite living on the island for many years I had not been in Appley Tower before, so after I had finished my sketch, I took the opportunity to look inside at the renovated interior.
I simplified the tower a bit and took some liberties with the composition as I was keen to avoid the trap of adding too much detail.
Although I spent most of my time sketching, I did also manage to do a few paintings:
Mottistone Gardens
Last year I painted some of the flowers in the formal gardens and so this time I was keen to try some of the trees. I ran out of time on the day and so I reworked a few areas when I got home and added some more colour variation
Appuldurcombe House
It was a wonderful hot and sunny day at Appuldurcombe House and I spent quite some time wandering round the house trying to find the optimal angle for a painting. I was very much struck by the contrast between the front of the house, which is largely intact, and the back of the house which is not!
I tried to take an abstract approach to the colours and to break the scene down into simple shapes. It’s not the most successful painting I’ve ever done but it was a really interesting learning process and I think that I might try this sort of approach again in the future.
Carisbrooke Castle
I spent a long time wandering round the grounds of the castle, trying to find something to paint that wasn’t the castle! In the end I found some trees in an area just outside the main walls. As with the Appuldurcombe House painting, I tried to be more adventurous with the colours but this is more of a colour sketch than a finished painting.
Ventnor
My final painting of the year was in Ventnor. After doing my usual routine of wandering around aimlessly looking for the “perfect” view, I made my way down the steps to the beach. In fact the area was strewn with rocks and half the challenge was trying to stay upright without twisting an ankle. Again, this is more of a sketch than a completed painting.
I usually start a painting by doing a loose sketch in pencil (much like my ink sketches) and on this occasion I went over the pencil with a black marker and then painted into the lines, whilst trying to leave some of them exposed.
Well that's it!
Painting outside is always an interesting experience and this year was no exception. Roll on 2025!