Field sketching, Antarctica
Sketch: A rough hasty or undetailed drawing representing the main features of an object or scene and often made as a preliminary study.

In the descriptions of some of the works illustrated on this site there are references to the type of work; oil. watercolour, mixed media, woodcut, monotype, monoprint, for example.  I thought it would be helpful and interesting, therefore, if each reference was explained and some of the methods and materials shown.

The starting point for most of my work is the field experience as pure observation is the raw material.  It might be a few small sketches, or a larger and more considered drawing, sometimes even a more ambitious painting which one hopes distils something of the day’s experience - a hope once best described as, “Snatching the eternal out of the desperately fleeting…”.  

Sometimes something straight from the field can be framed and exhibited, but mostly one finishes the day with a whole range of snatched ideas, detailed sketches, themes and notes which can be taken back to the studio to be viewed in a new light and worked through in many different ways using a range of methods and materials.
painting in antarctica 1field sketching antarctia 2
(above) Passing down the Grahamland coast, (right) at Port Lockroy

One would assume that temperatures around the Antarctic peninsula most days would be at or below freezing, but more often or not we had daytime temperatures around 3 or 4 degrees and up to about 8 degrees centigrade.  This made work possible almost every day, but there were also snow flurries and sometimes very strong winds.