Landscape Artist of the Year 2024 – preparation is the key!
As I had been accepted as a wildcard for the Liverpool Docks heat (shown on Sky Arts on 17th of January) I thought I had better visit to get a better idea of what I was letting myself in for.
I wasn’t quite prepared for what I found, huge buildings, old and new, crammed together. How was I going to paint that?
Looking at the mammoth buildings, I felt so depressed that I didn’t even try to do any sketches, even though I had brought my sketchbook.
Luckily, I took some photos and when I got back home, I had a talk to myself and realised I had to get my head around painting such a view in my very loose style.
Eventually, after spending a week working on different styles and ideas and gradually began to see a way forward.
The old dock infrastructure I found much more interesting, so I produced some paintings that I really love.
Then I tried working on the Liver building and the view looking into Liverpool Waterfront and came up with some paintings using ink and very loose washes of acrylic. I found if I didn’t get bogged down trying to draw every window and kept it all very loose then I loved it too.
So, the question was……which way would I go?
Links: On the Waterfront cards