These studies were made some years ago when I was an active hill walker. My sketching kit for long days in the hills was an A4 sketch pad and a few drawing tools, 2b pencils, a Rotring Art Pen, a film cassette case holding sticks of charcoal and a putty rubber.

The sketches were drawn directly in charcoal, a medium which is capable of broad expressive handling and easily corrected. The putty rubber was used construcively to lift out clouds as well as for making corrections.

Finally details were suggested with either pen or pencil lines.

The next stage is to make composition roughs in the medium I plan to use for the final painting - in this case pastel. These are always done in the studio preferably while the view is freshly retained in memory. Sometimes I look at photographs later for colour reference. I don't like to be influenced too much by photographs and prefer to adapt colours to what the picture needs rather than what the camera has recorded.I may do several trial roughs but usually only one is taken to an advanced state like the one shown here.

The colour roughs are done in the same A4 sketchbook on cartridge paper. Both the charcoal and pastel sketches of course are likely to be smudged. Since they are my working drawings and will not be offered for sale they have been fixed with a cheap aerosol hairspray.

Click on the pastel sketch to display the final painting.

Robert Kirk. 03 July 2006

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