A winter scene
I stand on the bridge buffeted by the gusting wind, attracted by the serpentine line
the road takes as it curves towards me and sweeps underneath, the traffic roars
past this way and that adding to the sense of impatience, of noisy urgency.
I produced a quick charcoal sketch to get the important elements down on paper
quickly, something to work on indoors later and besides, it was pretty awkward
and uncomfortable up on the bridge!

I’ve produced a version of this scene using ink with some wax resist and scratching through here and there making a brooding, moody landscape reminiscent of many a dark winter’s afternoon.

Another drawing on the ongoing M25 project
One very wet trip recently had spray from heavy trucks and vans billowing up and whipping around the backs and off the tops of the vehicles furiously, reducing the visibility but creating a wild, surreal experience.
Back indoors I made a couple of pencil notes from memory before producing a study
in black Indian ink. I first masked off the highlight areas before dampening the paper with clean water. Using a large brush just a few strokes were placed and allowed to
flow quite freely, controlling it with some tissue now and again and restating a
few marks when semi-dry and blotting out other shapes to suggest vehicle bodies.
The headlights were masked off and then revealed when the ink was dry, retouching a little here and there. I was careful not to overwork the drawing so that the original experience would hopefully come across when finished, as it did as I was working on it…