Pencil and watercolour on cartridge paper
The above watercolour sketch is of Dornock Mains farm, near Annan, and was painted yesterday evening in failing light. My easel was situated about three-quarters of a mile from the farm and beyond the Carlisle-Annan railway line to the north-west.
Dornock Mains possesses a lot of visual drama. It is elevated and, depending what the weather is doing, is often strongly silhouetted against an atmospheric backdrop. Its distinctive silo gives the place an unmistakeable profile. On a good day, the lofty fells of the Lake District provide a great sense of space and distance behind the farm.
As any painter who paints outside is well aware, failing light means loss of contrast and colour distinctions. One ends up by peering into the gathering gloom, trying to hang on to the remaining shreds of colour as they grow rapidly duller and darker.