After a morning in front of a computer screen, I needed to get out into the fresh air and stretch my legs. I took a sketchbook with me as usual, but I didn’t go out with the prime intention to ‘find something to paint’. In my experience, the more you search for a subject, the harder it is to find one. The danger then is to become frustrated at having ‘failed’ to find anything suitable. So, in desperation, you grab hold of something which isn’t at all ‘suitable’ and try hard to make it into a masterpiece. That mostly doesn’t happen and usually leads instead to feelings of negativity. Not good.
However, none of that happened today. I went out more to think than to look , and having a sketchbook with me was more by habit than anything. But on my way back, I happened to glance across the allotments and for some reason these two barrels caught my eye and I knew I wanted to sketch them – just for fun.
Graham Findlay Watercolours 