Today, I went painting ” en plein air”at Pin Mill. This is a lovely spot on the River Orwell and is famous for its Thames barges, house-boats and the “Butt and Oyster” pub.

My preferred choice of medium was gouache and I worked on a watercolour board ( Hot pressed). It was a fairly grey day, but there were occasional hints of sunlight trying to break through the leaden sky. As always when working out of doors one has to work very rapidly. The clouds were  fairly scudding across the sky and I was aware that the tide which was high when I started , was very soon going to ebb.

I began by very rapidly blocking in the sky using a 1″ hog’s hair brush and diluting the paint with lots of water.  Raw umber, yellow ochre, ultramarine , cobalt blue and titanium white were the colours used. There was no time for fiddling around as the sky seemed to be getting darker by the moment.

Still using large brushes and fluid pigment I add the distant horizon, trees and a suggestion of barges and houseboats. I begin to try to capture the play of light and reflections on the water. At times the light on the water is disturbed by tiny ripples as the wind starts to rise . In the foreground there is an almost heavy swell with deeper purple and brown shadows  broken up by the pale green of the water reeds. The temptation is to focus on one section but “time and tide wait for no man”.

I now tackle the barges and houseboats. At this point a little more precision is required as I check the scale of them to the landscape and each other as well as height of masts etc. I begin to suggest the rigging using a very fine sable.

The tide is now on the turn and mud replaces what a moment ago was shimmering light. It also starts to rain. It is clearly time to call it a day. So far the painting has taken just over two hours.

It has been both exciting and frustrating. Just as one is beginning to get somewhere, tide, light and rain stop- play. What to do?

Tomorrow I will revisit the scene in the hope that similar conditions will prevail. But I will also err on the cautious side and take another board in case I have to start a different painting!