29.5 cm x 21 cm, blue biro on grey paper.
Date produced: 1986 - 1987

This is a scan of a photocopy of the original drawing, which was given as a gift. The original drawing was drawn out on-site, while watching the birds glide past.

"Marvellous to just sit and watch the pigeons and seagulls gliding gracefully, seemingly effortlessly along the cliff faces, moving around in 3 dimensional space. What a freedom, what a capability! One can only imagine the feeling of gliding out on the air out from the edge of the cliffs."

Imagination and a sense of wonder makes it possible!

33 cm x 24 cm, pastels on acid-free coloured-ground ‘Canson’ paper.
Date produced: 1986 - 1987

Drawn on-site, from the path along the top of Witton Bluff. This path winds its way around through gaps in small bushes and rock ledges up on the top lip of the bluff. When you stop, and can drop your concentration on having to follow the path safely, you notice interesting views of rugged forms, with the vast rich blue sea as an inspiring backdrop. This pastel is the result of two sessions of work from the same position, on two different days during the same time of the day.

I have always liked the sense of space and the sea from this pastel.

18 cm x 16 cm, pastels on acid-free coloured-ground ‘Canson’ paper.
Date produced: 1986 - 1987

This was produced directly from the real scene in afternoon sunlight. I was concentrating on capturing the colours experienced. This is one of the points in the wall of cliffs around which the path at the base of the cliffs turns noticeably round to the left.

18 cm x 20 cm, pastels on acid-free coloured-ground ‘Canson’ paper.
Date produced: 1986 - 1987

This was produced directly from the real cliffs, fairly close to the start of the pathway that runs along under the cliffs at Witton Bluff. I was keen to try to capture the colours and tones seen in this section of the cliffs, illuminated by full sunshine in the middle of the day.

17 cm (w) x 12.5 cm (h), pastels on acid-free coloured-ground ‘Canson’ paper.
Date produced: While living at Christies Beach (1986 - 1987)

Produced directly from observation, on-site. While living at Christies Beach, I had a very good view of the western sky over the sea from my flat (which was on the esplanade, along the edge of the sea). It was ideal for doing many small studies of sunset skies, like this one.

I like using pastels, because they allow me to work quickly and directly from the scene in front of me. Applied pastel colours are already dry, and so do not change ‘as they dry’, like applied colours do when using acrylic paints and even oil paints. I can also experiment with how I might be able to express the light and tones of real scenes that have dynamic levels of light, etc., by using the gamut of colours that are available when using pastels on paper. I don’t need to worry about mixing all of the colours I use from just a few primary ones, as I do when I paint with oil paints. I try to use a wide range of pre-mixed colours of pastels as much as possible, but still usually find that I need to quickly ‘layer’ two or more of these colours to get the actual colour I want.