Hay Cutter

The sketch above is of a Hay Cutter from the smallholding where my mother and father used to live in Knighton. It was a lovely spot overlooking the Valley between Knighton and Knucklas. We moved my mother down to us to look after her some six or seven years ago.


Whilst I kind of like the idea of a small holding I don’t think it would suit me. I would be too tied and there would be no time for painting. I am also not really that keen on gardening although I do like our vegetable plot.

Going back to the sketch, drawing is the basic requirement of being a painter. I know many artists don’t bother and there are gadgets around like projectors that will do the drawing for you. I do have a very old digital projector, which I use with my laptop for talks, but I have never used it for painting. It seems a bit pointless as the most enjoyable forms of art for me are sketching or painting outside, en plein air.
They are actually more challenging because it is actually far easier to do the same painting in the studio. An easel is not particularly steady and is affected by the breeze. There are all sorts of distractions outside cold, a rain shower half way through a painting, animals coming into a field all these things have cut short the progress of work. The funniest looking at it now would be when I tied my dog to a long lead nearby. A crow landed 20 yards away the dog took off through the middle of the easel legs the long lead trailing behind him, the crow took off, the dog swerved, the lead took away the legs, and easel painting, paints, were all thrown in the air. The painting was abandoned at that point. It is funny now thinking about it but for 20 seconds at the time it was less than hilarious.


The point is you do (well I do)  get more satisfaction from the end result (when it goes well).