Talley Abbey

Blogger has been doing some work on the website so there has been a bit of a hic-up the last couple of days.


Anyway the painting above is of Talley Abbey, which is a former monastery of the “White Canons” near Llandeilo. The Order was founded in 1120. It like many other monasteries was closed as a result of the dissolution by Henry V111.
Today I did a watercolour of the “two sisters” a small gaff rigged yacht. I had not really planned out the painting although I had done a rough sketch of the boat. If you fail to plan a painting you run the risk of it all going wrong. Its not so bad if you are stood in front of your subject but in the studio it is a risk. Well on this occasion it was a pretty poor composition and it found itself in the bin. These things happen.

I once knew a Colonel in the Military and he told me this story. As a newly promoted captain he had been given the responsibility for arranging a parade through a North Wales Town with all the Dignitaries receiving the Salute on a podium. The regiment had to march from an assembly point about a mile away up the main road to the podium arriving at exactly 11 o’clock. He knew the distance and the speed his men could march and worked out what time they should begin the march from the assembly point. He briefed his officers and on the day was stood with the dignitaries and his senior officers on the podium. He could hear the band playing as they got closer and the time edged towards 11o’clock and was quite pleased with himself. He then heard a train whistle. The Regiment failed to appear at the bottom of the road and the clock ticked past eleven and he was the subject of some fairly hostile looks from his commanding officer. He had failed to walk the route of the march. If he had he would have noticed that there was a level crossing and this was the reason his men failed to appear as the gates were shut for the 11o’clock train. He learnt the lesson that failing to plan properly was planning to fail.

The same can be said of a painting. Even if it is an outline plan in your head. What colours are you going to use, what order are you going to do it? etc..