Once upon a time many years ago a fresh faced (well sounds good), young (might be stretching it a bit more!) artist who had just discovered the joys of painting wandered by chance into the Pannett Gallery in Whitby and discovered a treasure trove. Situated in a dedicated room he found the magical watercolours of one George Weatherill.The artist was of course yours truly and though you might well doubt the fresh faced bit and I was just turned fifty so hardly young - the rest of it true. I have waxed lyrical about George many times and will continue to do so. I have been back many, many times and am still always inspired by spending time with this quiet unassuming genius. I haven't done much painting so far this year but am looking forward to getting back in my studio before too long and had been toying with the idea of starting with another go at a Weatherill so it was opportune when I found myself in Whitby recently with a bit of time to while away. The Pannett Gallery beckoned and I whiled away a happy hour in the Weatherill Room. I thought I had uncovered most of his secrets but amazingly after seventeen years I found another.
The painting above is my first attempt in his style. Sadly this was in pre-digital days so this is the only image I have of it though I assure you the original had a lot more colour. But have a look at the rigging. I didn't get hung up too much about getting it right because that was not the object of the exercise and I knew I was no marine artist. Weatherhill and other artists of his day were surrounded by ships like these so the rigging would be second nature to them. For me it was a nightmare. The books all tell you that the rigger brush was designed specifically to paint ship's rigging.. right - so that's what I used and you can see how clumsy it looks. George's is impeccably done so he must have been an absolute whiz with the rigger brush. Wrong - the crafty old so and so used pencil. Pencil is so much easier to control, you can rub it out until you get it right and it doesn't fade. It's taken me all this time to discover that. So guess what I'll be using for the rigging on my next painting - just goes to show the importance of not just 'looking' but really 'seeing'.
The painting above is my first attempt in his style. Sadly this was in pre-digital days so this is the only image I have of it though I assure you the original had a lot more colour. But have a look at the rigging. I didn't get hung up too much about getting it right because that was not the object of the exercise and I knew I was no marine artist. Weatherhill and other artists of his day were surrounded by ships like these so the rigging would be second nature to them. For me it was a nightmare. The books all tell you that the rigger brush was designed specifically to paint ship's rigging.. right - so that's what I used and you can see how clumsy it looks. George's is impeccably done so he must have been an absolute whiz with the rigger brush. Wrong - the crafty old so and so used pencil. Pencil is so much easier to control, you can rub it out until you get it right and it doesn't fade. It's taken me all this time to discover that. So guess what I'll be using for the rigging on my next painting - just goes to show the importance of not just 'looking' but really 'seeing'.
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