I have been doing a series of paintings to exhibit during my forthcoming stint as artist in residence at Burton Agnes Hall from 11th - 20th April. The paintings have been done in the very traditional manner of English landscape painters. The doyen of English landscape painters is surely John Constable and it is inevitable that his influence has shone through in my work. In effect I took the Yorkshire Wolds to Constable so to speak. For the last one I thought it would be nice to bring Constable to the Wolds if you get my meaning and what could be more iconic ‘Constable’ than a haywain? So here is the famous agricultural wagon transposed to a part of the Wolds Way overlooking Setterington. Of course farmers must have used haywains like this or very similar back in the days of horse drawn transport so it is not out of place. From the start I had a very clear vision of what I wanted.......
..... here is the initial drawing. As usual it is a very loose sketch apart from the haywain where I took a fair bit of time and trouble to get it right.
The sky always sets the feel of the painting. It's after a heavy shower so plenty of cumulus clouds in the sky.....
...soon the characteristic landscape of the Yorkshire Wolds begins to appear.
We have a haywain!
This is the final colour wash and all that needs to be done is to add the detail on the trees, foreground and muddy track leading to the finished painting:
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