Robert Dutton’s
Silver Light, Honister Pass, the Lake District, mixed media on a combination of Canson Moulin du Roy 300gsm Not, Rough and HP 100% rag watercolour papers, 20x22in (51x56cm). I felt the initial drawing was over worked so I tore it apart and reassembled it with different watercolour papers, under and over parts of the initial drawing, glued, pressed under weight and left to dry. Gesso and pumice were then added in selective areas. Acrylic ink, acrylic paint, gouache, Nitram charcoal, soft and hard pastels and acrylic spray paints were layered to create a far more expressive semi-abstract painting
Most of us have a fear of failure – one slip of the brush or a lapse of concentration and it’s all over, the painting spoiled, hopes and aspirations dashed. As a consequence we play safe and follow set rules. If you are not careful, painting like this becomes banal and predictable and, before long, your work becomes a pastiche of itself. Risks need to be taken in order to advance and the more you push your own creative boundaries, the greater the rewards will be.