Off the Beaten Track

I’m really enjoying a particular style of artwork at the moment. Watercolour background and fine liner pen foreground. And I’ve found that it suits some particular sites that I’m drawn to when I’m out on walks: old dilapidated buildings.

These sorts of buildings always mesmerise me. I love seeing old ruins but there’s something about seeing a building that, not too long ago, was occupied and had a purpose and is now falling apart. It sparks a bit of a morbid fascination. A true reflection of the power of time and how it changes the landscape.

This particular building – I’m guessing a barn or an old farmhouse – was spotted not too far from Harlech in Wales. My partner and I were going on what turned out to be a bit of an epic trek. During lockdown, we got into the swing of visiting smaller, more local nature reserves and I’d spotted a North Wales Wildlife Trust reserve not too far away from where we were staying. It’s called Coed Crafnant.

I optimistically plotted out a walk that would take us to the reserve cross-country. My Ordnance Survey app said it was just over 6km long and would take just over an hour and a half to walk. Now, using OS to plot local routes has undoubtedly been very useful over the past few months. It really does take you off the beaten track and lets you explore places you’ve never noticed in your local area before. That said, it did stitch me up this time.

We did the walk on our last day of holiday in Wales and so my partner and I both feared the approaching shadow of ‘negative time’. We set out reasonably early and got Harlech hill out of the way – it’s so steep! Unlike our other treks into the town, though, we had to continue scaling the hill. We climbed up and up until the road ended and the fields opened before us. We then passed a tree which seemed to offer a home to all manner of birdlife: robins, blue tits, woodpeckers, finches. 

And this is where we first got stuck (note the word ‘first’). Couldn’t find the way over a dry stone wall to save our lives. Even the OS app couldn’t help with that. After walking around in circles for a few minutes, we finally spotted some sort of style over the wall and continued up the hill. Though it was hard on the legs, the views of the coast were genuinely incredible.

The rest of the route took us past various streams, hills, fields, tracks, and, of course, a few dilapidated buildings. We got lost a few more times on the way so, to cut a long story short, we only stayed at the reserve for about 20 minutes and walked back along the road (the most direct route) to Harlech for a well-earned ice cream. It had felt like a very long, but beautiful, walk to Coed Crafnant. Definitely longer than 6km!

In addition to the coastal views, the old farm buildings are the images that stuck with me. The exposed beams were particularly striking. It’s like seeing a human skeleton. You know everyone has one, but you also know that you’re not really supposed to see it!

I started off the piece by sketching out the picture and then created a moody background. Though it was a beautiful, sunny and warm September day when we walked past the building, I thought about what it may look like in the middle of winter. All exposed and alone. I decided to start with yellow ochre watercolour paint and then added a few splashes of ivory black to channel some of that midwinter light.

I then used a mixture of 0.03mm and 0.1mm fine liner pens for the building, stone wall and grass. I tried to bring out the detail of the building and the stone wall in the simplest and clearest way. I didn’t want to add too much pen because, from a distance, I knew the shapes would all merge together and this wouldn’t look very good. I also thought carefully about the grass. I wasn’t satisfied with the grass in my Lonely Windmill piece so I tried to blend the grass into the background to add a more subtle effect.

Next up, I think I’ll look through some other holiday and walk photos to draw a couple more pieces to add to this collection. Maybe something with a brighter feel to it…

If you’re a fan of this piece, it’s now available in my online shop. Some examples of the products available are included below 😊