Painting: Beyond the Wall: Wilberforce House Gardens

Painting: Beyond the Wall: Wilberforce House Gardens

 

Beyond the Wall: Wilberforce House Gardens (final painting)

 

Introduction

 

Many of my paintings connected with the River Hull have structures as their main feature. This time, I decided to concentrate on a pocket of natural beauty within the gardens of Wilberforce House. William Wilberforce lived in the house (now a museum) which backs up onto the walkway which borders the River Hull. It is a small walled garden, compact, but full of history and charm. The garden is separated from the river front by a brick wall with arched windows allowing passers by to peep inside.

I wanted to capture the hard shapes of the concrete paving stones, wall and wooden bench, and contrast them with the natural, softer forms made by the tree and wisteria branches winding over the arch. The winter scene enabled me to play with the negative shapes formed between the twisting lines of branches. Light shone on the distant tree, the foreground was in shadow. The composition created interesting layers of subject matter.

Process

At the time of starting this painting, the UK was still in "lockdown" due to the Corona Virus pandemic. I wanted to paint a further large image using a canvas measuring 3 feet by 4 feet. Despite searching online for this sized canvas, I could not get hold of one. I knew that I had previously created a painting on this scale some years ago and thought about painting over the top of it. I had got this idea from an artist I spoke to last year, who always re-used his old canvases. He felt that the process added character to the finished result.

I got out the old canvas and mixed a mid-grey shade which I applied to the whole of the canvas. I sketched out an outline of the composition.

 

Early stage of composition

 

One of the problems I met was that the previous painting seemed to have left a residue behind which made it harder for the paint to adhere to. Also, the paint had been applied quite thickly in places and the ridges of the previous paint showed up on the blank parts of the canvas. I decided that I had no option but to carry on regardless.

 

I continued to add detail to each part of the image, thinking all the time however, about the effect on the whole scene, the light and shadows and colour palette.

 

 

(detail)

 

 

(detail)

 

 

(detail)

 

 

(detail - showing textured lines left behind from previous painting)

Summary

I think that the final painting has a lot of character. Despite using an old canvas, the textured layer beneath seemed to add to the atmosphere of the painting as a whole.

I achieved my aim of concentrating on the natural forms as a focal point, whilst also emphasising the straight lines and man-made objects. The composition meant that I could really expose the negative shapes between the branches of the tree and climbing wisteria.

I hope that the viewer has a sense of "looking through" onto the "hidden" garden and takes in some of the atmosphere created.