The Hay Barn

 The Hay Barn

The Hay Barn, oil on canvas,, 71cm x 91cm

The painting "The Hay Barn" was inspired by these words from Larkin's poem "Here":

"swerving to solitude

Of skies and scarecrows, haystacks, hares and pheasants,"

As I travelled around the low lying landscape east of Goole I came to realise that since the date of the poem (1961) a lot of aspects of working the land still remain unchanged. Ditches are dug, fields are ploughed, the harvest is brought in. Although the machinery used is larger and more refined, their purpose remains the same. The traffic and noise of the M62 and A63 seems far away.

I made a watercolour sketch of the hay barn to capture the light effects of the evening sun on the bales of hay before I painted the final version. The sun was low in the sky and long shadows fell across the scene. It was still, quiet and timeless. 

Watercolour sketch

I continued to make my way around the area, sketched and made studies of places where I felt a sense of "solitude".

Oil study:

Watercolour sketches:

Pencil sketches:

Charcoal sketch: