Pamela Craven Davies

The landscape I chose to paint wasn’t a particular beauty spot but I chose it because it has meaning to me. Only recently I took more care to look at the Will of Mr Hardisty a land owner in the Washburn Valley and my Ancestor dating back to 1770. I am interested in my ancestors lives and whereabouts because I believe like DNA and facial features are passed down so are feelings and memories making up some of our personalities. I like to learn from other people’s past. So thought it might be good to start with my own local history. Some of the properties are still lived in and I don’t want to intrude but the surrounding grass lands, forests and live stock might not have changed that much. I need to see what kind of painter I am when it comes to landscapes. I know what I like looking at and what I would like to achieve but I am inpatient in what I can achieve in a short time.

I chose 3 colours to work with which I thought represented the colours I loved whilst driving through Washburn Valley. Ochre, Green, and Mauve. Using these colours in oils I spread them out onto small canvases to see how they looked. Spent a little time on each canvas covering it completely and giving just a slight indication of the landscape. I had an enormous amount of energy but once I had spent this I then wanted to give up because I felt I hadn’t achieved much. Perhaps I was expecting too much too soon. I left my paintings and finished my book. “my life with Picasso” by Francoise Gilot. I almost cried when it was finished. I felt sad and felt a loss of intimacy between them and me as her story ended.