I am not one for pretty pictures.' Perhaps when I am long gone this will be a quote that I am remembered for alongside my paintings. For you will mostly find me in the gallery on a sunny day and out on the moors when it is at its most inhospitable, for these are the days that captivate me. All your senses are alive, so that what you visibly see is not the whole painting , the rest comes from you.
Ashley Jackson's Watercolour sketches is a collection of these raw drawings combined with my intimate thoughts and feelings, together they may become a finished painting. I suppose you could say that I use my sketchbook in the same way that others create a diary of words, they are a reflection of my relationship with the Yorkshire landscape.
In all honesty, they were never intended for anything other than my personal recollections.
I can go back to the drawing months later and mentally open that moment as if I was stood in that same location, I could tell you the weather, the sounds and smells , whilst the colours are as vivid as if I had gone back in time and revisited the day itself.
This book allows you to step back from my dramatic and atmospheric watercolour paintings and see the landscape in its nakedness, through my private, personal sketches you can join me in my artistic journey and conversation with nature.
Ashley Jackson's Watercolour Sketches is a well curated selection of landscape watercolours and a nice glimpse inside the artist's sketchbook. Due out 30th Oct 2019 (but possibly delayed) from Pen & Sword, it's 160 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.
This is a nice selection of annotated sketches. The artist has a warm and personal style of writing in the annotations which feel more like a conversation over a pint than anything else. He often describes the weather at the time of the painting, or about features of the countryside or about the composition itself.
This would make a lovely gift for an artist or for studying in one's own painting and sketching.
Five stars. A valuable and illuminating glimpse inside the artistic composition and process.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
