South Downs and Cloud

Pencil on archival gesso board, 70 x 40cm

So, what’s the cloud all about then?

I’ll be as brief as I can.

The short and simple answer is that until I put it in, the picture looked ok but nothing special. After adding it, it became much more interesting.

I’d put similar clouds in a couple of pictures before, the first time in a self-portrait I did soon after giving up on my flop attempts at becoming a commercial artist in the early 2000’s. After producing earnest, serious looking pictures I thought others would like, I stopped holding myself back and got on with doing what I really wanted to do, which was a much more playful, experimental approach which expresses more sides of my personality.

Some people think I’m just ruining perfectly good pictures when I add in these kind of cartoon elements. However, as I was there both before and after they were put in, I can say with some authority that they definitely look much better with the cartoon elements in than out.

So there.

P.S. If you’re wondering about the specific style of the clouds, they originate from a comic strip I did in my teens featuring a flying cat.