Pencil Drawing - Guernsey Countryside - Art and Photography.

I have spent the evening creating this pencil sketch of a countryside scene in Guernsey where I am staying for the next few weeks. This is the view from my mum's house where there are lots of broadleaf trees such as sycamores, beech and oaks. I thought the farmhouse in the distance would make an interesting focal point in the sketch.

I have created this sketch as a prelude to an oil painting, which I will start blocking in, hopefully in the next couple of days.

The pencil sketch helps me to establish the tone of the landscape and the composition. It is always very important to plan the composition prior to starting a painting. Pencil sketches are an ideal and traditional way of doing this.

Below are two of my reference photos. As you can see the composition of my pencil sketch is different to the photos. I like the farmhouse and the two trees however the composition would look terrible if I just copied straight from the photo. I have therefore moved the trees so one is further away which at the same time will help to draw the eye to the farmhouse.

I really like the co-dominant stem of this sycamore tree so I also wanted to make this a feature of this sketch. I can't wait to start painting this.

I have more art on my website: samuelearp.com