Holiday sketches – albufereta

Albufereta is a small wetland nature reserve surrounded by farmland at the north western corner of Mallorca. In the baking heat, the challenge has been to get close enough to any remaining water to see birds. To make these sketches, I am standing with my back to the coastal road and I think that marsh itself is somewhere concealed between me and the mountains.

I had started a new sketchbook containing cold press, heavy paper made by Stillman and Birn. It takes some getting used to. The grain is fine so the pen scoots over the surface easily. However, I tend to rely on the paper’s bite to control the rate at which watercolour unloads from the brush.

The paint dries quickly in this heat, creating hard edges before I have even thought about softening them with water or lifting colour by blotting. I will have to paint in a more planned way, placing layer on layer.