Skomer Day 2: Bull Hole

Part of the flat section at Bull Hole, slow progress in graphite

Drawing at Bull Hole

At Bull Hole there is a small hide which I can shelter behind, offering enough protection from today's South Westerly for me to comfortably work on a large scroll drawing. That was the plan at least, however I soon encountered one problem I did not consider; the wet atmosphere of the island makes the paper very damp and heavy going to work on with graphite. By late afternoon I had made very slow progress and was coming to realise that attempting to complete the major drawings in the field was not going to be the best use of my time on the island. I needed a quicker way of drawing, even if it meant making rough records of what I'm observing which can be be reworked later on. I finish the day by planning a method using brush and ink which should be faster for blocking in the guillemot shapes and will also be unaffected by the quality of damp paper. I also try out different compositions using a vertical format, focusing on three downward cascading patterns within the loomery, shown below.

Colony Compositions at bull Hole in ink and the Amos in pencil