The Artist Purchase Prize & Exhibition Awards
David Thomas Wells Cathedral, watercolour, 20x28in (51x71cm).
‘I had a drawing ability at an early age, which was partly why, at 16, I began studying to be an architect. Sketching and watercolour painting has been a hobby always, alongside my architectural career. In the late ‘90s I had many successful exhibitions at the Sadler Street Gallery in Wells, and so this more recent painting of the cathedral was an attractive subject for me.
‘These extracts from my diary show that making a painting is not always a simple, or continuous process: “Had a bad night's sleep. Made a start in the small hours on the Wells Cathedral painting, putting a wash over the cathedral. After a lie-in, got up and took the painting to completion around 4.30pm. It was a struggle, and I was tempted to give up at one stage. Having followed myit. It was much improved by laying a strong blue wash on the right-hand side, which brings the cathedral into the focal point…. Added a tree stump in the foreground and some shadows across the rutted track. I think it's now a stronger painting.’
