It is one of my greatest pleasures to paint. I enjoy the whole process of making the work. Beginning by preparing the gessoed board, building up the layers of gesso and deciding how uneven or smooth I want it to be. The background wash reveals the surface creating a basic landscape, it is always exciting to see how the paint lies and the shapes it forms. I do initial sketches and drawings of my chosen subject and the other elements , often spending days to settle on the final composition.
The actual painting is quite painstaking as the brush strokes are small, almost like embroidery. As the layers are built up the painting emerges. It is time consuming and cannot be achieved quickly, some paintings take months to complete. Lockdown in 2020 gave me time to embark on the large sperm whale, I wanted to see if I could paint at that scale and was pleased with the result. It is almost com- pletely composed of one colour, Paynes Grey. Lockdown was long and I completed another whale of that size which I have kept for our private collection. I am fortunate to live in Guernsey and to be surrounded by the sea and countryside with the many species of birds that live here or get blown in on their way to other places. The shoreline is rich with seabirds, often a mixture of species together in one small stretch. I hope that through my painting I am able to capture the essence of my subject much as the early explorers did on their voyages into the undiscovered world.
Harriet Bane, January 2022
