Mark Hewatt

Tag: field

  • Flight Along the Hillside

    Flight Along the Hillside

    This graphite piece pushes the themes of isolation and the unknown into an active, high-tension narrative. Moving away from the static, contemplative vigils of the earlier drawings, here we see a lone figure running directly toward the viewer through a dense, textured field.

    The friction in the scene stems from what lingers just behind. Framed by bare, sprawling trees in the midground and the hazy canopy of the woods beyond, subtle marks in the graphite suggest additional figures watching or giving chase. Are they pursuers, ancient presences emerging from the tree line, or mere tricks of light in the overgrowth? Leaving those forms as vague impressions lets the viewer feel the urgency of the moment without spelling out the conclusion.

    Technically, the drawing was completed on Strathmore heavyweight paper using Staedtler graphite pencils. Staedtler lead offers crisp, controllable gradations that work exceptionally well across a textured ground. I used light, soft shading to establish the misty depth of the woods, while applying sharper, darker strokes to build the chaotic rhythm of the field and the sharp silhouette of the fleeing figure.

    • Flight Along the Hillside - Distance
    • 2608_Flight-Along-the-Hillside_Close1
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  • Quiet Boundary

    Quiet Boundary

    This graphite piece builds on my continued exploration of solitude, memory, and quiet intervals in rural spaces. The composition follows a rhythmic line of rolled hay bales resting along a fence row beneath bare, sprawling trees. Perched atop one of the bales sits the subtle impression of a solitary figure, gazing out over the pasture in a private moment of pause.

    Graphite lends itself naturally to this kind of atmospheric work, allowing me to build a hazy, soft-focus impression where subtle marks and soft shading do the storytelling rather than rigid, hard lines.

    Technically, the drawing was completed on Strathmore heavyweight paper using Mitsubishi graphite pencils. The paper’s substantial tooth provides an ideal textured ground for dry media, catching the graphite to create a natural, grainy softness across the background and grass while allowing the darker Mitsubishi lead to lay down dense, rich contrast in the swirling texture of the bales and the tree branches.

    • Quiet Boundary - Distance
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    • 2608_Quiet-Boundary_Close1
    • 2608_Quiet-Boundary_Close3
  • Solitary Traverse

    Solitary Traverse

    This graphite drawing steps back into a quiet, atmospheric space, continuing my exploration of solitude, loss, and the unknown. At first glance, the composition presents a familiar rural vista: a weathered fence line tracing the curve of a hill, distant hay bales resting in the pasture, and a small cluster of bare trees leaning against the sky.

    Looking closer between the trunks reveals a faint, subtly shaded figure walking along the boundary. That quiet presence shifts the entire mood of the scene, turning a simple field study into a contemplative moment of transition. Is it a wanderer passing through, or an echo tied to these quiet acres? Leaving that narrative open allows the viewer to project their own sense of memory and stillness into the frame.

    Technically, the piece was completed on Strathmore heavyweight mixed media paper using Winsor & Newton medium graphite pencils. The pencils were a blind buy, but their soft, creamy graphite application laid down rich, dark values on the textured surface. The natural tooth of the heavyweight paper grabs the medium cleanly, creating a soft, stippled grain in the grass and sky while letting the darker graphite build dense, tactile fissures along the tree bark.

    • Solitary Traverse - Distance
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    • 2608_Solitary-Traverse_Close1
    • 2608_Solitary-Traverse_Close2
  • The Fire Behind

    The Fire Behind

    This latest piece continues my dive into folklore-inspired landscapes, using a rural backdrop to hold a quiet, unsettling moment. On the surface, it’s a familiar structure—a weathered wooden barn or outbuilding sitting at the edge of a field. But the narrative turns on the corner of that wall, where three pale, hooded figures stand in the shadows, peering past the wood toward a sudden burst of flame.

    Technically, this was built using a tight mix of acrylic pens, Sakura gel pens, and Faber-Castell Pitt pens on cold press paper. I wanted the architecture and the field to feel heavily textured, using dense, directional strokes to capture the rough grain of the wooden siding and the dry, standing grass.

    The atmospheric tension comes from the contrast in mark-making and color temperature. I used a stippling technique for the sky, layering blues, purples, and cool grays to give the canopy a vibrating, electric static. That cold background makes the hot oranges and yellows of the fire spill around the corner with real intensity, throwing the three specters into stark relief as they witness whatever is burning just out of sight.

    Leaving the source of the fire and the identity of the observers open-ended is the core of the piece. It frames a moment of quiet intrusion—where the mundane rural landscape breaks open to reveal a ritual or a reckoning.

    • The Fire Behind - Distance
    • 2607_The-Fire-Behind-Close1
    • 2607_The-Fire-Behind-Close2
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    • 2607_The-Fire-Behind-Close4
  • Lumbering Bier

    Lumbering Bier

    In this second installment of the series, our ambiguous land deity is no longer a distant silhouette on a ridge line. Here, the entity is a massive, lumbering presence actively moving across a raw, windswept field. I wanted to shift the atmosphere to something highly kinetic, capturing the restless friction of an old god traversing its domain while the grass churns around it.

    Technically, expanding this world required a dense mixed-media approach on cold press paper to handle the sheer volume of texture. I built the environment using a layered blend of Faber-Castell Pitt pens, Staedtler pigment pens, acrylic brushes, and Sakura gel pens.

    The process itself was highly rhythmic. I used the fine precision of the Staedtler and Pitt pens to map out the intricate, flowing lines of the prairie grass, mimicking the paths of the wind cutting across the earth. For the figure itself, I wanted a stark architectural contrast; its blocky, horned head is built with textured gray tones, while its heavy cloak is a dense thatch of deep crimson lines interwoven with pale, root-like fibers. The sky is composed entirely of meticulous stippling—thousands of individual dots of ink and acrylic that create a vibrating, static-like atmosphere above the field. The tooth of the cold press paper catches these distinct mediums differently, keeping the individual marks crisp while allowing the colors to optically blend into a restless, living landscape.

    There is a solemn, ritualistic quality to this giant form moving through the elements, acting as an ancient shepherd of the wild, untamed acres.

    • Lumbering Bier Distant
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    • 2607_Lumbering-Bier_Close1
    • 2607_Lumbering-Bier_Close3
  • Sedge Walking

    Sedge Walking

    This pencil sketch is the first concrete concept for a new direction I’m exploring. The series centers on the quiet, ancient presence that occupies our fields and prairies, using a recurring horned entity as a narrative anchor. I’ve been drawing inspiration from the looming, watchful nature of old-world land spirits like the Leshen, mixing that folklore with the indifferent vastness of our own open plains.

    With this specific piece, titled Sedge Walking, I wanted to play with a very quiet, localized scale of cosmic ambiguity. On first glance, you see the entity cresting the far ridge line, surveying the landscape. But if you look closer at the foreground, tangled and collapsed beneath the rough blades of the sedge, there is a second figure.

    By pulling that detail into the frame, the entire relationship shifts. It moves the work into a space of forlorn loss and raises questions I have no intention of answering cleanly. Is this ancient presence an active participant in this person’s quiet end, or is it merely a cosmic custodian performing the final, silent funeral rites for what the earth reclaims? Is it a protector, or an accountant taking a cold inventory of the decay?

    Technically, keeping this in pure pencil on cold press paper allowed me to focus entirely on the texture and the weight of the environment. The fine, dense linework builds the chaotic grain of the grass, burying the foreground figure in a way that forces the viewer to slow down and actually look for the story. Future pieces will continue to track this entity—or the trailing remnants of its presence—through various field settings, establishing a running dialogue between the observer and the soil.

    • 2606_Sedge-Walking-Graphite-Distance
    • 2606_Sedge-Walking-Graphite-Close1
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    • 2606_Sedge-Walking-Graphite-Close3
    • 2606_Sedge-Walking-Graphite-Close2
  • The Fence Line

    The Fence Line

    This is a small 6×9 study on cold press paper, born from an interest in the quiet friction between the ordinary and the unknown. On the surface, it’s a mundane rural scene—a sunlit field, a line of dense green trees, and a weathered wooden fence stretching across the frame.

    I built the composition using Faber-Castell Pitt pens and acrylic. The cold press texture acts as a partner in the process, catching the ink and stippled marks to build up the fields of color without losing the organic feel of the paper. I wanted the sky and the foreground greenery to feel alive, using rapid dots of pigment that make the light shimmer across the canvas.

    The real shift in the piece comes with the shaded figure standing in the foreground field. By placing this dark, silhouetted form right against the fence line, a simple landscape transforms into a moment of mystery. It introduces a narrative element without over-explaining itself, leaving the viewer to wonder who is standing by the field, and why.

    • Wall-with-frame
    • 2606_the fence line-close2
    • 2606_the fence line-close1
  • The Yellow Hat

    The Yellow Hat

    Today I am sharing a new multi-media piece that continues to push the boundaries of my recent experiments with pointillism, but with a distinct narrative twist.

    This piece, based on an older photograph of a dense tree line and brush, relies on a highly textured mix of India ink, acrylic pens, and Pigma fine liners. To capture the thick, almost claustrophobic atmosphere of the undergrowth, I combined sharp, vertical scratches for the tall grass with heavy, vibrating dots of color. The optical mixing of the bright yellows and oranges in the foreground against the deep, heavy purples and blacks of the background gives the entire scene a buzzing, nocturnal energy.

    But this isn’t just a landscape study. If you look closely at the middle-right side of the composition, tucked away in the tall grass, there is a cloaked figure wearing a wide-brimmed yellow hat.

    I rendered this figure using the exact same pointillist and linework techniques as the surrounding environment, perfectly camouflaging them into the brush. Much of my work centers around the idea of being a “quiet observer” in rural, forgotten spaces. With this piece, I wanted to flip that dynamic. It introduces a subtle, eerie, Southern Gothic narrative—a reminder that when you are out observing the quiet edges of the world, sometimes you are also being observed.

    • The Yellow Hat - Distant
    • The Yellow Hat - Close1
    • The Yellow Hat Close2
    • The Yellow Hat Close3
  • Rockwell Church Farmhouse

    Rockwell Church Farmhouse

    I am sharing another graphite piece today that keeps us grounded in Barrow County, Georgia. Not far from the historic church I sketched recently sits this abandoned farmhouse, quietly decaying along Rockwell Church Road.

    Like much of my work, this drawing began as a photograph taken through the lens of my Pentax. There was something immediately striking about the isolation of the structure. For the translation to paper, I chose Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils. The grading of these pencils allowed me to push the contrast, digging into the heavy, dark textures of the weathered siding and the deep, impenetrable shadows lurking beneath the covered porch.

    To enhance the feeling of quiet observation, I emphasized the barren, skeletal tree branches sweeping across the foreground. They act as a natural frame, pushing the farmhouse further back into the landscape and adding to that subtle, Southern Gothic atmosphere that permeates these forgotten spaces. It is a study in texture, memory, and the slow reclamation of rural architecture.

    Technical Details:

    • 9×12 hot press Fabriano
    • Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils
    Rockwell Church Farmhouse-Distance1
  • Spring Vetch

    Spring Vetch

    This study captures a spring field in Georgia, where the greens and yellows feel like they arrived overnight. I used India ink to build the colors in layers, following an Impressionist approach where the depth emerges slowly through repeated marks rather than solid lines. Against that translucent ink, I used acrylics sparingly as a solid, opaque counterpoint.

    I applied them specifically to the purple vetch in the foreground and a few select leaves to give the eye a place to land. The cold press paper captures and holds the ink exactly where I want it, keeping the pigment in place while allowing just the smallest edges to blend into the tooth. It’s a fast, rhythmic way to work that records the spirit of the place without getting bogged down in every individual blade of grass.

    Technical Details:

    • 8×10 140lb cold press
    • Sakura Pigma pens
    • Faber-Castell Pitt pens
    • Acrylic swipe

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