Changing the scale: Exploring nature with a small Concertina sketchbook:

Sometimes changing the scale of my work is a very useful tool when it comes to freshening up my perspective. Working on big canvases in the studio is the final stage in my practice as an artist. To arrive there, I have first have spent a lot of time out and about in nature - sketching, walking or just feeling the landscape and listening to the sounds.

Recently I have also noticed that changing the focus and narrowing things down to a small scale maybe by the observation of a single flower or a section of hedgerow - inspires me but also connects me more deeply with nature and my feelings.

On a practical level it's a revelation to reduce the carrying load of my tools and equipment. I spend a lot of time in nature sketching and painting and it's always been a bone of contention - how to get everything into a backpack and up onto the Downs or the moorland!

So I've started going small. A single concertina booklet like this. Or a mini sketchbook no more than the width of my iphone. I use a simple palette of a few colours - some chalks and a little pot of water and brush and I'm off.

This all finds it's way into my studio and onto a canvas at some point... in some way.

Clara Wilkinson's concertina sketchbook for observational painting in nature