Stamps And Letters: Harlech Castle mailart

Harlech Castle mailart

Harlech Castle mailart from:

Andrew Avery, watercolourist.

I've tried painting with different media. I'm no good with pastels and with oil you have to wait. Watercolour is quick and easy and you can take it with you wherever you go. Watercolours can be loose and abstract but i'd describe my style as more precise and realistic. I find painting really relaxing and enjoyable and I hope I'm getting better at it.

My parents and I went on a two-week holiday exploring Wales and Welsh Castles in 2002. Wales has over 400 castles and we saw some of the best, Caerphilly was one and of course the mighty Harlech. It is so rugged, so well defended and imposing. You can just imagine that when that was the only building on the landscape you'd intimidated by it - which of course was one of the reasons why it was built.

It was great to lift a brush again and paint a postcard-size for my piece of mailart. It showed me that small is beautiful. And you don't have to be accurate, you can be impressionistic - I painted Harlech in the sunshine which was a bit of poetic licence on my part - it rained most of the two weeks we were in Wales.