0:00:02 > 0:00:04I'm on a wonderful Welsh adventure
0:00:04 > 0:00:07as I discover more about four outstanding artists,
0:00:07 > 0:00:09influenced by this great land.
0:00:09 > 0:00:14During this series, I'll be creating paintings inspired by their work.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18I'm going to have to paint in ways I've never done before.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23And at the end of it, I'll probably turn to you and say,
0:00:23 > 0:00:25"Can you tell what it is yet?"
0:00:45 > 0:00:49We're in Pembrokeshire, a fantastic part of the country.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53Craggy cliffs, gorgeous golden sands.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56It's a paradise for any painter.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58Well, it certainly inspired one man,
0:00:58 > 0:01:00who, at the height of his fame,
0:01:00 > 0:01:04was one of the most celebrated artists in the world -
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Graham Sutherland.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09Throughout the '30s and '40s,
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Graham Sutherland's wonderful abstract creations
0:01:12 > 0:01:15adorned the walls of galleries across the world.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18In Britain, he quickly became
0:01:18 > 0:01:22one of the nation's most celebrated and respected artists.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24And right up to his death in 1980,
0:01:24 > 0:01:29Sutherland was obsessed with the Pembrokeshire landscape.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33Its magic touched virtually every one of his masterpieces
0:01:33 > 0:01:36and helped to catapult his work onto the global stage.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40Although he lived in London,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43Sutherland returned to Wales time and time again throughout his life.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46He loved the place....
0:01:46 > 0:01:48and the Welsh loved him.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58I must confess to feeling a huge responsibility
0:01:58 > 0:02:03in trying to paint my tribute to such a respected artist.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06So, to get inside the great man's head,
0:02:06 > 0:02:10I'm off on a journey around Pembrokeshire.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14I want to walk in Sutherland's footsteps,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17visit his old haunts -
0:02:17 > 0:02:21such as here in Porthclais Bay.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25And hopefully, experience the same things that inspired him.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29It's the perfect Pembrokeshire day.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31And don't just take my word for it -
0:02:31 > 0:02:34look at all the holidaymakers enjoying themselves there,
0:02:34 > 0:02:35crabbing on the quayside.
0:02:35 > 0:02:3870-odd years ago,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41Graham Sutherland made the long trip down here to West Wales
0:02:41 > 0:02:46and what he found here changed his life forever.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49And it wasn't just the delicious Pembrokeshire ice-cream
0:02:49 > 0:02:52that kept him coming back!
0:02:52 > 0:02:57This little Pembrokeshire jewel had a hypnotic hold over Sutherland
0:02:57 > 0:03:00and became the focus for one of his most famous paintings -
0:03:00 > 0:03:03the Road To Porthclais.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06It's a painting that had a great impact on me,
0:03:06 > 0:03:08and one that I'm thinking of emulating
0:03:08 > 0:03:10with my tribute to the man.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14To help me understand what really shaped his art,
0:03:14 > 0:03:18I've arranged to meet Sutherland expert Sally Moss.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22What was the impact that Pembrokeshire had on his art from his very first visit?
0:03:22 > 0:03:25It was Pembrokeshire that made him as a painter.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28I suppose you could say, he saw the light, in many ways.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31Literally, and also in terms of his passion.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33It was the joy of being here,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36immersed in a contemplative way in the landscape,
0:03:36 > 0:03:38that made him a painter.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40So from being a printmaker,
0:03:40 > 0:03:44he became one of the world's most famous painters, and it was here that did it.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47I've heard there's a very particular light in Pembrokeshire.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49How did that affect him?
0:03:49 > 0:03:53He said that he felt the light here was so extraordinary
0:03:53 > 0:03:56that you could almost reach out into the landscape
0:03:56 > 0:03:57and put your hand around it.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02You could put your head sideways and you'd see right the way round to the other side.
0:04:02 > 0:04:03How lovely.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05What a good description that is.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Sutherland became hooked
0:04:15 > 0:04:19on Pembrokeshire's spectacular countryside.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26When he wasn't sketching away in his London studio,
0:04:26 > 0:04:28he would rush back to Pembrokeshire,
0:04:28 > 0:04:33taking time out from his ever-growing celebrity status.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Graham and his wife, Kathleen,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39rapidly became the new darlings of Britain's art scene.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43I had just arrived in this country in the early '50s,
0:04:43 > 0:04:47so I know what his impact was on ME.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51But how important was he in the world of art?
0:04:51 > 0:04:56It's difficult to understand now what an incredible celebrity an artist could be.
0:04:56 > 0:04:57And certainly at that time,
0:04:57 > 0:05:02he and Kathleen were a little bit like the Posh and Becks of the time.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06How would you describe a typical Sutherland piece of art?
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Sutherland's work is absolutely wonderful.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13He wasn't looking at vistas, he was honing in on tiny bits of landscape,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15in exactly the way we all do.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18You walk along when you're on the beach or in the countryside,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22you see a pebble, or twisty root, or a twig and you pop it in your pocket,
0:05:22 > 0:05:24and he was exactly the same.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29But the additional thing he did of course, was he drew it as well.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33I'm starting to get a real idea of the kinds of images and landscapes
0:05:33 > 0:05:36that inspired Sutherland's art
0:05:36 > 0:05:39But our painting seems poles apart.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41We come from totally different worlds
0:05:41 > 0:05:44and we've led totally different lives.
0:05:46 > 0:05:53Graham Sutherland was born in Streatham in London, in 1903
0:05:53 > 0:05:56and after a brief spell as an engineering draughtsman,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58he developed a taste for drawing.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03But the most influential chapter of Sutherland's artistic life happened in 1934,
0:06:03 > 0:06:07when he visited Pembrokeshire for the first time.
0:06:07 > 0:06:08He later wrote,
0:06:08 > 0:06:12"I had never seen country quite like this before.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14"It was full of forms and suggestions.
0:06:14 > 0:06:20"When I came here, I was hooked and obsessed."
0:06:20 > 0:06:25With the outbreak of war, Sutherland became an official war artist,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28visiting the bombed-out devastation of Swansea
0:06:28 > 0:06:30and London's East End.
0:06:33 > 0:06:34These images moved him deeply
0:06:34 > 0:06:40and from then on, Sutherland's work took a darker turn.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43To get a real feel for Sutherland
0:06:43 > 0:06:45and the picture I'm hoping to imitate,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48I need to see his canvases first-hand.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52So I'm heading off to Oriel Y Parc Gallery in St David's,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55that has a wing dedicated to his work.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58They're actually changing the exhibition at the moment.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02- It's amazing how many different types of green he can fit in. - I just love that.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05It's fantastic the way he's got a way with shades of green.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08'I've been trusted by the gallery's Lucy Hall...'
0:07:08 > 0:07:11It's much heavier than it looks, for a smaller painting.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14'..to help her hang one of Graham's paintings.'
0:07:14 > 0:07:18- Good?- Well done.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21How do people react to his work when they come in?
0:07:21 > 0:07:23I think you love him or you hate him.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25Adults react very differently to children.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29Children adore Graham Sutherland - they love the colours, the shapes
0:07:29 > 0:07:31and they love the stories and things they can see.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Although he's abstract, they get a lot out of it.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39I'm expected to do my version of the Road To Porthclais
0:07:39 > 0:07:42and it's going to be some task, I think.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45It'll be a challenge. He's quite tricky.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47He has such a complex technique.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50But as long as you stick to his techniques
0:07:50 > 0:07:54- and bring in a bit of your own talent.- Yeah.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56Just an indication of it, maybe.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58But who knows? We will see.
0:07:58 > 0:07:59I'm excited to see it.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03- Wish me luck.- Good luck.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10Well, this is it.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12And it's very abstract.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16At least it has a horizon there
0:08:16 > 0:08:20and it has indication of sea and the headland.
0:08:20 > 0:08:25And the setting sun.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27It's going to be some task.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32I feel a real need to get an inspirational eye for the detail
0:08:32 > 0:08:34in the same way that Sutherland did.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39So it's another trip out into the heart of Pembrokeshire.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50Sutherland became obsessed with gnarled tree roots,
0:08:50 > 0:08:52wrecks of boats,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55old chains, and rocks.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57Anything that he could pick up
0:08:57 > 0:09:01that would be an inspiration for his art.
0:09:01 > 0:09:02And I'm very much like him.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06I mean, I can go to a beach and spend hours traipsing along,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09looking for little bits of rocks
0:09:09 > 0:09:12or little bits of things that I might be able to polish,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15or shapes like this.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19Wonderful, complex shapes, which you might draw or put into a painting.
0:09:21 > 0:09:2570 years after Graham Sutherland's first visit to Pembrokeshire,
0:09:25 > 0:09:30a new generation of artists have been inspired by his work.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32Like Brendan Stuart Burns,
0:09:32 > 0:09:34a celebrated British artist,
0:09:34 > 0:09:36who's made Wales his home.
0:09:36 > 0:09:42What do you think of Graham Sutherland's picking up objects wherever he went,
0:09:42 > 0:09:44and grabbing them?
0:09:44 > 0:09:48- Well, as you see that... - A case in point.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51It's fantastic, isn't it? And that's just naturally broken off.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56The lichen there that's taken 30 or 40 years to grow.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00Wherever you look, it's like a Sutherland drawing or painting, isn't it?
0:10:00 > 0:10:02See the spikes on the end of that? And the water.
0:10:02 > 0:10:08And then this bit of pitch-black almost in front of it, you know.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10It is. Everywhere you look is a Sutherland.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13In the detail, in the view.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15Beautiful.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19Does it feel like Sutherland to you, when you walk in these places?
0:10:19 > 0:10:22It does. In the minutiae, you know, the detail.
0:10:22 > 0:10:23The little sort of drawings
0:10:23 > 0:10:27and the little things that he would have been fascinated in.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30The root forms, the structures, the colouring.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32It's the little things,
0:10:32 > 0:10:36- not the big picture, not the scene, not the view.- Like this one, behind you?- Yeah, absolutely.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39It's those wonderful natural forms and shapes.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44I always have to have an end product of a picture.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47All the sketches and little bits of things...
0:10:47 > 0:10:50I need a horizon, and I need...
0:10:50 > 0:10:52Of course.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54Sutherland certainly didn't ever have that.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56He had motifs, didn't he?
0:10:56 > 0:10:59He didn't have... He didn't ever work with a finished view.
0:10:59 > 0:11:00He learned to paint in Wales,
0:11:00 > 0:11:05but he found it extremely difficult to paint finished pieces in the landscape.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07And I find that still very difficult,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11whenever I try to work with a so-called finished piece,
0:11:11 > 0:11:12whatever that is.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14So there's no mystery?
0:11:14 > 0:11:17No, no mystery. I think painting needs to be mysterious.
0:11:17 > 0:11:18I like not knowing.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22I like discovering, through painting, what the landscape is doing.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Completely opposite to me! I want to know what that is...
0:11:26 > 0:11:29There are lots of different languages, aren't there? Music is the same.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34After talking to Brendan, I feel I've finally got a much better understanding
0:11:34 > 0:11:36of the kind of natural detail
0:11:36 > 0:11:39that Sutherland drew on to create his art.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42And I guess I can't put it off any longer.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44It's time to plant my easel
0:11:44 > 0:11:46and commit some paint to canvas.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49A well-chosen Pembrokeshire location to paint
0:11:49 > 0:11:52might just help me hit the ground running.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56Us artists get obsessed with the strangest things.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58When Graham Sutherland first came here,
0:11:58 > 0:12:04he became fixated with that hill, Carn Llidi.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07And that's not easy to say if you're an Australian!
0:12:07 > 0:12:11But he just loved the rocks all over the top of it
0:12:11 > 0:12:14and he drew them countless times.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16Mind you, I don't know how he would have got on
0:12:16 > 0:12:20with the distraction of these pigs wandering around all over the place.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23ROLF OINKS
0:12:23 > 0:12:26# There was an old farmer
0:12:26 > 0:12:28# Had an old sow-ow-ow
0:12:28 > 0:12:30# Idle-dee-dow
0:12:30 > 0:12:34# Susannah's a funny old man-an-an
0:12:34 > 0:12:36# Idle-dee dan. #
0:12:36 > 0:12:39I think I might just have found the ideal spot
0:12:39 > 0:12:41for me to paint my tribute to Sutherland.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45It's a wonderful cottage with fantastic views.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47I'm using acrylic paints
0:12:47 > 0:12:50and I've already laid down a framework
0:12:50 > 0:12:53with some quick pencil sketches.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55I think I've got to get on with some paint.
0:12:55 > 0:13:00I want to see some great gutsy chunks of colour in there.
0:13:00 > 0:13:01So, let's do it.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07Slosh a bit of white in with some of that really orangey red
0:13:07 > 0:13:11to create that road coming down there first, I think.
0:13:14 > 0:13:15And he sneaks back there.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17It's fascinating, isn't it?
0:13:17 > 0:13:22I'm already getting a feel of the way he used colour,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24judging from his paintings.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34And that can go right across there, like that.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38And I can do the setting sun.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40Hmm.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44There's a black outline around there.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48I'm using a little rigger brush to indicate where things went.
0:13:48 > 0:13:53In a lot of the sections in Sutherland's painting, Road To Porthclais,
0:13:53 > 0:13:57he's not doing exactly what he saw in front of him.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00He's elaborating and...
0:14:00 > 0:14:04making it a little bit more...
0:14:04 > 0:14:07interesting to him, I guess.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10I want to get a bit of this
0:14:10 > 0:14:14sort of heart-shaped thing in here.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Sutherland - he was probably creating what he saw as
0:14:17 > 0:14:19the best of Pembrokeshire.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23Getting the features that he liked best in there,
0:14:23 > 0:14:25which is what I'm trying to do.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27I'm trying to reproduce that sort of approach.
0:14:27 > 0:14:32Now, all this is really dark, like a big circle in there.
0:14:32 > 0:14:33Almost black.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37That's a real big dark bit up here.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42I'm not trying to make it exactly like Sutherland did,
0:14:42 > 0:14:46although I want a lot of the elements to be the same.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52Those distinctive elements in Sutherland's paintings
0:14:52 > 0:14:56just oozed out of the landscape during his many sketching rambles in Pembrokeshire.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58In the 1940s,
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Sutherland was on the lookout for ideas
0:15:01 > 0:15:03for his latest and grandest commission to date -
0:15:03 > 0:15:09the Crucifixion of Christ for St Matthew's Church in Northampton.
0:15:09 > 0:15:10And what sparked him off,
0:15:10 > 0:15:14was the oddest of Pembrokeshire's fauna -
0:15:14 > 0:15:15thorns.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19It was this picture
0:15:19 > 0:15:23that brought all of Sutherland's life experiences together.
0:15:23 > 0:15:24The reality of war,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26and Welsh landscapes and nature.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30Sutherland's work took a shift towards the avant-garde.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34His huge Crucifixion was hailed as a masterpiece
0:15:34 > 0:15:39and became one of Sutherland's most powerful and influential paintings.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Although Sutherland's work
0:15:44 > 0:15:47was influenced by the nature and landscape of Pembrokeshire,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50its history was also important to him.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Nice-looking boat.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55Thank you very much indeed. Nice to see you.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59'Generations of John Beer's family have been sea mariners here,
0:15:59 > 0:16:02'and John's grandmother knew Sutherland well.'
0:16:03 > 0:16:07'John has kindly agreed to take me out on his boat
0:16:07 > 0:16:11for a taste of Sutherland's favourite Pembrokeshire haunts.'
0:16:15 > 0:16:19That's exactly the sort of thing he would have loved to have drawn, eh?
0:16:19 > 0:16:22This is it, isn't it? This was an area he enjoyed.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26He first came to Sandy Haven, which is a short distance away.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28We're going to have a look at that.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31How did Graham Sutherland get to know your family?
0:16:31 > 0:16:33He first came over in the late '30s, I believe.
0:16:33 > 0:16:38My family were sea-going, old ships' captains, coastal vessels.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40My grandmother was a character
0:16:40 > 0:16:43and eventually he chatted her up
0:16:43 > 0:16:46and used my grandfather's old ship sheds
0:16:46 > 0:16:50to keep his paintings and art materials in.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52And I think he wanted to repay her kindness,
0:16:52 > 0:16:54- and he offered her a painting.- Wow.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56He said, "I'll give you a tip.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59"The bigger the painting, the more they're worth."
0:16:59 > 0:17:01She said to him, "I've thought about it.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06"I live in an old captain's house, and I haven't got room for a big painting. But it's very kind."
0:17:06 > 0:17:09So she got a little painting?
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Well, she said afterwards she wished she had had a little painting.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17- Oh, she didn't get one at all?- She didn't get a little painting either!
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Sad.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32So this is Sandy Haven?
0:17:32 > 0:17:35This is Sandy Haven Creek, and this is where my family lived.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38Did he do a lot of painting out in the open?
0:17:38 > 0:17:41My grandmother says that this was his favourite location.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46But it was definitely the first he came to in Pembrokeshire.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51Lovely light and shade there now, with that bright green bit and then the darkness behind,
0:17:51 > 0:17:54and that little waterway going in there.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56Just delightful.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59It probably enabled him to have a different view.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01Nice to see the land from the sea for a change.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06And over here is the red sandstone that Sutherland enjoyed.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09- Very dramatic.- Yeah.
0:18:09 > 0:18:15And I know that was a favourite position for Sutherland to set his easel up.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17- He spent many days there. - He loved those rocks, didn't he?
0:18:20 > 0:18:23This is the kind of thing which
0:18:23 > 0:18:25might set me off.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31I think it should be understood that
0:18:31 > 0:18:35when I start to be interested in something,
0:18:35 > 0:18:37I have to prune everything away
0:18:37 > 0:18:41except literally the form which I happen to be interested in,
0:18:41 > 0:18:43such as this.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47And in this particular estuary,
0:18:47 > 0:18:52the light is so strong normally,
0:18:52 > 0:18:57that the shadows are really as important
0:18:57 > 0:18:59as the forms themselves.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07Sutherland's landscapes may have taken the world by storm,
0:19:07 > 0:19:12but he was also well known for his portraits.
0:19:12 > 0:19:13In the 1950s,
0:19:13 > 0:19:17he was commissioned to paint Sir Winston Churchill.
0:19:17 > 0:19:18A great honour,
0:19:18 > 0:19:24but one that was about to blow up in Sutherland's face.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28The painting was praised and reviled in equal measure by MPs.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30Churchill hated it.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32At the official unveiling,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35he couldn't resist taking a sarcastic swipe
0:19:35 > 0:19:37at Sutherland's expense.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40It's a remarkable example of modern art.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42LAUGHTER
0:19:42 > 0:19:44APPLAUSE
0:19:54 > 0:19:58It certainly combines force and candour.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02Churchill claimed he'd been betrayed by Sutherland
0:20:02 > 0:20:05because the painting made him look old and half-witted.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07He ordered his wife to burn it,
0:20:07 > 0:20:12and Sutherland's most momentous portrait was never seen again.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14Sutherland was devastated.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16What a tragedy.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20I remember feeling outraged at the time.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24I hope no-one's going to burn my Sutherland picture.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26You keep seeing the little bits,
0:20:26 > 0:20:32and you wonder what his decision-making pattern was.
0:20:32 > 0:20:37How did he decide to put some of this blue in there?
0:20:39 > 0:20:43I don't use grids to enlarge things,
0:20:43 > 0:20:45I just judge by my eye.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47And quite often,
0:20:47 > 0:20:51that results in me getting the proportions a bit wrong.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55Of course, Graham Sutherland loved to use grids on his paintings
0:20:55 > 0:20:59to blow them up to the exact shape and size
0:20:59 > 0:21:02of the drawings that he'd done beforehand.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05He wanted that perfection and that exactness.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10I was thinking maybe I'd get that...
0:21:10 > 0:21:13Yes, I will. I'll get that circle perfected.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18With a little compass - that exact circle.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22You can see how wrong I was in my rough estimate of the circle.
0:21:22 > 0:21:23Look - that bit's right out.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25Yeah.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28Good heavens, right.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31What I think I'll do is grab a big brush, put all that sky in
0:21:31 > 0:21:35rather than fiddling around with a tiny little brush.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38Maybe a bit of that blue, that cerulean hue.
0:21:38 > 0:21:39Let's try that.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53I'm trying very much to follow Sutherland's colours,
0:21:53 > 0:21:55the way he organised them all.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57There is a really dark, black bit in there
0:21:57 > 0:21:59against that crescent moon shape.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02Sutherland used a lot of these earth colours,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05and they just relate to the green, farming community,
0:22:05 > 0:22:10and the earth colours forever shining through from underneath.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12Forever there, when it is ploughed,
0:22:12 > 0:22:14or moved up at all.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Gosh, I'm enjoying this.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19As it progresses, I get the sort of feeling
0:22:19 > 0:22:24of the way Sutherland has built the scenery into the whole thing
0:22:24 > 0:22:27and worked out how it all works.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30It's just lovely.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Once this is all nice and dry, I can come back in
0:22:33 > 0:22:35and the tiny detail that's required,
0:22:35 > 0:22:38like the really fine lines outlining things
0:22:38 > 0:22:40and around the shape of the roads.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46I feel like I just might have turned a corner
0:22:46 > 0:22:48with my tribute to Sutherland.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52And it's time to define a little bit of "Rolf" slant on Pembrokeshire.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54I'm off to the beach,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57in the hope that a dose of sea air
0:22:57 > 0:23:00just might stimulate the old creative juices.
0:23:00 > 0:23:01Like Sutherland,
0:23:01 > 0:23:03I'm going to try a few quick sketches
0:23:03 > 0:23:05of what immediately strikes my eye.
0:23:05 > 0:23:11And these surfers seem to fit the bill.
0:23:11 > 0:23:12Legend has it,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16that St Patrick set off from this part of the world
0:23:16 > 0:23:19to take Christianity to Ireland.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21Who knows?
0:23:21 > 0:23:24But seeing these surfboards reminds me very much
0:23:24 > 0:23:29of some of the shapes that Graham Sutherland created
0:23:29 > 0:23:33when he was doing his painting, Cathedral Of Rocks.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38It just reminds me of those big bulgy shapes there.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42So I'm just trying to capture some of that
0:23:42 > 0:23:45and the different heights of the different surfers.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57Well, it's been a really inspiring trip to the beach.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59I can almost picture Sutherland
0:23:59 > 0:24:02foraging among the flotsam and jetsam
0:24:02 > 0:24:03that washed up around his feet.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10After the Churchill portrait fiasco,
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Sutherland decided to leave Pembrokeshire behind
0:24:13 > 0:24:15and settle in France permanently.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Holidays in South Wales became a thing of the past.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22And with the Swinging '60s came mini-skirts, Andy Warhol,
0:24:22 > 0:24:24and Pop Art,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27and Sutherland rapidly fell out of favour.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29But not for long.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32In 1967, Graham returned to Pembrokeshire
0:24:32 > 0:24:36and was instantly reinvigorated.
0:24:36 > 0:24:41He said, "I thought I had exhausted what the countryside had to offer.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43"I was sadly mistaken."
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Sutherland poured out Welsh landscapes again
0:24:46 > 0:24:52right up to his death in London in 1980, at the age of 75.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00It's in old Sutherland haunts like this
0:25:00 > 0:25:03that you can still feel the great man's presence.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07He stayed in this cottage near St David's when it was a B&B,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10using it as his base for many trips out to study
0:25:10 > 0:25:12and to sketch the landscape.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17Graham Sutherland returned to this farm
0:25:17 > 0:25:21after visiting the bombed-out areas of Swansea
0:25:21 > 0:25:23and recording the devastation there
0:25:23 > 0:25:28as part of his job as a war artist.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30So you can imagine him sitting here,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33in the peace and tranquillity of this place.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37And of course, he would have whipped the pencil out
0:25:37 > 0:25:41and got stuck into drawing this tree, which he did.
0:25:41 > 0:25:47This is his pencil and watercolour version of the tree as it was.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52We used to have a huge fig tree like this in our garden.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56Well, I think I've soaked up enough of the Pembrokeshire ether.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58It's back to the grindstone
0:25:58 > 0:26:03to see if I can finally put my Sutherland tribute to rest.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05So, I've got to create now
0:26:05 > 0:26:08where Sutherland ends and Harris begins.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12Perhaps I could do some of those fig tree shapes that I sketched.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16I'll shove some black into those little bits. Boof, boof!
0:26:16 > 0:26:20Boof, boof, boof. Bit of black in there.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Dirty green now. Oh, well.
0:26:23 > 0:26:24It's a surprise to me
0:26:24 > 0:26:30that Sutherland, who was very famous for his portraits,
0:26:30 > 0:26:35never actually put figures into his landscapes.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39And I found that a bit of a shock,
0:26:39 > 0:26:45and I fully intended to paint a couple of figures walking up this road,
0:26:45 > 0:26:50going round there, and then I thought... "Perhaps not."
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Leave it the way he did it.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54Better.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04There's a big leaf that comes down there like that.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07So I'll make a bit more of a feature of that,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10because there's some nice dark bits behind this
0:27:10 > 0:27:12and showing that leaf there.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22A bit down there, dark.
0:27:22 > 0:27:27A bit darker than that would be good.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30And I think I'll scumble over those branches
0:27:30 > 0:27:34so that they start to disappear back into the gloom.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37Very nice.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45Wahey! That looks good.
0:27:51 > 0:27:52Graham Sutherland once said
0:27:52 > 0:27:56that it was in Pembrokeshire that he learned to paint.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00And having spent a little bit of time here, I can understand that.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04A lot of people don't warm to Sutherland's art.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08But you know, art isn't supposed to be just pretty, pretty pictures.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12It should inspire a passion,
0:28:12 > 0:28:14it should encourage debate.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18And Sutherland certainly did that with his work.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20It just remains to sign this now
0:28:20 > 0:28:25and I finished my version of the Road To Porthclais.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31It's almost like a living cartoon, isn't it?
0:28:31 > 0:28:34The top bit represents Graham Sutherland,
0:28:34 > 0:28:38and you get to the bottom - bottom left, bottom right -
0:28:38 > 0:28:41and it's very much sort of cartoony Rolf.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43But I love it.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45I've enjoyed doing it immensely.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Hope you like it.
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0:28:54 > 0:28:57E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk