Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Hills and Valleys

It's been so grey this week that it's hard to photograph my art. I do have a good light at my desk, but it's not quite the same as daylight.

So I'm back to thumbnailing and enjoying the process. I'm trying not to think about potential paintings. Just putting paint to paper. Inspired by the landscape of Beara.

Using Isaro and Aquarius watercolours. Very different colours from my usual. Yet, it's still me. I think I'm missing emotion in these, though. Need to dig out my box of emotions (literally!)







 

Monday, March 18, 2024

The Last Bookshop

No, I didn't sketch the Last Bookshop. It's not that it wasn't sketchable or interesting. It's just that I need to listen to my own voice. And sketch what I love. On that day, it was the cement lorries and other trucks queuing up outside the site of the new Garda Headquarters. There was about 10 lorries queuing up and every time one moved on, another one came to replace it, orchestrated by men in red hi-vis overalls. The moment I saw the scene, I knew that's what I wanted to sketch. Even if it was cold. And even if it wasn't a shopfront! I wish I listened to that voice inside of me all the time. But I'm getting better at it!

And when I was done, I had to sketch another cement lorry. It was grey and blue, like all the others. But when I got home, I decided it had to be yellow!

Then I went and met up with the others and sketched Frank, who was deeply absorbed in his own sketching!










Sunday, March 17, 2024

At the hairdresser's

I still can't draw Eddie's hands, Edward Scissorhands! But playing with markers and line is all I needed! Plus a good haircut. Feeling great after this!






 

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Interiors are tricky for me

Interiors are tricky for me.

And also, of the importance of awareness of how I feel, what signals my body is giving me, and do I notice them?

These are the thoughts I want to hold from that afternoon sketching in a gorgeous pub, with people I love. And yet, I was struggling. Struggling in my sketches, but also fighting my inner demons. Do I belong here? It's all too much. I can't draw. Why am sketching this? Is it any good? Why do I feel the need to compare? Do I feel the need to leave? Should I listen to that voice? Embrace it or suppress it?

Yes, there was a lot going on inside my head. No wonder, I wasn't feeling in the flow!!

 


Friday, March 15, 2024

Colours that pop with Suhita

Nothing like an online workshop to re-ignite the fire!! Suhita Shirodkar is a great teacher, in person and online. Here she partnered with Art Toolkit to give us a workshop about finding colour where there is none! Well, not quite, but about rethinking our way of looking at a landscape or a scene that we would call dull on first impression.

It started with mixing colour and swatching, one of my favourite things to do, and then using these colours and seeing how they can be applied to scenes that are quite subdued, foggy landscape, grey pebbles. 

I was so inspired by this workshop and I really think it's unlocked the part of me that sees the joy of spring where other people might only see another dull day in Dublin!

We worked from Suhita's photos, first in pen and watercolour, then we added pencils and other colourful tools. Leaving whites, using strong blacks for attracting attention, and following the contours of the shapes rather than applying big bland washes are the three things I want to keep in mind next time I'm sketching.









Thursday, March 14, 2024

Finishing a painting


I had left this painting unfinished for a few weeks, between travelling here and there and everywhere. I like the three-dimensional feeling on the right hand side. And the sweeps of colours. It's certainly got a feeling of flow, but also the idea of lava, which is connected to my interest in plate tectonics and the effects of these deep movements on our landscape.

It's probably the last in the series, in half sheet. And yet, when I look at the postcard-sized thumbnails, I see many more possibilities. What if I shift a colour? What if I allow for more sky? What if I create a lot more texture? I haven't been at my easel much lately. And I think this year is going to be more of the same. But tomorrow, my new work table (a simple Ikea desk) should be delivered. And I think it will open many options for me!

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Resourced

I had never thought before about the concept of resourcing, going back to the source of my inspiration, that is. But nearly a week on the Beara peninsula, sketching every day, has put a lot of ideas in my head, and images in my Google Photos!

It being February, the weather was flipflopping between glorious sunshine and grey/wet days. Not the best clouds, so I don't have many skies in my head. But I have lots of mountains, dark rocks and golden tones. Here is where I am with the current idea. I used a wax-resist pencil for the white lines in the first two pieces (done in Etchr Perfect sketchbook).  I like the sense of volume in them! And then I explored values with alcohol-based markers, and brushpens.







Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Highs and lows

Back home and once I get everything tidied up, I'm not sure what to do with myself! That always happens after travels and creative highs. There's always a low. 




Monday, March 11, 2024

Beara Day 5, fog, yoga, stone circle, spa and more food

My final day. Woke up to heavy fog. Decided to go to a yoga class. Then it was time for lunch. My energy levels were not very high. It is intense to spend 5 days exploring and sketching.

The stone circle in Kenmare was a bit underwhelming, but I felt the need to sketch them all the same. They are not big stones. Some tourists sat on them for their photos. and also the setting denies them their purpose. They've planted tall hedges behind them, so the Westerly sun doesn't touch them anymore. Some of the shadows I had to imagine!


I thought I was done. But my energy came back and I had a few more trees and mountains I wanted to include in my sketchbooks. It was all pretty dull, then the sun came out and colours reappeared!






Sunday, March 10, 2024

Day 4 on Beara - glorious sunshine and lots of driving

Day 4 and the sun was shining! I headed off early and drove up towards the Healy Pass. Not a soul there. It was cold and windy on the Northern side, but much more sheltered as soon as you drove over the top towards the South. I sketched in ink and marker. And yes, I did obsess about a particular rock.



When I got to Castletownbere, I went to McCarthy's Bar and had a scone. Sketched a little, but it was quiet and I just doodled really. Colour added later in the day when I was back at base.



I headed to the pier and sketched the Ocean Challenger, a tug boat, basically there for rescue missions when ships get into difficulty. The man in charge told me the red things at the top were cannons for firefighting. Loved sketching all the equipment on the deck too!


I didn't sketch any more that day, though I saw many beautiful things, from the buddhist retreats on the hills beyond Castletownbere to the fabulous blue of the ocean at Allihies. I took lots of photos and I feel I have lots of paintings that are ready to be painted. But that's another project!!





Saturday, March 09, 2024

A rainy day in Beara - Day 3

Day 3 was rainy, and a slower day. So I took the opportunity to colour some of the sketches I had done at Helen's Bar and on the pier the previous day. And then I went to a pub in Kenmare for lunch and sketched some more. 









Friday, March 08, 2024

Beara Peninsula - Day 2 - A bit of sunshine and revisiting old favourites

On my second day on the peninsula, the weather was drier and I think I even got a bit of sunshine to accompany me on my travels. Of course, I had to stop at my favourite spot on the peninsula, looking at the Caha Mountains at the only place on the road where you can actually pull in. Next time, I want to have a camera stuck to the outside of the car so I can film the whole progress and paint and draw from these images. I know I can use Google Maps, but it's not the same!! Because every twist and turn in the road is amazing. And even with a bicycle (if I had the strength to pedal up those hills!), there is really nowhere you can pull in and take in the view. 
I was out of season, of course, so no other car came by looking for my spot. But there are large lorries driving those roads. There must be some major construction going on somewhere. The peninsula is bigger than you'd think. I still haven't reached the very tip. The furthest point I got to is Allihies, and a lady who is from the peninsula told me that if you live in Allihies and you have an emergency, you don't call an ambulance, you call the helicopter. It just takes too long to get to the main town, on the mainland so to speak, in Kenmare. 

So, back to my view. I did a 180-270 view. I started behind the car, in watercolour and ink, but then realised it would take forever if I continued in watercolour. For the next panel, I used ink and ArtGraf watersoluble graphite (in a cute little tin, which I got in Porto in 2018! I do use it often enough, so I'm surprised there's still so much left!)









When I was done, I decided to go back to Derreen Gardens and tackle those beautiful pines again, in a bigger sketchbook this time (a Seawhite of Brighton, about A4 size, it's heavy!). I saw an otter, but wasn't quick enough to capture it on camera, let alone on paper. It sounded like a dog running on the squishy seaweed! Then it slipped into the water! There was other fantastic views to be captured, but I only had time to scratch the surface. I had got cash with me this time, and paid for the two days in the honesty box!



I also did some more sketches from my room. The light coming from the West in the late afternoon was amazing! A good day!