Pencils 4 Tea - 22 May 2025

Always lovely to get back to Pencils4Tea. I've been missing for a few weeks, but hopefully by mid-June, my pace of life will allow me to join more frequently. 

Let's get started again - another journey

I haven't painted in ages - I've been busy with exhibition and travel. Lots of sketching, but no thinking about what's next in my art practice. It's the way life goes. You need time to let things percolate, or infuse, whether you're a coffee drinker or you prefer tea.

I did lots of sketching when I was in Allihies at the end of April. And I took tons of photos. The weather was glorious. I was busy then for the first 3 weeks in May. But now, I'm feeling the pull of the peninsula again. I started with words and mind-mapping. It helps me find a focus. I wrote the words in watercolour pencil on paper. And I started. I needed something intuitive and immediate. The ArtGraf tailor shapes are the perfect tool for this stage of the process. I should be doing small thumbnails. But I need to let the energy flow through me. So I work on quarter sheets (about A4). It's not very big, but it's a good start. I don't know where this will go. All I know is that I got completely obsessed with the Syncline visible on the coast just outside Allihies. I didn't even know that word until I saw a wonderful little book about it at the B&B I was staying in. Somehow, in my head, it rhymes with the Songlines of Aboriginal culture. How perfect. It reminds me of the profound sense of a calling that I felt around Uluru, 17 years ago.

For now, I'm just chasing a feeling. Working from zoomed-in photos I took. Let this new journey get started.

Around Setanta Place on a sunny day in Dublin

An iced matcha helped to dispel my jetlag, and I enjoyed some time sketching in the city centre with a few friends.

And if you wonder about the Pink Elephant, have a look at this article. It's behind a paywall, I know, but the initial paragraph is enough for context. I think I was there once or twice in my day? Didn't see anybody famous, though!

I've left lots of breathing room on these pages. I will probably write something, but I like them as they are for now

Mixing gouache on the page

Then I mix gouache on the page - random colours - and it makes me very happy. Never say never. 

My Santa Fe gouache palette

The gouache colours I used in Santa Fe. Just for the record. Opera pink is to die for! And it makes great mixes.

Limiting the palette - gouache vs watercolour

Liz Steel is sharing different ways to limit her sketching palette on her Patreon page at the moment. I went on a tangent this afternoon and took two older watercolour palettes and one gouache, and used three colours in little squares. Looking at this tells me why watercolour will always be my Number 1 choice. Even if I can't remember what colours I have put in the pans, there is magic happening. In all honesty, I still know too little about gouache, but I'm at a stage in my life where I want to push further in my watercolour journey rather than start all over again with a different media. But I could change my mind next week, you never know!!

Denver and Santa Fe - travel sketches

No watercolour or gouache while I was in transit. Yes, I did miss them when there were interesting clouds at Denver airport! I also got very interested in the art installation between the terminal and the Westin hotel. My sketch doesn't do it justice, but I filmed its movement and I will explore further. Some day! Glad I had a willing model, both in Dublin and Denver airport (direct flights with Aer Lingus, very handy!)

 

Santa Fe - Ghost Ranch

Ghost Ranch, a little over an hour's drive from Santa Fe, was magical. We started the day with a paint-along with Suhita and Maru, then spent the afternoon sketching what we wanted. I wanted to sketch everything. I really enjoyed sketching in gouache and I'm sorry now I didn't do more of it in the afternoon. But I reverted to my comfort zone!

Santa Fe - Railyard

I could have spent days at the Santa Fe Railyard. But we only had one morning. And in case you're wondering, I never follow my thumbnails. They are just a way for me to explore my environment and kiss a few frogs before I find my prince. I do wish I had included the security guy walking out of the frame in my final sketch, though.

Santa Fe - town and Canyon Road

Of course, my favourite part of the course was sketching on location. Santa Fe is very sketchable!

 

Santa Fe - Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and exploration

One of the main inspirations for the workshop I went to in Santa Fe is the work of Georgia O'Keeffe. We went to her museum and explored her art, themes and colours. Not something I normally do, but I learned a lot from carefully observing, and then going my own way with it.

PS: I'm not great with museums. I'm often more interested in the people looking at the art and odd bits and pieces. 

The colours of Santa Fe - exercises and experiments

Just back from a trip to Santa Fe where I attended a wonderful workshop organised by the Madeline Island School of Art, with two fabulous instructors, Suhita Shirodkar and Maru Godas. It's going to take me a while to process everything I have learned. It was intense. And fun. I'm thinking about colour now in a completely different way than my usual sketching style.

But let me start with some of the colour and mixing exercises we did. If you want to learn more, just follow these two amazing artists!

PS: the "kiss but no tongue" expression is my own.

PPS: I just remembered that pink and orange are my two favourite colours put together. Why did I not use them more? Probably years of masking and trying to paint with grown-up colours. Time to let the inner child in me come out and play!