Life Drawing - Izabella

I didn't get to life drawing last night. But here is my output from last week! Another wonderful life drawing session with Dublin Drawing. This time Izabella used subtle props. I found it really good - sometimes, I think it's hard for me to focus during a two-hour Zoom session with just a model and a contrasting background. My eyes get so tired. The props helped me to focus. Plus it's fun!

Under the trees

I got my title for this painting, which also tells me I have decided on my focus - the foliage and the shadows caused by the trees!

I started the little postcard versions with a landscape format, but they were all over the place (Or maybe I was all over the place??). So, I thought, well, trees are vertical, so let's go for a portrait format.

If I remember well, this is a photo I took in Bushy Park. Which means it was morning (we used to walk Timber there in the mornings about once a week). So that explains the long shadows. Next, I need to think some more about how I will show the distance, and the detail in the foliage. I quite like the two versions I have down below here, but they're too abstract and two-dimensional. It's always a puzzle!

Change one pigment only

I still don't know if this will be about the light or about the leaves! My heart says the leaves, my head says the light!

But let's worry about one thing at a time! Change one variable at a time - another lesson from Uma Kelkar!

So, I'm leaving Turquoise blue behind. Replacing it with Cobalt Cerulean (PB36 - Schmincke). Why? Just because I was curious about this colour that I got on impulse with a voucher!

The light through the leaves

I do have a tendency to use the same colours all the time, don't I! I can't help adding turquoise to everything I paint!

Is this one going to be about the light streaming through, or the turquoise leaves that counterbalance the warm yellow with their coolness? I have no idea, to be honest. It could lead to two paintings. Right now, my heart is going to the turquoise leaves. (And of course you can't comment, because I never share the original photograph! But do know that I only paint from my own, or Brendan's, photos!)

I'm really enjoying playing with these little abstract squares to figure out what colours will work together!

Here is another experiment , getting a feel for how the colours mix together.

Yes, I often start with colour, rather than composition and values. But I have learned my lesson many times over, so nowadays, I do go back to thumbnails before I explore any further! As you can see, I can't decide whether to go portrait or landscape!

And I discovered a great Adobe site where I can play with split complementaries, my new favourite thing! 

Starting to think about my next paintings.

They might not all make the grade as a half sheet painting, but I'm glad I marked a few of my photos as favourites on Google Photos, so I don't have to think about what I want to paint. It's all there, ready in front of my eyes. And then, it's just a matter of a quick flow exercise to get the creative juices flowing.

Top left: a tree in UCD

Top right: a tree at the top of our estate

Bottom left: light streaming through, in Bushy Park if I remember correctly

Bottom right: a view from Te Anau, South Island, New Zealand. Just looking at these thumbnails, it's so clear to me how different the light was over there!

Time to get back to work!

Big Day

Vaccination day! I thought the day would never come. But it did, eventually. On the 15th of May 2021, I got my first jab!!

I knew that there would be a certain amount of queuing and waiting. So I brought my sketchbook! What a joy to be standing in a crowd and sketch! Yes, I'm rusty, but it doesn't matter. I will be sketching in the real world again soon!

It all happened fairly quickly - there was queuing outside under a marquee. By the time I had sketched the couple in front of me, the queue to the right of the barriers had gone already! And yes, he was one of those, with the nose sticking out of the mask - there was a man to my right who was the same. You'd think at this stage that people would make more of an effort, wouldn't you!

There was a fair bit of time at this point, after registration. And thankfully, the queue system was moving in pulses, so I had captive subjects for long enough that I could sketch them and the information boards before we all moved forward in one wave (well, the information boards didn't move!).

And then, when it was all done, I knew I would have exactly 15 minutes for my next sketch! All done and dusted in less than an hour. And the vaccination itself was done in the blink of an eye, so I don't believe any sketcher who say they sketched the experience live! Because the vaccinators won't have the time to stand around with the needle in someone's arm for more than 2 seconds! 

Great simple system for the end-waiting time. You get a sticker on the top of your hand with the time hand-written by one of the stewards. 8:50.

I probably should add these pages to my video diaries, shouldn't I??

 

More rooks, crows or ravens

I haven't filled my little sketchbook yet, and I'm itching to move to a bigger format and better paper. But I'm going to do my best to stick to the practise. It's actually lovely to explore shapes and tones just for the sake of it, without the expectation or pressure of a painting! And of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't do lots of reading on the subject too. Did you know for instance that we don't have carrion crows in Ireland? But we have lots of rooks and hooded crows!

Rooks, crows, ravens

The more I draw them birds, the more I love them. As you can see, I'm trying different techniques and materials. All part of the process of getting to know the shapes and colours and volumes and highlights. I'm actually starting to enjoy watercolour on that card paper. And a brush pen for black highlights. A white gel pen for light highlights. A blue Posca marker for volume. I tried pastels too, but the paper started piling. And did you know that rooks have a diet of mostly small earth worms that only come out when the ground is wet. So they have a technique so that their chicks are not all born at the same time, giving the first chick a better chance at survival in case the weather turns dry and the source of food burrows out of reach deep into the ground - they start incubating the first egg as soon as it is laid! I found this on a Corvid blog somewhere, along with some of the photos I used for inspiration for these drawings! I will try to give photo credits where available!

Life Drawing - Hayley

Beautiful model, so professional. I wasn't in top form, so these are the only drawings I will share with you. 

Reflections

Last virtual session with Dublin Sketchers. This week, we're going back on location. I might need a little longer than that. We'll see.

The theme was Reflections. I worked from a photo I took in Belfield in the autumn. Two different versions. 

The quote below is from a fantastic book called "What every autistic girls wishes her parents knew". Essential reading if you know an autistic girl or woman!

Split Complementaries

Onto the next thing. Which for me always starts with colour. I know I should think composition, shapes, values. But I can't deny who I am! And since that time last month with Dublin Sketchers when we talked about the colour wheel, I'm thinking split complementaries more and more. And it's so much more fun to do these little abstracts rather than plain colour swatches.

The Field - half sheet

DONE! It took me forever. Not in painting time. But in agonising time. I actually painted the first pass of this in one two-hour session, while chatting with Shelley at the same time (best method for flow!). But then, I wanted to fix the walls, fix the cliffs, fix the sea, fix the islands. I just kept looking at it and thinking about what needed to be done. Finishing a painting is the hardest thing for me. But then, I just thought, it will languish in a box forever if I don't go for it. I was so scared of ruining what I liked about it. But I had to change my mindset. I remembered something Áine Divine said about not being afraid to lose what you like so that you can find what you love. She said it much better than that. And it still resonates with me. That's how it is with good teachers. Even years later, you're still learning from them! And I learned something else from another dear teacher and friend, Uma Kelkar, putting in the work - and it was while looking at one of my smaller explorations of the same view that it came to me how I wanted the cliffs to look. If I hadn't done these smaller versions, I would have been stuck, with no visual reference to help me on the journey.  And as you can see from the smaller pieces below, it's been quite the journey! Now, what's next?

Here's where I had left it about a week ago.  I wasn't happy with the background , but I really didn't know how to fix it without muddying it all up, so I was stuck there for a while. Not a happy place!

This is how it was after my first pass. I was very happy with it, for something done in two hours while chatting!! Not organic enough, though, and the cliffs in the back were too regular and grey. But it had strong bones!

Is it a rook or a raven?

Or even a crow?

I really must study the differences between these guys. And then the juveniles look different from adults too. I'm far from my target of 100 crows/ravens/rooks. I will work from photos, my own and plenty from the internet, and from videos too. I'm not sure I'm ready to sketch them from life. But after 100, I probably will have a better idea of how they look. The idea is to try out different pens and materials, and let go of expectation. I've decided to keep them all in the same sketchbook, which may be a little problematic - it's a Two Rivers studio pad book with different types of paper in it - some of the paper takes watercolour really well, some not so much. One of these impulse buys that sometimes makes me happy! Well, one way or the other, I will fill it with these clever birds!

Patchwork

When your mind is not able to focus on much. Pick colours that you like. Add squiggly lines. And touches of bright pink Posca marker!

More seaweed

I was supposed to be sketching wood, but my mind refused point blank. I found that piece of dried seaweed I picked up a few weeks ago much more interesting. I haven't got it out of my system yet!

Chestnut leaves and flowers

Finding inspiration in all sorts of places that I don't normally look at carefully. I came across a photo I took a week or two ago. Of chestnut leaves looking fresh and strong. And after the storm last week, there was lots of debris on the ground, leaves and flowers. I picked up a chestnut flower head. And I thought it would make a nice spread. I put more care in painting the leaves than I normally would, paying attention to the yellow veins. The flower, I just held it in my hand and drew what I saw with a fountain pen, and added touches of light colour afterwards. I get lost in those moments of intense observation. They bring me much-needed joy.