I love flowing watercolours. For energy and light and colour. And I love strong mark making - they help me express a sense of physical connection with the landscape, I think. And a mountain can be a there and not there at the same time. If it works for quantum physics, it works for me.
I haven't uploaded this painting on my website yet. I'm still thinking about it. I do love the feeling of it.
Brendan was in London and he brought me back the cutest little box of soft pastels from Japan House. Exciting!
Sometimes all you need is a sketch-along session to inspire and motivate. Eleanor Doughty has a monthly session on Vivify where you can just watch her sketch (and listen to her commentary, which is a treat in itself - I didn't know that brick buildings are not good with earthquakes!). And you can sketch along. She was working with markers and pencils. I started in watercolours so my sketch went down a different path, but I found it fascinating to hear her describe her thinking process when sketching a scene like this one. It helped me a lot. But nothing could save that water puddle. Maybe if I had just done the one?
I was inspired by a view of the mountains with a dusting of snow. Initially I wasn't too sure about this piece. But then I read the notes I had written before painting, and on the third line, I had just written the word Emptiness. This watercolour with oil pastel and soft pastel and a white acrylic dusting is about 40x40cm in size, painted on cold-press paper. It's growing on me.
It took me a little while to settle into the session of Pencils4Tea. But I showed up. I nearly hadn't. But read some inspirational words by Danny Gregory that popped into my inbox, and I'm glad I did. If you're ever finding excuses for not drawing, just find any writings or videos by Danny Gregory, and you'll be set back on track!
March is the season of sunshine and showers. On this particular day, it was also cold and windy. Started my first sketch in watercolour, as I needed more brightness in my sketchbook. Nearly lost my palette to the wind. Then saw the dark clouds and decided to retreat to the Spar on the corner, just in time to avoid the torrential rain. Added colour pencils and markers. And a feeble attempt at the impression of rain. Added blue gouache at home for the blue sky. It was the contrast between the sky and the orange brick building that interested me after all.
I did a continuous line drawing while waiting for the rain to pass, then went back out and did a quick sketch of the Musashi restaurant. Then I was hungry and went in to Musashi for a lovely vegetarian cha han.
Another feeling from the mountains behind Allihies. Different light. Not quite winter anymore. But not spring yet. And the feeling of heavy drizzle. Cropped and collaged some of the crops, or added some oil pastel (with varying degrees of success - but I do like the vermillion colour, something to remember, as it's not an obvious colour for an Irish landscape). No real strong shapes here, but some nice soft colours.
I cropped and collaged that large sheet of cartridge paper. The feeling of winter emerges. A dusting of snow. Some pieces didn't fit into a square.
The previous day was glorious. So I wore lighter socks and no heavy jumper. But temperatures went back down to what is probably normal for this time of the year (mid March). And I regretted it. I was ok for my first sketch, and the 2nd. But I was too cold to bring out the watercolours. And when I drew my first line on the next page, I knew that the church wasn't going to work out. I stubbornly continued. It looks like a church, but a much squatter version than the real thing. After moving about and chatting to a few fellow sketchers, I did another quick sketch before retreating to the pub. I am not as resilient as I used to be.
Met up with a group of students from Cherbourg and their teachers on a sunny morning by the river. And we all sketched together. Thank you Fabien for organising this.
I haven't really painted in 2 weeks. Been busy working, and also sketching. Now, I need to re-immerse myself into the world of tectonics, text and textures. This is a start. Worked on cold press paper with watercolour and soft pastel. I might cut it up and explore collage options. It's too literal for now.
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