More ink - how to translate from a lovely small experiment?

 Sometimes things just don't work out, but I still got some nice colour mixes out of it.

Under the Sea with World Tour Street View

This month's Street View World Tour was extra fun, as we went under water, guided by Nina Khashchina, who regularly sketches while diving. She does it for real, we were doing it virtually!

Changing gear

Really not sure where I'm going with these. Part of me is longing for the crashing of waves at Clogher beach. I did a few paintings a couple of years ago. Now I would like to re-explore this location. But of course, I'm not the same painter I was then.  I need to experiment before I can approach this again. Here I was just doodling with Ecoline markers, ArtGraf taylor shapes and a Zig marker.

Testing ink on better cartridge paper

A while back, I ordered lots of A2 cartridge paper (something like 200 sheets). But I didn't check the weight of it. And it's too light for what I wanted to used it for, ink and watercolour experiments with a fair amount of water and scribbling. It's really only good for charcoal or light drawing, which I don't do much of. So, it's sitting under my desk, and I'm finding uses for it (the only thing is that it's super sharp, so I have to be careful about paper cuts - and no, I'm not using it to rest my feet!)

So now I've ordered a block of heavy-weight cartridge paper and I experimented with some inks, and I'm much happier with the result.  Even more so after cropping. Now I want to do something like that in watercolour. Will I be able to create the same intensity?

Still on Capel Street

1st April in Dublin. Still cold enough to wear a woolly hat. But I didn't need to wear my mittens. Yay! The focus for the group was to sketch McNeill's pub. But the Good Vibrations adult shop next door is what caught my eye. Particularly when the sun came out and there was great shadows from the neon sign, which reads ROCK. The gentleman in the shop behind us told me it used to be a jeweller's and the sign was the first neon sign in Dublin. I don't know what the "The Irish Firm" sign painted on the wall means. 

Maybe I should have tried to sketch a little bit more of McNeills's, but I was meeting a friend and ran out of time. 

Scribbles and ink sloshes

I knew I had to let go of the past. But not quite sure where to go. Time to play with absolutely no intention. Picked up some Neoart crayons I don't use much and some inks. The paper I was using is that thin cartridge paper, and I used lots of water, not a wise move. The only element I like in the whole lot is the red and dark blue drawing. I closed my eyes and I just drew without thinking. 

Losing the sparkle

I was trying to paint something similar to what I painted about a month ago, in a smaller format. Didn't work out. Which to me just means I am not in the same mood as I was then, so of course I can't paint the same way. Maybe I need to pick one element and see where it takes me, instead. Lots of other ideas swirling around. Writing them in my studio book.

 

Near Grand Canal Docks

It was a challenging day, very cold and blustery (last Sunday in March). I keep thinking that other parts of the world are well into Spring. I'm still wearing woolly hats and mittens. But then again, some friends of mine still have snow where they live, so I shouldn't be complaining. 

Anyways, I found shelter in the entrance to an office building on Grand Canal Quay. Still, my water container went flying onto my watercolour palette, and I was left with sludge both in the container and the palette. At that stage, it was time to move to pencils and markers. 

There were two huge bronze statues, called Ruin of a Giant (Harriet Tubman) (Marcus Garvey), 2024, by Tavares Strachan. I included Harriet in my sketch. Maybe next time I will draw both of them, when I'm not so constrained by finding a dry spot sheltered from the gale. Some locations are better suited to summer sketching.

I retreated to the Daphni pub, in the Boland Mills complex. There doesn't seem to be much else in the area yet, though there is the promise of a whole new space where Google built their new headquarters in Dublin. So far, it's only concrete and wind canyons, and a café that closes at 3pm on a Sunday. The Daphni pub was lovely though, warm and cosy and good service. I sketched some elements of it.

When is a mountain not a mountain?

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.

 

Japanese soft pastels

Brendan was in London and he brought me back the cutest little box of soft pastels from Japan House. Exciting!

Sketching with Eleanor Doughty

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? 

Emptiness is what I had written

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.

Pencils 4 Tea 26 March 2026

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! 

Corner of Capel street and Abbey Street

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.