So I've been all over the place over the last few months. It will take me a while to get back to painting what my heart needs. I know where to start - colours, words, notes in my studio book, big thumbnails where I work out the feelings rather than composition.
Time to settle back into my creative practise. Just came across a photo with wonderful light over the mountains just outside Allihies, going toward Eyeries. It will take me a while to develop this idea into paintings. But I trust in the process. Watercolour, watersoluble graphite pencils and a few other bits and pieces.
I used lots of mixed media in Toulouse, but now I'm interested in delving more into mostly watercolour. I used my orange palette from Roman Szmal, filled with various colours I have assembled from the last few symposiums. Love how these watercolours behave. Added a touch of Inktense pencils too. 45 minutes for my hair colour to cook. A hairdresser who loves art. Plenty of time for experimentation! At Eddie Doyle's, Blackrock.
I was sorry I hadn't brought my sketchbook, but I had my little notebook and a pen. I love blind drawing. No expectation, just my eye really looking and my hand following.
I didn't take a photo of all the muddy layers of gouache, watercolours, acrylic markers. It's like I'm trying to test how much this watercolour paper can take. A lot it seems. Gesso obliterates everything. I'm back to the same question as a month ago. Should I just leave this behind and go back to pure watercolour? Am I going around in circles? Time to pause.
If you have the patience to read through, these are some of the things going on in my head and pulling at my heart. I write it all down in my studio book. Some will make its way into my art at some stage. Some of the questions are inspired by Sally-Anne Ashley's Creative Shift.
Better than not picking up a pen? Blind drawing while listening to sounds in the distance.
Picking up where I left off, with circles and the idea of sound waves and water ripples. Don't know where it will go, but I was very excited about this before going to Toulouse. Now maybe not so much, but it's something I will come back to at some point. Art Graf in my studio book.
Lovely time in Bray - we sketched in Bray harbour, away from the busy promenade. Good place to practise boats! Done with Roman Szmal watercolours and colour pencils.
Back in Dublin! Sketching at IMMA, with the Dawson Chorus singing in the courtyard!
Busy busy during the symposium. Flipthrough of the sketchbook on my YouTube channel. Some of these photos are not exactly in the right ordre! Lots of stickers exchanged during this symposium!
And it's good to have air-conditioning again. I never thought I'd say that, but with the climate-change-induced heatwaves we're having, even 17th century houses can't keep the heat out.
I'm not writing very much about our trip - you can hear everything about it on my YouTube sketchbook flipthrough.
