Revisiting peonies before they fade

I have no idea how long peonies last. Are they like tulips? So there is a sense of urgency. 

But first of all, I wasn't too happy with the Gansai Tambi version, so I covered some parts of it with white acrylic paint, applied with a painting knife, added more paint, pastels (oil and soft, I think), and scratched through the surface to recover some of the underlying colours. A bit frantic.

Then, the next day, I applied gouache on top, and pastels again. Scratched and added until I was happy. All done while chatting with a friend - best way to get out of my head. I even got rid of one of the flowers by applying dark green gouache on top - my friend gasped, I think. But in that moment, I felt that gouache gave me so much freedom. If you're on Instagram, make sure to swipe to see the close-ups. Maybe that's what I really want to paint.

Peonies three-ways

Bought myself a bouquet of peonies yesterday. I think it's the first time ever I have bought them. Been wanting to buy them for years, so I could paint them. Was surprised at how quickly they opened. Four of the five were just round buds yesterday. Now four of them are in full bloom. Need to hurry before they fade. All done within 2 hours, but might count them as separate days for Direct Watercolor month!

Played with watercolour, Statiblo Woodies, tempera sticks, oil pastels, and some Inktense. Would need to add more darks for volume, but I enjoyed the play. Which one is your favourite?

working from the crop - first layer

Very much work in progress, on cold press paper. Liking how the pigments are behaving. And the energetic mark making. Now pondering what to do with my second layer.

Pencils4Tea 18 June 2026

Still working with watercolour first, then graphite pencil to define shapes better. And a little Stabilo Woody for lipstick. For longer songs, I came back with a darker, thicker, wash in some places. We drew to music to do with the World Cup (football, America, I think). Again worked in a Stillman&Birn Alpha and a Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook, as I needed time for paint to dry before turning the page.

Self-portrait at the hairdresser's

Love my time at the hairdresser's, white my colour is cooking. Always an opportunity to experiment. This time brought a small set of watercolours and 4 inktense pencils. Started with washes of colour, then added line, and back and forth until I was done. Added a tiny bit of white Neoart in the eyes when I got home.

Cutting and tearing to create

Last week, I had painted on heavyweight cartridge paper, and it buckled a lot. I wasn't crazy about the composition. So I tore it up. It's a process. It's good to let go of something. And creating something new from it. The hardest part for me is to glue extra elements onto the cropped piece. But I like where these two pieces have gone. One still very much a landscape, the other going towards the abstraction I'm interested in, where the landscape becomes flesh. The idea is still elusive, but I'm getting a glimpse of where this is going. 

At Coliemore harbour

Some days just feel special. And some locations have that quality too. Coliemore Harbour is one of those places, and on a day that turned out brighter than forecast, it was perfect. It's sometimes struck me that it can be dull where I live, but if I go towards Dalkey, the clouds clear and the light seems brighter, particularly if you walk towards Coliemore Harbour. I've never been on Dalkey island. It calls out to me. But my fear of stepping on and off small boats stops me. So, the best I can do is sketch it from the shore.

Not so good job culling

I'm still trying to cull my stash of pencils for Toulouse. I keep adding more. Like add 5, remove 1. That's not the way it's supposed to be. I'm not very methodical in my choices. I do lots of swatches, but I don't write the names down. Too much work! Purples and turquoises are favourite colours. But I know the colours of Toulouse are very different from Dublin. And I also know that I can recreate these colours with my watercolour set.

I know how much I can carry, and the weather will probably be extremely hot, so I will have to reduce the load, so I can carry water - I never carry drinking water in Dublin. We forget how good life is here!

Here is where I am with it. And yes, there will be some sketching rock stars colours! And keep scrolling, and you will see the non-methodical swatches that have led (or not) to this choice.

Good job cropping

When I paint something on cartridge paper, I'm not precious about it. The focus is exploration and textures. I can then crop and look at composition as a separate phase.

Much happier with this square, where the focus is on the area of water where cool and warm colours are mixing. Original was A2, the square is about 25x25cm

Teaching about Urban Sketching

I'm out of sync again. Just realised that I hadn't posted my sketches from my day with students from university in Long Beach, California, who were in Dublin on their Study Abroad program with their lecturer, Yulia Gasio. Had a great day, telling them all about Urban Sketchers and teaching them what it's like to use our sketchbooks for capturing scenes from the city, without feeling overwhelmed or under pressure to produce a perfect piece of art!

And I got to sketch myself when I got into town (and my essential stop at the Matcha Bar) and while they were doing their assignments! Worked with Inktense, markers and fountain pen with black ink, and watercolours for one of the sketches.

Bewleys and a bite to eat on my own

Had a lovely time sketching the façade of Bewleys on Grafton Street. Such a Dublin institution. Now it's gone a bit posh and expensive. Not the same as it was in the eighties, but I guess it's an expensive building to maintain. Lots of detail on the façade. Tried to capture the essence of it. After we met up and looked at each other's sketchbooks, I went for a bite to eat in Carluccio's. I had intended to stay in Bewleys, but they kicked us out at 17:30, which sounds ridiculous, with so many tourists in town, probably all looking for somewhere to eat. Anyways, I enjoyed my quiet time with my food and my sketchbook. Then I went to The Teal House Gallery to look at the work from the Long Beach students, who all did amazing work during their Study Abroad time in Dublin.