Killiney beach

Despite having done a colour test in my sketchbook, I'm on my second version of this view of Killiney bay on a winter's morning. I can really feel that I'm not painting in watercolours as much as I used to. It feels quite laboured. It's like I don't have the same sensitivity to the medium as I had a few months ago. That will come back with practise of course, I'm not too worried. What I really need to do is go out there and paint en plein air, enjoying the light, the sky, the sea, and not worrying about the end product!

In the first version, I used opaque pigments which granulated too much in the rough paper, Buff Titanium, Lavender, Moonglow and Monte Amiata Natural Sienna. And some Rose of Ultramarine I think. All gorgeous colours and pigments. But weren't the right quality for the effect I was trying to achieve.
So when the sky and sea were not great, I didn't really care and slapped the paint on for the grasses at the front. That certainly didn't help.

So for the second attempt, I moved to more transparent pigments: ultramarine, PV19, Quinacridone Gold. And cold press paper instead of rough. I started with a light loose wash, which I let dry completely before doing anything else. And I practised the grasses to figure out what brush will work best for me (Rosemary & Co Kolinsky Sable, SER 33, size 6, closely followed by a Winsor&Newton Pointed Round, size 7). And I used and old credit card to scrape grasses in the foreground hill. And I added a mountain in the background. It's no longer the real Killiney, but it's a much better balanced painting, don't you think?

And I should also try a more "out there" version for the sky, à la Uma Kelkar. I really love her bold style of painting.