So this painting is the reason why I was practising cars. A few weeks ago, when we could still go beyond 2 kms, we were walking Sandymount beach, and I captured a view with a beautiful sky. I love skies, but are they enough for a painting? For me, yes they probably would. But I would probably get bored. And so would you. Although, now that I look at my sky attempts, maybe I should just practise skies after all? It's hard to keep it all in balance. I remember something Veronica Lawlor said to me in Amsterdam that struck a chord: if you keep sketching scenes without people, your skill level for people will always lag behind everything else, so you have to incorporate all elements in your sketches. (Words to that effect, anyway)
So the seafront has all these beautiful Georgian houses, and a few horrors too, but I ignored those. I love the pattern repetition of the windows, and the chimneys, and the colour variations. But without cars, it would not have worked, I think. Now, I know that all my cars are the same colour, but I had enough colours with the houses, so let's pretend this is a Hertz car park!
We're doing well, despite the restrictions. But I can't wait to get back to the sea, and far horizons, and big skies. What do you miss the most?
Below you'll find how I got to this painting above. Exploring story, composition, colours, etc etc. And I'm not done yet! But as is often the case with me, I'm itching to move to something else. I feel that I get too frustrated if I attempt the same view too many times. But if I move on to something else, I will learn on the way and the next time I come back to painting something similar, I will be better prepared. Or maybe not. Anyway, life is short, art is long.
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