Playing or procrastinating?

Procrastination is 100% fine when this is what comes out of it!!

I just had so much fun with extended tools. It was just what I needed to bring joy to my sketching again! With pen and with paintbrush.

These ones below were a bit more random, but they are happy pages. I need to bring my bright pink Posca everywhere with me on grey days. Guaranteed to bring joy!!

Sketching PlayLab - Control and Freedom with lines

I think this was my favourite Sketching PlayLab so far. Discovering a new freedom in my lines and finding my handwriting again!

This PlayLab was about exploring the full spectrum between Control and Freedom with drawing tools. But we started with writing and it was such a revelation for me. Because my handwriting was always described as illegible or bad, I moved to writing in block script quite a few years ago. Getting back into my cursive handwriting just made me so happy! And I think it shows in my drawing. Thank you Suhita and Paul!

And learning to draw with an extended tool is definitely something I'm going to be doing more of. I'm one of these people that hold the pen tight, and I want to break free of that bad habit! It will take practise. And I hope to apply this to holding my paintbrush too!

The pages displayed below are in reverse order from the workshop.

Rediscovering my own handwriting!

Dun Laoghaire

Another blustery day with rain, but I managed to fit in a little sketching all the same. I keep thinking that if I lived in a sunny country, there would be no end to my urbansketching adventures! So on this day again, I was constrained by the elements. I found a good spot sheltered from the wind and rain. The view was limited but it forced me to focus on details that I wouldn't normally include. Lots of memories associated with that house. Friendship. And parties. It'll be a long time before I go to one of those again! 

Sketching PlayLab - Textures

 

Another wonderful PlayLab with Suhita Shirodkar and Paul Wang. I had brought a few seeds and nuts for inspiration, and then we played. I went a bit crazy with markers and watersoluble crayons. And afterwards, I played with resist, which was even more fun.

Bray from the comfort of my car

 Some days, you just don't have the same bounding energy as normal. And the weather threatens to rain. Again. So, rather than endure, I just stayed in the car. It limits what I can sketch. But that doesn't matter so much to me. Whatever is in front of me is good enough! I sat in the passenger seat and locked the doors. That guy in the yellow jacket walked by a few times. Mind you, he looked lost in his own thoughts and probably didn't even notice me. But there was nobody else on the street. You can never be too careful.

And then I drove around until I found another good spot. It was the car in front I was interested in, but the houses were pretty too.

Les nénuphars - why stop when you're having fun?

At this stage, I would normally be jumping right in to painting. And then be discouraged when it doesn't turn out the way I expected. So what I'm doing now is a "colour mood" exploration. I was inspired by Tine Klein's wonderful blog and her musings on colour temperature. I often find that when I've done "everything right", thumbnails, composition, values, shapes, there's still something that jars and I don't know what it is. Well, of course it could be that I'm using too many bright colours. But I don't mind that. I like bright colours. That's part of who I am, even if it doesn't look like serious art!! But what if the jumble of bright colours expresses the wrong mood? So, now I've done 6 quick studies (in reverse order from the way they appear here), and I changed ONE VARIABLE at a time!! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out this video! 

 

This was such a revelation to me, I have to admit. I might even say this has the potential to change the way I approach art completely!! It's never too late!

So, anyways, here are my 6 colour studies, in reverse order, with all my notes, if you can read them!

So, even if I push this no further, I will always have this little beauty. Next, need to figure out how to not paint the flower and still make it look like a water lily!

Saint Patrick's Cathedral

 

As our government announces new measures to curb the increase in Covid19 cases in Ireland, I am thinking of friends and family who have been effectively cocooning since March. And as some of these friends only started to re-emerge last week, it must be so disappointing for them to be told that people over the age of 70 are advised to cocoon again, while younger people continue to party like there is no tomorrow, and tourists from countries where the virus is spreading like wildfire are still coming in to Ireland, ignoring the requirement to quarantine. I am determined to continue sketching outside for as long as it is safe to do so, while wearing a mask and keeping my distance! Every week, I will have to consider whether it is safe or not!

Last week, a few of us enjoyed a relatively carefree time in Saint Patrick's gardens, just beside the cathedral. As you can see, the cathedral is undergoing major work. The roof alone will cost 9.2 million euro! And you can even sponsor a slate, or even a quarter of a slate - these things don't come cheap!

It was mostly locals in the park. I didn't see any tourists, who would normally have been flocking to this area. I believe the cathedral is opened to the public, with reduced numbers and booking recommended. It's the same in the Guinness Storehouse and the Book of Kells in Trinity College, where face coverings are required too. Actually my husband was in town recently and just wanted to stroll through Trinity College, but was told it was closed at the gate, so I'd say unless you work there, you're a student or you have a booking for the Book of Kells, you won't be able to get in. It's a bit ironic that you can go in as a tourist who hasn't quarantined, but you can't go as a local! Such a shame - it's such a wonderful oasis in the city. It's going to become harder and harder to find places to sketch as the weather turns cooler and wetter! But there's always the car! So I'm determined to keep going!

City Quay

One of the things I love about Dublin's architecture is the mix of old and new. The new is not always successful. And the old can be monotonous when you don't want to be painting all these windows in Georgian houses. But we have lots of industrial buildings and churches mixed in with new glass-clad office blocks. And they echo off each other. I just love it. I just wished we had better summers - I always have a woolly hat and mittens in my bag. And an umbrella. But sometimes I'm really sorry I didn't bring my rain trousers, or my big poncho. Hard to find a balance between being ready for all weathers and bringing a suitcase with me!

On this particular day, I was well wrapped up and I found nice little spots where I was able to settle into sketching straight away. My inner critic had taken a break and I got into the zone! I moved across the Liffey after a short while and got lost into the pyramid shape of this iconic office building. And I couldn't resist a third sketch, mixing the old and the new. I think I got the proportions of the church better in that one!

Apart from a few of us sketchers, there were not too many people about. A few tourist going into the EPIC  Emigration Museum. And a few groups of men enjoying a drink together. The pubs are still closed, so they just find a quiet bench and drink and chat. Some were tidier than others, taking regular trips to the bin to throw away their empties!

And another Nénuphar, with red watercolour pencil!

I went back to one of my old bibles, a book by Shirley Trevena, and I liked the idea of using watercolour pencil to draw the shapes of the lily pads. The shapes are so varied and fascinating. But this is not how I want to paint them. This was a useful experiment to understand the shapes better, but I'm going to have to find a way to keep what I like in this and paint it in a more abstract way! 

Les nénuphars - warm and cool study

Or a study in what not to do!! It took these four babies for me to realise that brown water is not good, and that cool vertical pads need cool shadows and warm horizontal pads need warm shadows. I do like the pale flowers though!

This was the first layer. I liked it better

Les nénuphars, more play

 Playing with watercolours and Kuretake Zigs. 

Pale imitation

There are probably thousands of us around the world, creating these pale imitations of Uma Kelkar's value squares! The best way to play with shapes and values, with no pressure! I have 4 that I really like in this lot. What about you?

The Letter B, and a few squiggles

What to do when the sun is shining at long last and you want to spend time outdoors to make the most of it, but you also want to do some art? Practise with shapes and values in little squares, without thinking too much! 

And then experiment with one letter of the alphabet and try as many compositions as you can. I'm dutifully applying what I learned from Uma Kelkar earlier this summer. And by the way, I'm useless with typography, so this is really hard for me!!

Life drawing - Gio

Another great session with the 2bornot2bcollective, and a beautiful model from New York, Gio. Lots of costumes, so quite a challenging 2 hours!

Grand Canal Dock area

We were sketching around the Grand Canal Dock area, but I can never settle in the big square. Initially, I looked for a spot by the water, but nothing grabbed my attention, so I went to a little square behind the Marker Hotel, Chimney Park. And yes, it has a big chimney, and palm trees, and a playground. The park is "centred around a redbrick 19th-century Gasworks chimney. Originally used for coal-burning in the production of gas, the conservation report states that it is “one of the only remaining structures that symbolises the industrial history of the Docklands area”'. I have sketched this view before. I'm not sure this version is any better!

Then I got absorbed in the view of the Convention Centre from where I was sitting, but I made a mess of it!

Then I decided to sit outside at a café, got a horrible matcha latte from Insomnia, and did a quick sketch while sitting at the table. Not very focused. No perspective whatsoever. My mind was on other things. I'm just glad I sketched at all!

Water lilies

How to express water lilies in direct watercolour? I'm really not sure how it's gonna work, but yes, I have discovered my new obsession. There were lots of water lilies in the Botanic Gardens, but with only white flowers. But then I found some pink ones in the rose garden fountain in Ardgillan. I took lots of photos.

I had a bit of fun with colours first, then explored some more, trying to figure out the shapes - they go from really flat in the water to almost vertical behind the flowers, and a lot bluer.

I quite like this little one, although I painted the flowers too dark and my attempt at painting the flower on its own was a disaster.

First exploration of shapes and values and composition. Actually the vertical pads are as light as the flat ones, a 1. They are just a cooler colour. And the shadows under the pads are probably a 3 at most, not as dark as I thought. And I think I prefer a simple horizontal composition rather than a diagonal. This is gonna be fun!

Playing with paints

Procrastination perhaps? But so much fun playing with colours. It's the summer after all! The ones on the right are a few colours mixed with white gouache (Carbazole violet, Green Apatite Genuine, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Transparent Red Oxide). I think that the ones on the left are subconscious thoughts of exotic beaches. It seems that it's too hot everywhere else, while here in Ireland, our summer never really materialised!