As is often the case, my thumbnails are freer than the painting itself. I'm not too happy with this one, done on a quarter sheet. Will I be brave enough to move to a half sheet? First I need to figure out how to paint the island in the distance so that it doesn't look like a bad cloud! And think about colour harmony more - the blue (Cobalt) of the water at the front kind of jars with the peach colour of the ocean further out and the purple shades of the rocks. The journey continues.
OK, I feel ready to tackle my next project. But I can only do so without putting pressure on myself. So I'm starting with thumbnails, more or less postcard size, 4 per quarter sheet. I did 8 back to back. And you know what. My favourites are the first and the last ones! You can't see this here, but I've labelled them D2 to D9, and I've taken notes of what I like the best about each one.
The view is of Dunmore Head from the road that goes down to Coumeenoole Beach. The islands in the distance are the Blasket Islands. As you can see, I've been exploring various ways to create a sense of distance, some more successful than others.
This brings back wonderful memories of our one-week staycation on the Dingle Peninsula, my favourite part of the world. The ever-changing light and sound of the ocean against the rocks. What I would give to be back there right now!
The main colours I've used are Monte Amiata Natural Sienna, Cerulean Blue, Neutral Tint and Quinacridone Rose. For some I've used Moonglow, and for D9, I used Cobalt Blue instead of Cerulean. It worked really well. I also played with the option of using Permanent Alizarin Crimson. Too many choices.
Tell me which one you like best! D2 is at top left, with D3 beside it. D4 is one row below, and D5. D6 is at the top of the second page, with D7, and the last row is D8 and D9. (It feels like I'm giving you Dublin Postal codes!)
I'm much happier with this one. I have developed a liking for contained compositions! And white space!! And colour swatches, but we knew that already!
The more I explore Kachigawa, the more gems I'm finding. I can't believe I resisted virtual sketching for so long! Well, I haven't been anywhere really for about 5 months, so there is a great sense of freedom in walking the streets, even if it's just on my computer! Who would have thought this time last year that this is where we would be!
I've now got to the final lesson in Liz Steel's course, Sketchbook Design, and the idea is to think of design not just for a page, or a spread, but for several pages. Lately, my energy has been quite dispersed, so this was the perfect excuse to focus on one thing alone. I decided to take a virtual trip to Kachigawa, an area in Kasugai, a suburb in the Aichi province. It doesn't have big museums or temples. But it's home to one of my best friends, Shinobu. We've been friends for about 40 years. I was at her house once. I can't find it on Google Maps, but I'll keep exploring her neighbourhood virtually, and feel like I'm strolling and chatting with her.!
And since it's a virtual visit, I can connect houses that stand on different streets. Just place a tree in the middle and voilà! And I can go from modern house to the more traditional type. Or meet at the park near the station. And even have a bite to eat at a nearby restaurant.
This was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to the day when we can do this in reality again!
Another view from my window. I never seem to convey how big that tree is. That's the disadvantage of a landscape sketchbook. But with the light improving, the green moss on some of the branches is really catching the light and makes the tree look almost fluorescent.
Well, I had a lovely page with paint swatches and nothing on the facing page. So I went to Window Swap, found a lovely garden somewhere in Poland. I can't spell the name, let alone pronounce it! And I used more or less the same colours. Actually it was very interesting, as I found that Quinacridone Gold Deep is very different from Quinacridone Gold, much more orange. And Perylene Maroon in Holbein is more orange than the Daniel Smith version, despite both using the same pigment! So now I must go back to my Parknasilla sketch and try it with these variants!
I'm still working through Lynne Chapman's book. I find that copying her drawings enables me to really understand what she talks about. Very often, I speed-read through art-books and never actually apply what I read. This will take me a lot longer to finish the book, but totally worth it! And then I will move to drawing actual people!! Although, given what our government are not really saying, but leaking, it will be another 8 weeks before we can meet others, and even then, it'll still be with masks, so no nose or mouth. I'd better go back to the chapter about eyes! Or bite the bullet and start sketching my husband!
I couldn't let those yummy colours go to waste. So I had to find a view that would match the colours I had in my palette. Not the usual way round. So, maybe I'm a dinosaur, but I've only recently started using Google Photos, and I find it so amazing that I can put in the words autumn forest and, ta da, I have all the options that I needed. And I haven't even uploaded half of my photos yet! This view is of the lovely walks around the grounds of Parknasilla Hotel in Kerry, near Sneem. And the bridge is actually at a funny angle. Well, maybe not quite as funny as what I've depicted here, all right!
Back to procrastination - was inspired by Shelley to try out mixes with Phthalo blue and Perylene Maroon. I used Quin Gold instead of Phthalo green for a bit of warmth, which means I'm getting dark browns rather than blacks.
On etchr The Perfect Sketchbook, literally! The colours really sing in this sketchbook. (Fountain pen work, on the other hand, is a bit scratchy)
I had heard of Window Swap, but it's only just recently that I actually got to explore it! And I had a lovely time sketching these 3 views, from Germany, England and the South of France. I'm playing with sketchbook design, experimenting with my page layouts (from Liz Steel's online course). I think this page is not perfectly balanced, but I do like the continuity with the colour for the first two sketches, and I like the flow from one image to the next.
What I love the most about Window Swap is that I'm not sketching from a still photo, it's actually a video, with sound and changing light, and all. The first one on the left has the background sound of a busy road, but the summer wind in the trees immediately transported me to continental Europe. The one in the middle was filmed during a thunderstorm, with the rain pouring and the light changing as the storm passed. The third one was a terrace in the South of France, looking out over wooded hills and the constant chirp of the cicadas. It was like travelling to three countries in the space of three sketches. Better than meditation!
Eggs are hard to sketch and paint. And the eggs I had were not even egg-shaped if you know what I mean. They didn't have the pointy end. So I'm not sure if they look like eggs. I enjoyed figuring out the shading, though. And the egg jokes that were flying around on Zoom. I've come to enjoy sketching while chatting on Zoom. I use my own setup, as I currently can't find it in me to get excited about someone else's still life or virtual locations. It's just that it's important to me to have a connection to what I'm sketching or painting. That's all.
I love playing with an idea. A few variants. None of which achieve the morning light I'm aiming for. So I might leave it for a while. I kind of like the first one below here, which was done after the other page. The Monte Amiata Natural Sienna for the sky, with a bit of Moonglow for the clouds is nice and warm. Better than the other yellows I tried!
Proportions of the mountain are completely wrong, but that's not what these thumbnails were about!
Wonderful theme with Dublin Sketchers - Changing Dublin.
The idea was to start a conversation about our city, and contribute to the city council development plan. While I am cynical about how much influence we citizens have on what the city planners and developers do, there is one place in the city that I care deeply about. It's visible from a lot of angles. Yet you don't see it when you're in the city centre. The Poolbeg Power Station and its two chimneys. It's at the end of an industrial area, not far from the water treatment plant. The area has a constant bad smell. Yet, I feel so alive when I'm standing on Shellybanks, the beach that extends to the South Wall, at low tide anyway. And I can't dream of landing in Dublin and not spotting the two chimneys. I always pick a seat on the left, with a window seat, when I book my return flights! Won't be going anywhere for a while, but it's nice to think about it!
As this is beyond my 5km, I took the virtual sketch route. But I'm glad I did. It brought back lots of happy memories.
This page didn't turn out so interesting. Yes, I am going through every teapot and cup I own. It's that or sketching the view from my window, which right now is not the most inspiring!! I added text around the cup to bring a little something extra, but I still think it's missing something. It might come to me. Probably a heading above the colour dots, but my headings haven't turned out great, so I'm a bit shy about them!
I'm doing things in reverse order. I've already painted this view on half sheet. Why do I feel the need to go to a sketchbook and paint it again? Well, I didn't really play with it enough. Only did a pencil thumbnail, then jumped straight in. I was really focused. But I feel I need to explore the light better. This view was all about the morning light, and I feel I lost that softness in the big painting. I don't think I captured it here either, but I'll enjoy the journey, even if I cut half of the peninsula in this sketch! (Lovely paper in the etchr ThePerfectSketchbook by the way!)
Once I got a taste for these dark mixes, I couldn't stop! Some phthalo blue, lunar blue, sap green, green apatite genuine and indigo. I clearly need to play some more with the two at the bottom to hide the ugly pigment interactions, though!
Always much happier with little thumbnails than with big paintings! Less invested, more relaxed! Focussing on shapes and values rather than colours. I should do more of these! But also I need to think about what it is I can take from these and transfer to larger paintings. What is it you see when you look at these that is uniquely me?
What do you do when you have painted really dark Value 5 horrible bands of thick watercolour on a page? Well, you play with it, of course, dripping water and colour until something interesting happens!
I should be painting big landscapes, but I feel the sudden urge to practise drawing people. Well, I got this lovely book at Christmas and didn't get a chance to look at it until recently. And. What can I say, I'm fickle!
All drawings here are copied from Lynne Chapman's wonderful book on sketching people! I love her style and I really want to understand how she draws. Copying the masters is the best way to learn!
Here is my second painting from Uma Kelkar's masterclass, done on quarter sheet, as my energy was waning after having to go back to the drawing board in terms of composition. Am I happy with it? The questions should be 'Did I convey the emotion I intended? And the answer to that question is definitely yes. It was about a cold damp morning in a world where there is no human connection anymore. So, yes, successful from that point of view. Would I want it on my wall? Probably not - it's a bit stiff, not flowy enough for my liking. That's something I need to work on - how to paint a cityscape that makes sense in terms of perspective and shapes, but is all flowing watercolour at the same time!
I didn't mention the self-portrait in my previous post. Well I wanted to talk about it a little more.
So, my husband is a reluctant model, and if I want to draw or sketch a person, and we can't go into people's homes, shops or cafés, well, I am always available as a model!
And it was a good way to calm my nerves before the first day of the watercolour masterclass with Uma Kelkar! I wanted to do something artistic, but I didn't want to start painting, and then get all tense and be in the wrong frame of mind. I wanted to be a blank page, ready to absorb and experiment!
And the theme from Dublin Sketchers was reflections.
And PS: the little corner of painting behind me is an original Uma Kelkar, bought at the silent auction in Porto in 2018! And if you're interested in buying beautiful art, do check her website - some amazing watercolours and a few prints too.
A lot of people are very good at including maps in their sketchbooks. I am not one of these people. I just feel that if I want a map, I can print it and glue it in. Actually maybe I should do that! So this little map below is the shape of our estate - it's tucked in between two busy roads, and I'm sure car fumes are a contributing factor in a lot of health issues for residents in this area. I remember how everything smelled so good during the first lockdown - not so much now, as there are so many people who find all sorts of excuses to go beyond their 5 kilometers that the traffic is heavier than it should be. Still a lot lighter than in 'normal' times, though - it's amazing how easy it has become to cross the road when we go for our walk!
