Dunmore Head - Zooming in

Moving on in my exploration. Zooming in and out to figure out what it is I want to paint in this scene, which is so well known on the Slea Head Drive that it is almost a cliché. You turn the corner, after a pretty scary bit of road, and this majestic view is there, and if you're lucky, there's nobody parked in the lay-by and you have it to yourself (and the seagulls). For me, it's that sense of being where I belong, the end of the world, just me, the sky and the ocean. I hope to be there again this year at some stage. Not booking anything yet until we have a better idea of how things are, though!

But it's not an easy idea to paint. It's almost too perfect. And I'm not sure about the composition ("Again?" I hear you say)

So I played with different options and I have two views I like best so far. Both zoomed in, on different elements.

So when I was done with the postcard size, I moved to a double-postcard (2 per page as opposed to 4 per page).

This one I'm not so sure about - I could paint it with a lot more movement in the sea - I have a photo of it where the waves are constantly rolling in, so that might make it more interesting.

This one is my choice to develop further.  No sky, no headland, just a bit of sea. And all about the greenfields and the stone walls.

I really enjoyed this approach of watercolour thumbnailing and matching my emotions with painting techniques. It's something I learned from the amazing Uma Kelkar, and which I have adapted to suit myself as a way to create opportunities for exploration!! I'm not sure my thumbnails truly represent the emotions I had picked, but choosing one emotion and one design principle really forced me to paint 4 very different thumbnails from the same photo! Which is something I have struggled with!