Going more abstract - does it still look like the mountains on Beara?

This one looks better in photo, I think.Had fun playing with mark-making with my ArtGraf tailor shapes on dry and damp paper. Is it too different from everything else I paint? Is it too abstract? Do you see mountains? These are all the questions I ask myself. I like the composition, the values, the colours, the mark making. But I'm struggling with assessing my art at the moment.

I'm trying to find a way to express the geology of the mountains on the Beara peninsula, where there are some locations where you can see every fold in these mountains. When it comes to me, I'll know it, I guess, but in the meantime, I'll keep exploring!

Abstract rocks - Healy Pass, Beara Peninsula

Is it better to keep a painting abstract, or build up more realistic volume? I'm unsure about this one. I could probably try another layer in Procreate? Or I could paint another version altogether?

When I buy clothes, I have a system - if I'm not sure, I don't buy them. It's simple. Why do I find it harder to make that decision with a painting?

 

Botanic gardens - and why I'm not a plein air artist

I went to the Botanic Gardens the other day, on a plein air painting outing. I made two mistakes. One, thinking that the Luas stop at Phisborough is very near the entrance. 20 minutes it was. And, Second, bringing my own packed lunch. Way too much to carry. It was hot, and then it rained. All very uncomfortable. It's never a problem when I'm sketching, but plein air painting is different, much more serious (it would seem to me), so I have to bring extra brushes, extra water, a small tarp to place under my bags (yes, plural). It just wasn't worth the effort. 

Also, being on the autistic spectrum, I suffer from sensory issues - mostly, I jump at sudden noises, I am sensitive to bright lights. Also, I find it hard to see the forest for the trees, literally. I'm in a beautiful place like the botanic gardens, and my eyes keep switching from one thing to the next. I notice the plants drooping by the pond, the turtles, the swans, the big tree to my right, the yellow lilies standing in the pond, the white lilies that have opened so beautifully, the lady who's painting a large watercolour to my right, someone I know across the pond, the clouds building up, the tourists who stop to look at what I'm doing (despite the fact that I've just literally opened my sketchbook!), etc etc. Maybe it's a form of sensory overload. But, really, it's that I want to capture it all. So, one nice painting at the end of the day? No. Can't do that. I keep doing quick sketches, one watercolour layer, then I pick up another sketchbook and use a pen. Then I go back to watercolour. I literally cannot settle. Previous years, it worked out, as I had lots of energy, and I produced lots of great sketches and vignettes, and I was on a high. This year, I just find it exhausting. I had to take to the bed after I got home. So, yes, it's taken me (nearly) 59 years, but now I know why I'm not a plein air artist. And it's also exactly why I love urban sketching so much. I can churn out as many quick vignettes as I want, using 5 different pens and markers. Nobody expects me to stand at an easel, in the same spot, all day. And I'm good at it. And I'm also good at studio painting. Because I have one image in front of me. I work from photos I take myself, and occasionally from photos Brendan has taken, but he's not a landscape photographer. He's a street photographer, who photographs people. Check him out on Instagram. He's good. I have a process that works for me (mostly learned from Uma Kelkar, and also from dozens of books I have accumulated over the years!). And I'm disciplined.

Anyways, here is what I did in the Botanic Gardens, all in my sketchbooks. Then the thunderstorms came, and I left.

Had to sketch the baby swans before I left!

Bullock Harbour - some thoughts about what kind of an artist I am not.

I am not a plein air painter. Funny that, given that I'm an urban sketcher. Give me a sketchbook anywhere and I will focus on what attracts me and draw and paint and draw some more. No problem. Give me a watercolour pad? I see too much. I can't focus. I don't know what it is. In my studio, no problem, I have a process. It works for me. I work out my composition, my colour scheme, how I want to tell the story. But outdoors, everything is eye candy to me, and I revert to a self that doesn't know how to paint! The fact that I only do plein air painting once a year doesn't help. But at 58 (well, closer to 59 really!), I don't have the energy to change who I am. So, tomorrow, I'm just bringing my sketchpad and my small palette, and I'm going to sketch lots and lots!

Busker

After a chillout time at the M&S café, I went to the street and sketched one of the buskers. He was very good, but when his amplification went, he just stopped singing. Fixed the problem and started again. I thought then that amplification makes them all sound good. Walked by a little girl. She had amplification too. Didn't sound so good. 

Up on the roof

Current obsession: go to the top of city car parks and sketch the city skyline. This one was done from the top of Stephen's Green Shopping Centre. looking North. I was amazed at how quiet the car park was. And the upper floors were closed. That's definitely the start of summer, when most people are heading to France or Wexford! 

The Hidden Dance of the Library Trees, DLR Lexicon

Yesterday, I wasn't sure about these colours, but now that I was at the location again this morning, that little hidden corner, just at the side of the DLR Lexicon library in Dun Laoghaire, I think that Perylene Maroon is definitely the right choice. And I do love when rich washes of watercolour bleed into each other, like at the bottom left here, it's like the trees and the wall are becoming one.

I think I need to move from trees now. Time to think about the ocean and cliffs and rocks.

The Dance of the Library Trees - cool, DLR Lexicon

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now the colours don't work for me. It might be nice for a fabric pattern, though.

Around the city and views from multi-storey carparks

Adventures around the beautiful city of Dublin. Started at Dublin Castle. What's with the lion in the courtyard? Maybe there's a plaque about it, but I didn't see it. Then across the Liffey, where I found good views in the carpark at the Jervis Street shopping Centre. There was nothing on the 5th floor, as the walls are too high to see anything, but the 4th and 3rd floors had views through slatted panels and a heavy grid. I was so thrilled to see these views of the city that I didn't mind the strain on the eyes from the bright outdoors and the dark car park. I will be searching for more of these views as I continue my exploration.

After that, it was time to be social and meet fellow sketchers at Wolfe Tone Square. And that dome? It's the Penneys shop on Mary Street!

 

Tree exploration - near DLR Lexicon, Dun Laoghaire

Do I want warm dominance and straight lines, or cool dominance and lots of curves? Well, I've tried the options and I still don't know! Initially, I didn't like the 4 little ones I painted with warmer colours, but now when I look at them individually, they're growing on me, 2 and 3 in particular. And then I painted a loosey-goosey version with no green, but mostly blue and purple, and I loved it. Now I'm not so sure!

Sometimes too many options is just that - too many.

But I do enjoy exploring! Something good always comes out of it, even if I can't see it straight away.

Like, I do like Perylene Maroon after all. 

And the simplest of subjects can be interesting. This is from a photo I took at the side of the DLR Lexicon Library in Dun Laoghaire.

Soft day - near Parknasilla

Sometimes, I need to get away from the original image so that I can get closer to the feeling I am trying to capture. On this occasion, the feeling was that of the softness of a day at the end of winter. Still lots of rusty colours at ground level, dark water, misty sky, all the vegetation merging together, with that smell of wet earth, your steps on soft spongy ground, on the grounds of Parknasilla hotel, with not a soul around. It felt like we were in a Northern rainforest.

The previous versions, while closer to the photo I was looking at, did not convey that feeling, so I went back to the drawing board. Also, this is more me, with colours that shine through!

Dripping - near Parknasilla

Feeling of fog and wet vegetation, with dark water, smell of the rain and wet leaves.

Two version. I think I like the one at the top better

 

Two days of sketching in Dublin with Oliver Hoeller

Spent two marvellous days sketching around Dublin with Oliver Hoeller and the other participants in his wonderful workshop. Great introduction to storytelling, sketching people in context, how to make sense of a complex scene, and lots lots more. 

Learned a lot, sketched a lot, all at a pace that really worked for me. I didn't feel rushed, and yet there was always something new to discover around the corner. Oliver had a structured approach in his teaching (which I love!) and he was also able to switch gear very quickly if questions arose, or if the weather refused to cooperate (it is Dublin after all!).

Here are the sketches I did over the 2 days. I might add some colour, or shading, to some of them. Others will stay as they are so I remember everything I learned! Every time I do a workshop like this, I learn so much and it opens new ideas that I will use in my sketchbooks. To me, it's the best way to re-energise my sketching practise!

Fog on the shore - Parknasilla

Nothing like little postcard-sized flow watercolours to figure out what works and what doesn't. I'm trying to achieve some soft gradations here to express the feeling of fog over the tall trees on the shore near Parknasilla, near Sneem.

I don't paint with Phthalo blue very much, but I feel that it's what's needed for my intense greens. Lunar blue for the foggy effect. And still trying to figure out what orange to use. Pyrrole Orange? Transparent Pyrrole Orange? Perylene Maroon? Quin Burnt Scarlet? What I got here is probably a mix of all of these. Not very methodical!

I think the first one (top left) is my favourite. It will be interesting to see how it works out when I move up a size! I also want to explore some more with the tree trunks. In reality, they are quite red, some are vertical, others are more twisted. Love thinking about those things, then just paint with abandon!

Cool River - Near Glendalough

I hope you feel the cool of the river water on a lush summer day, in this scene from Glendalough. I tried to keep most elements to a minimum in terms of detail and brushstrokes. The stones is where I painted the most detail, leading the eye around the painting with the little contact shadows and bigger areas of shade.

I have given up on the 30x30 Direct Watercolour challenge. My first time in 5 or 6 years that I give up on it. It was just that I was finding the idea of painting something of finished quality every day impossible to do. And I was comparing my lack of achievement to others in the forum, and that wasn't good for the soul. So I quit. Best decision! It took me 3 days to complete this one from thumbnail to finish. Best to have something I'm happy with after 3 days, rather than hating what I paint every day! Maybe I am finally achieving the wisdom to make those decisions for myself!

 

Cool river on a summer's day

Time to focus again and painti like I paint. Not try to paint like somebody else! I have to take a break from all the group things and focus on my work.

First exploration of this scene. I need more variety in my dark shapes under rocks. They look like slugs, don't they??? But I do like the warm and cool thing that I have going on. Let's see where it goes.

 

And my notes and thumbnail before I even got to this stage!

Quick sketch in the pub

Keep your sketchbook out all the time - and you're going to sketch more. Briefing in the pub with Oliver and the gang. Added colour at home.