Little doodles

Sometimes, that's all I do! Ellipses and cats are still eluding me!

 

 

Leaping

 

One more half sheet. It's like now I can't stop! For this one, I used a very soft wash I had done a few weeks ago, and it really evoked that misty feeling I wanted to express. Adding the hills was easy after that! Well, 40 or 50 paintings later, without counting the thumbnails!

Now I need to give them all a name. Well, not all. My shortlist is just over 30 paintings. Some of the paintings are not making the list for the simple reason that they don't fit in the overall scheme. 

The names will all come to me when I sit down and do it!

Watercolour

I still have time before I have to bring my last batch to the framer. So in theory, I can paint more for my upcoming exhibition. But my mind is ready to move on. I need to think about brochure, speaker, website, invites. All sorts of things that need to get done. Including coming up with a title for the exhibition. Something short and catchy.

So, today, rather than paint another piece, I decided to play for a bit. I don't know where this will go. But I like it.

 

Hairdressers

I always bring a sketchbook with me when I go to the hairdresser's. I do my own colour, so I only get a cut with Eddie. He's an artist too, so we always have something to chat about. And he's always happy for me to sketch while he's cutting my hair. This time, I used Ecoline markers to block in the shapes before I drew. I can't keep up with how fast his hands are moving!

Yamamori

After sketching near City Hall, I needed food. But I'm on a diet - rather, I'm trying to change how I eat. And also, I need food earlier than the rest of the gang. In the last couple of weeks, I waited for the others, and I ended up 1- eating too much, and 2- feeling unwell because I was too hungry by the time I got fed, and as a consequence 3- having no energy for the rest of the day. Also, what I like to eat is not what the others tend to go for. Part of my diet (Noom, it's an app - it works for me!) is about making my own decisions about what I eat when eating out, rather than be influenced by others. I struggled with that the last time I was in Belgium - I was influenced by what people were having at the other tables even! Merveilleux and Dame Blanche are hard to resist. And Belgian chips! So, I decided to eat on my own. And Yamamori on South Great Georges Street is my kind of place! Miso soup, agedashi tofu, unagi and a pot of green tea. And I got to sketch my food. Colour added at home.

City Hall

I don't like to sketch the obvious. City Hall is a bit imposing building if you look at it from Parliament Street or from Dame Street. It's beautiful inside. But I didn't want to sketch it. On this occasion, I decided to sit at the side, and sketch the Beer Temple across the way, and the many tourists who swiftly walk by on their way to Dublin Castle, or who listen to their guide before going in (because tours are not allowed in the main courtyard, where the OPW run their own guided tours). Summer is good for sketching (except this year, where it rained every day in July), but I will be glad when all the tourists are gone and we can reclaim our city. It's just too many of them, particularly around Trinity College and Dublin Castle.

 

Exploring

Trying something, then something else. They are quite soothing. But I'm looking for a little bit more excitement in my paintings.

Then spent the rest of my time cleaning up my side palettes!

 

Sumi-chan, the cat

Just doodling with ink. Sumi-chan, our cat, does not like being sketched or photographed. Even when he is asleep.

Luke Kelly Festival - Smithfield

Great free festival in Smithfield - The Luke Kelly Festival. Luke Kelly was a folk musician, from Dublin's North Inner city, and was in the Dubliners. There was huge crowds at the festival, and lots going on, talks, many different types of music on the main stage and activities for children too. The weather cooperated. And I did lots of sketching. Here are a few of my sketches, not exactly in order of appearance. I knew I would be standing a good bit, so I brought a small Hahnemuhle sketchbook, and Fude pen and Blackwing pencil (inspired by Suhita Shirodkar's travel sketch kit)

Roxanna, poet

Martin Carthy, folk legend,  interviewed by John Kelly

Zestra, Dublin Inner City band

Cathal Brugha Street's Discovery Gospel Choir

First sketch of the afternoon 

John Cummins, poet, rapper, social commentator, talks with his hand

Rough seas

A slightly different angle, on a different day, the light not quite so intense.

Done on half sheet watercolour paper, with gouache added. And thick dark watercolour too, applied with a key card from a hotel somewhere.

 

Rough seas - at Clogher beach

Lots of gouache, scraping and spraying. I worked fast. I want to try a more considered version, more abstract, but with the same energy. Not sure how that will work. That's the fun of watercolours. You never know what's going to happen!

 

The Ugly One - Twisty road - Healy Pass

I had intended to keep the sweeping mountain in the background a very low value. Got carried away with these rusty colours, that take the eye straight out of the painting. Enough said. Let's not waste any more time on this.

 

The other side of the hill - Healy Pass

This one is still eluding me. I was too literal.

Finished. Lifted some more. And cropped digitally.

Lifted a lot of paint! Looks better in photo than reality I think. Must try a one pigment version. Too many colours are distracting me!

 

Work in progress

Scenes from around Dublin Castle

I've sketched around Dublin Castle many many times. But I always find this building challenging. Every time, I get a bit better at it. Or at least try a different approach.  

After I did this sketch, I bumped into Brigid, who is back in Ireland for a few months. She's such a vibrant positive energy. I enjoyed chatting with her. While sketching at the same time. I got more interested in sketching the people (the hordes of tourists!) who spend time around Dublin Castle on a sunny summer day. And the lioness. Still don't know anything about her. 

Then it was time for lunch. And the sun came out! And there were shadows! It was such a treat to sit outside for a change. Although I didn't make the best food choices. I really need to practise restaurant dining more so I can get better at making healthy choices when I'm eating out!

If you put paint to paper, the day is not lost.

I didn't have the energy for a full painting, but I felt the need to put paint to paper and experiment all the same!

First one done wet on dry. I used hair dryer to make sure each layer was completely dry before painting the next one. I liked the transparency and layering effect.

Then I did a version on some scrap paper and didn't wait for the paint to dry. The result has some darker drying paint, but also the impression that some of the loops are over and others are under. I liked that.

 

So I tried to reproduce that effect. The trick to keep the paint consistency was to not put my paint brush in water in between each colour. The disadvantage was that I lost the contrast between cool and warm mixes. I probably need to mix more different warm and cool so that they don't all end up looking the same shade of brown!

Powerscourt Townhouse

Our summer still hasn't arrived, so it was indoors again with Dublin Sketchers last Sunday. Thankfully, the person who was organising picked Powerscourt Townhouse, right in the city centre, which has a beautiful space all around, with lots of architectural detail for those interested, and plenty of people activity, which is what interested me on that occasion.

I sat upstairs at a café table and sketched the buzzing café on the ground floor. Cocktails seem to be a popular drink for Sunday afternoons these days. I started with a was of greens on the right, and kept moving between pen and watercolour from there. And in case you're wondering about the blob of light turquoise on the right, it's all the clean glasses ready to be used!

We met up in a fancy cocktail bar, Farrier and Draper, and I sketched a little bit before diving into everyone's sketchbooks and chatting about tools and techniques. But I definitely want to go back there to sketch and enjoy a Virgin Mojito, particularly since I have discovered they are not as calorie-intensive as I thought!

 

Rain over the hills - Healy Pass

Another half sheet. Exploring rain. Memory of standing at the side of the road up on the hills near the Healy Pass, looking back towards the twisty road down the valley. And the mountains in the back are disappearing behind sheeting rain 

Rain over the hills

I don't feel ready to go straight to half sheet for this one, so trying 2 versions on a quarter sheet.  Well, after the faffing around earlier with finding tubes of paint, I'm just glad I got this far! I quite like the 2nd one. The question is now can I achieve that looseness on a half sheet? 

Colour swatches, and the necessity of organisation

Swatching colours for my next painting. I'm looking for warm and cool greys and granulating pigments. But was finding that I couldn't get strong darks with what I was mixing. So explored other mixes. But that's too different. And I want this painting to express peace and harmony. More exploring to do!

I wasted so much time looking for tubes of paints that I had swatched a while back and wanted to experiment with for this painting. I have my paints in two boxes - warm colours and cool colours.  But some of these tubes were under two layers of other tubes. Re-organisation was needed.

So now, I have 6 boxes: blues, yellows and earth tones, reds and violets and browns, greens, neutrals, blacks. They are spread over two drawers in my little Ikea unit. It's still not perfect, as the boxes don't quite fit in the drawers and they overlap slightly. Maybe I'll empty another drawer of "things I don't use but might need some day" and I will see all my tubes at one glance?

 

Creative chaos

I love it when my art room is overflowing with paints and tools and colourful experiments! 

Chinatowns around the world - street view

A great evening of sketching with Eleanor Doughty and Jenny Adams on their #streetviewworldtour. The theme this time was Chinatowns around the world. And the invited guest was Aaron Lampell . There was over 130 of us on Zoom, all enjoying the chat, and informative content, and creative atmosphere. All for free. I love these sessions. You never know where you're going to be and you can play with all your art tools. It starts with a 10-minute warmup, then there is a demo by the guest artist, and you can sketch along. Then 2 more locations, with 20 minutes each. Can you see I had a ball?

Somewhere in Connemara - not the Caribbean

It took the picture at this location so long ago that it doesn't have any metadata giving me the location. I just remember it was somewhere in Connemara, and the sand was white like in the Maldives, made of seashells or coral, and the sea was Caribbean turquoise. It could be Dog's Bay. I'm really not sure. I just remember this feeling of joy at discovering waters so clear and beautiful on the edge of the Atlantic, before Ireland even had created the marketing concept of the Wild Atlantic Way!

Painted on Half Sheet watercolour paper.

Waffles with a twist

Warning - adult content in the sketches that you will see here!! 

Well, one of our mature ladies organised the location for our sketch outing. The theme was sketching in locations that are to be found in the Malton prints of Dublin. And they always pick a café to meet at in case the weather is bad. It's been bad for the last month. But the lady didn't quite do her homework in terms of the café she chose, Fooderia, on Capel Street. (Don't click on the link if you're easily offended!). I had done my homework, and I knew what to expect. And in fairness to the lady in question, she embraced the moment, and most of us stayed, had a good laugh, tried the sexy waffles, and sketched the various accessories on display, with the view of Capel Street from the window. I had a great time, and I'm delighted we don't take ourselves too seriously! I don't think you will find this view in the Malton prints!

Beara Variation

Moved up a size to half sheet, then cut to square. And explored a softer feeling of hills for this abstract landscape inspired by the beautiful Beara peninsula.