Trying out the QOR palette I got in New York. The colours are super intense! It took a bit of getting used to! Working in a Stillman&Birn Alpha sketchbook, so I couldn't layer too much. Probably layered a bit too much on Chris's face, though. Ah well! We were in a lovely little café in Arbour Hill, Lilliput Stores. A pity it was raining so much, as I would have like to sketch on the street. But they did a delicious Matcha Latte! I would like to go back again!
Feeling like I don't want to paint realistic clouds, but at the same time I still need to be grounded in reality. Need that connection to the earth. But want to express something more. So I'm trying a few approaches. I do like the one with the Sennelier shellac ink!
Changing two parameters at the same time is always risky! Moved to half sheet. And went back to watercolour, a mix of Ultramarine Deep (Holbein) and Burnt Umber (Daniel Smith). It felt like juggling with 5 balls! And of course the paper buckled like crazy with all the water I was throwing at it!
Trying to go a little stronger with the feeling of volume in my clouds, still using more or less the same mix in gouache, although I did add a touch of Schmincke Cerulean Cobalt or something like that (it's Cobalt Cerulean actually). It is watercolour, but works nicely mixed with white gouache. It makes a nice Irish blue sky, I think, although I have forgotten what that looks like. We've had nothing but grey and rain in the last 3 days! And the shadows in the clouds are done with the same mix, plus some Permanent Alizarin Crimson, some Hansa Yellow Medium and a little Magenta (all watercolours, mixed with white gouache). Lots of softening with a big brush that keeps loosing hairs in the middle of the painting!
Painted on Saunders Waterford cold press, about a quarter sheet.
It always takes me a while to get back on track after being away. And I have been away a lot this year, between big birthday celebrations and visiting my Mum back home.
I've been on planes a lot, looking at clouds from both sides! Here are a few impressions.
Playing with gouache and softening, a technique I learned from Dolores Phelps.
I subscribe to James Gurney's newsletter. I'm not a paid subscriber, but I find that his free newsletter is full of useful tips and inspiration. In a recent one, he talked about working in black and white only to explore values. That resonated with me. Let's call it a seed. I need to write that down somewhere! Done. I always keep little post-its on my bedside table for that purpose. This note will make it to one of my notebooks at some stage. Easier than my Microsot ToDo on my phone, where I have to keep moving things forward if I don't want them to disappear in the large list of things that didn't get done!
Lesson learned?
Trying out three sets of Holbein gouache. Definitely love the Autumn and Winter sets. Too many white mixes in the Spring set. I'll just have to experiment and play. Too many art supplies, too little time!
Spring set
Autumn set
Winter set - this one was sent to me by Shelley, because she knew it was out of stock in the European shops I was trying to buy it from. I am so lucky to have friends like her!
I felt my people sketches in Grand Central Station were a little stiff. So I decided to practise from photo and figure out what I can improve. I took some photos while I was there and worked from them with a brush pen and some Moonglow watercolour.
Two conclusions:
I was just back from New York for one day, and it was time for Street View World Tour. Virtually travelling the world and sketching botanic gardens on this occasion. One was Yves Saint Laurent's house in Morocco, another a greenhouse in Kew Gardens. I'm not sure about the other two. I was very jet-lagged, but I didn't want to miss Lis Watkins's demo. I did the fourth sketch the following day, as I had to leave early. So I spent probably a little more than the standard 20 minutes!
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A few notes about art supplies. The only lesson is that Neocolor II melt in the sun. But they survived!
No sketches here, but the main reason for going to New York, apart from my big birthday, was to see A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical. It was amazing. I want to hold that feeling in my heart for a long time!
Yes, I bought the tshirt
Yes, I got to say hi to Katie Diamond, Neil Diamond's wife
Yes, I went to The Bitter End, where Neil Diamond first started performing, a long time ago.
Yes, I got my picture taken with Deandre Sevon, the wonderful artist who sings Shilo in the show.
No, I didn't wait to get an autograph from Nick Fradiani and Amber Ardolino, the two principals. But I follow them on Instagram!
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Forgot this sketch I did outside Macy's
One wonderful thing about having to travel a day early is that I was able to sketch with NYC Urban Sketchers on the Wednesday and meet up with Alyssa!
After meeting at the Oculus and going for a matcha latte and a chat, we headed to Fosun Plaza to sketch the Wild Couch Party. It was so good to see Alyssa again. This was our third time meeting, first time in Trinity College Dublin in 2022, second time in Auckland at the Urban Sketchers Symposium in 2023. We will have to plan for 2025!
Later on, Suzala joined us and we continued sketching at the plaza, just taking a different view. It was getting close to lunchtime and it was hot!
And finally we sketched near the Seaport and it was time to say goodbye. And did I mention that it was hot in the city! Such a nice change from Dublin. But important to keep hydrated. Also, did I mention that Suzala and me had never met before. But Uma was right, we got on like a house on fire!
We both love Bryant Park. We never seem to be too far away from it. And it's a good place to sketch people.
I spent the whole day Saturday with Suzala. We met at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library. It's a public library. They even have a cooling centre for the homeless. And a beautiful terrace on the 7th floor. With fabulous views. I only got to sketch one view, but it was worth it Done in direct watercolour, with a tiny bit of pencil. I wanted to go back there on our last day before going home, but unfortunately there was a private event and it was closed to the public. Still, that morning there with Suzala is one of the highlights of the holiday
The last of our big trips for this year. New York for my birthday! But Aer Lingus cancelled our flights, due to the pilots' work-to-rule. They cancelled our flight on the way over, but we managed to get on the flight the day before. And then, as we were travelling over, we found out that our flight home was cancelled to and Aer Lingus had moved us to travel home on my birthday. Not happy! Thankfully Brendan managed to talk to a service agent who put us on a later flight on the day we had intended to travel. But when we asked if the seats were together, the answer was no, they were not. So Brendan asked if they had seats together, and it turned out that yes, there were seats together. Which just goes to show you have to keep asking until you get what you need.
All that to say that it was fraught. I love flying, but I'm not a good traveller until I get on the plane and the plane takes off. I worry about the taxi, and the queues at checkin, at security, etc. So, I sketch to soothe my nerves as soon as I get to the gate. To be honest, that morning, I was pretty anxious. But less than 24 hours later, it's all worth it. So I never let my anxiety get in the way of travelling the world. And yes, I am aware of my climate impact. It's not pretty. I do drive electric, take public transport and eat almost no red meat. I have also significantly reduced the amount of clothes I buy. It's probably still not enough to offset my carbon emissions from flying. But we probably won't be flying those long distances in 10 years time, whether it's because we're too old or because governments will finally take action on climate, I don't know!
