Mountpleasant Square, or not

We were on Mountpleasant Square as part of our Ranelagh exploration. The classic view is beautiful, the curve of the road, the old lamppost, and the view of the Dome at the church in Ranelagh. Beautiful, but not for me. First of all, I can't do that architectural type of drawing. And second, that is not what my eye is drawn to. I much prefer the laneways with sheds and overhead wires, or the house at the end of the road with strange angles. And then I got too cold and just went to the pub! Here is what my afternoon looked like. All done in a Seawhite of Brighton Octopus sketchbook. 

 

Long landscapes in Artgraf (and a little Neocolor)

Taped paper so I would have a long landscape format. Played with Artgraf tailor shapes in ochre and black. Added a little bit of Neocolor for extra pops. And Hot press paper is definitely the best for ArtGraf. I can already see things I love here that I would not have done 3 months ago. Artgraf tailor shapes are great for putting my energy onto the paper!

Exploring Beara - love how the light and shadows play on top of that mountain

Exploring Beara - love how the light and shadows play on top of that mountain. Trying out marks and colours in watercolour, Neocolor and pastels. The Light Blue Neocolor is perfect for the sky. I must see if I can find a watercolour pigment that would be as bright as this?  I know it looks like a big caterpillar, but it's a mountain, I promise!

Little Squares

More explorations with Little Squares. I see plenty of uses for them - playing with compositions, marks and colours.  I even used them to test pigments to see if they were easy to lift or not. I want to use them to try new tools too!

Christmas feeling

Christmas day was glorious. Beautiful sunshine against dark clouds. Really uplifting. But for the last two days, we've been in fog, more smog actually, as there must be a temperature inversion or something. The air smells of fires and car exhaust fumes. I didn't go out at all today - it's just not good for the lungs. So anything I would have sketched today would have been gloomy. But Christmas day was full of colour and light and joy. 

 

Street View World Tour

I'm at least a month late posting - so this is from the Street View World Tour in early December. The guest artist was Laurie Wigham. The theme she chose was people taking pictures with their smartphones and being captured by the Google Street View camera.

Little squares

I could not resist this lovely template of Little Squares by Faye Bridgwater.  A perfect excuse for random exploration. Which is just what I needed. 

A lot of work has been done in the last 13 weeks

So I'm done with Find Your Joy. This is what 12 weeks of painting looks like. Very mixed feelings. The course has definitely led me to explore a different side to my art, it's open doors inside my head. But I think it had the potential to be a lot more than that and it did not deliver what I had hoped. It wasn't the right course for me. I'm a representational watercolour artist with some experience. The course claimed to be for everyone - no matter the experience, the medium or the style. But I think it is probably best for beginners who want to explore abstract acrylics. Also I thrive best in an environment where I can make connections with a small group of people. There were over a thousand participants, and I just felt I was a number, not a real person, which was disappointing. Still, I painted a lot, I discovered a lot, I pushed through, I saw glimpses of where I want to go. Let's see what my art looks like in a year's time. Which reminds me, did I even set goals for myself this year and should I set them for next year? I think I will keep it simple.

Exploring Beara

The mountainous landscape of Beara never ceases to intrigue me. All these rocks that look like they've been folded by tectonic forces.  I'm no expert in geology. I just like the effect. So I tried these little thumbnails in pencil. Really don't know how I will express this in a painting. But that's where the fun is. Will it even be representational? Somehow I doubt it.

Christmas at Smithfield (or it could be anywhere)

Christmas in Dublin - they do love the ice-skating here still - the last time I was in Ghent, last year I think, they had moved on to roller-skating, much less energy-wasteful. Still, it reminded me of my teenage years. I was not a natural on the ice, let's just say. 

It was cold. About 6 degrees, but the wind-chill made it feel like well below freezing. So I did retreat to a café after two sketches of skaters in various stages of nearly falling. And yes, they all go in the same direction, so maybe it looks like they're dancing the macarena, except they're leaning forward!

 

Granulating colours

Couldn't resist trying these granulating pigments from Schmincke. I was worried when I could not find Daniel Smith's Lunar Blue in my usual shops, so I thought it was time to explore. Tundra Violet and Haze Blue are particularly nice, I have to say! Can't wait to try them out.

Dunville Avenue

Another session in the Beechwood area. Sat outside a café on Dunville Avenue. The matcha latte was nothing to write home about and it was ridiculously expensive. But it was a good spot to sketch from. I could see all these beautiful chimneys. I had prepainted my spread with yellow paint and lots of squiggles in colour pencil. I should have used watersoluble pencils but I didn't think of that.

So when I got home, I decided to add gouache to make a sky that doesn't look too crazy. And I forgot to take a photo before adding the gouache, so you'll have to believe me when I tell you it looks better now.

Working in a Seawhite of Brighton Octopus sketchbook - challenging but fun!

Close-ups