Dalkey Quarry

I'm an enthusiastic plein-air painter. Not a very good one, though. Someone described me today as Speedy Gonzales - that's pretty accurate! I did add darks when I got home, but I feel that my right-hand-side foreground doesn't stand out enough in front of the cliff. Definitely a case of not deciding what my focus was going to be before I started painting. Is it the cliff? The tree on the left-hand side? The orange bushes? I couldn't decide and that shows in the painting. Actually, I can't even say I couldn't decide - the thought of a focal point, a "what", never even entered my mind. I loved the sweep of the path and the tree on the left, but I was also fascinated by the cliff looming large in front of me - that sense that the whole landscape was closing in on me. So, from that perspective, maybe I managed to paint what interested me in this scene?

An interesting exercise was to convert it to black and white - a dominance of mid-tones, with a bit of darks, and very little lights.

Sketching in Porto

The first day in Porto was my most productive too - I just threw myself into sketching, and we went from one location to the next, chatting to other urban sketchers and working at the same time. We (well, I did most of the chatting actually) talked to people from all over the world - it was such an exhilarating experience - all these people who had travelled to one location, for one purpose only, urban sketching. Mind blowing. I even recognised an artist by her style of drawing - I didn't know what she looked like, but I knew her work (Pat Southern Pearce is her name, in case you're wondering).


So here is what I sketched on that first day (text added later):

You can't draw Porto and ignore all these terracotta roofs. And what surprised me is how green it is.
I painted this sketch in direct watercolour - no pencil, no pen - just threw myself into it. It was morning, and already hot. The sun was lighting the other side of the Douro, so there is very little shadow.

After a gorgeous lunch, we sat on a bench in the shade and sketched these two musicians. Porto, like most tourist destinations I guess, is full of street performers.
If I was to do this sketch again, I would add more shadows. Well, I've learned a lot in a few days!

Praça da Ribeira - busiest square in town. Fantastic views everywhere. Colourful houses. Dom Luis bridge (it wasn't the focus of my sketch). Umbrellas. Crowds. sketchers everywhere. And a pesky pigeon who tried to steal peanuts from the little jar on the table. Lots of seagulls too, everywhere around town - in the morning, I'd hear them descending on the streets, like a swarm of zombies, looking for food.

Well, I was bound to get tired at some stage. Plus the chair was really uncomfortable, on a slope. But this café was really cheap, so no complaints from me. I went inside that church (at the bottom of Rua das Flores) in the morning a few days later - wow! - big chandeliers, tiling, sculptures - and so peaceful. The little boy street performer (and his parrot) was in there, praying before the start of his day's work. He looked like a character from a Dickensian story. The father had one of these weird hens. I saw the little boy reading a comic book the following day.

Temple Bar Gallery and Studios

A great location for Dublin Sketchers - Temple Bar Gallery + Studios. We were invited by the TBG+S to take part in their weekend of art for everyone.  They gave us access to the best kept secret in Dublin - their 3rd-floor terrace with wonderful views over Bloom's Hotel, the Central Bank and even Ha'penny Bridge. And a deliciously-cool breeze on a hot summer's afternoon.
I started my sketch with paint only - shapes and proportions started to run away on me, so I picked up my pen to rein it all in! And then I quickly sketched a sketcher, and I feel it gave the overall view a sense of being on a balcony.
And since I tend to work relatively fast, I then went downstairs and sat against a wall and picked up one of my fountain pens to draw the people who were busy painting downstairs. I added a bit of water for shades of grey.
By then, I was ready to sit down and chat with everyone. A very happy afternoon!

A day at the seaside

Sunshine, ice-cream, and urban sketching with my friends in Dublin Sketchers , and I even included a James Joyce connection - a perfect birthday!

And these concluded my contribution to the #30x30directwatercolor2018 challenge! But I enjoyed it so much that I might do some more!

Painting the painters

I had a very productive morning. With these two, that's a total of 5 sketches! Needless to say, I called it a day after that. Quit when you're ahead!

Howth Head

This one didn't really work out the way I wanted. The sun was shining. The sea was sparkling. But I was facing into the light, so the dark rocks on the hill looked really really dark. But I went too heavy and lost the brightness of the day. Ah well.

Cars

Another plein air + direct watercolour. It's tough to do both at the same time, though. My focus when I looked at the scene was the church tower, but the way I painted it, the cars ended up the stars of the show!
It was a windy day and I decided not to battle it out on the beach or in the harbour. Instead, I stood in front of the public toilets. Not the most scenic spot, but very practical!

Boats, and more boats

I've avoided painting boats for a long time. Maybe because they're a bit twee? More likely because they're hard to draw. But this harbour called out to me. Full of working boats, and the mess that goes with them, on and off the quays.

I started with the watercolour-only painting on the right. A red boat with a small blue boat in front of it -and no, the blue boat is not floating on air. But when you're going for direct watercolour and it's your first time - ever - to paint boats, things are going to go out of control! That's my excuse, and I'll stick to it, anyway.

After so much colour, I decided to go for ink only, using a fountain pen with water-soluble ink, and a view about 90 degrees to the left, with the big fish-processing plant in the background and an orange boat in front of it (you'll have to believe me when I tell you it was orange!)

It was a sunny day, but cold in the shade, so I was wearing my wooly hat. The angle I wanted for my first sketch (with the yellow thing to attach your boat to - what are they called?) meant I was standing under some trees. I saw some ladies in summer dresses. But they stayed in the sun. Or maybe they were hardier than me?

Revisiting the same view

I painted in the exact same spot more or less a year ago. My approach this time was quite different though. First of all, no ink, no pen, no pencil, just watercolour. Also, I worked on a sheet of good quality watercolour paper, using a tripod so the page was not flat. It was a different kind of a morning too, much greyer than last year, so it's a more subdued atmosphere.

And I did spend a good bit longer working on this one.

Flower garden

Another example of an afternoon painting - this time in Malahide Castle - beautiful walled garden there by the way.  I got started in the bottom right corner of the page, as I was interested in figuring out how to paint roses loosely. That little corner worked out ok, but then I kept working, trying to capture the various plants vying for attention in this flower bed, but ignoring the dark background. It kind of all merged together. So  I decided on a light background instead, and there's absolutely no darks in this painting, not even 1%. Lesson learned? Don't paint in the afternoon?

Church

Started en plein air, and finished at home. Composition doesn't work, and I knew that within 5 minutes, but there's a stubborn streak in me, so I kept going!
Interestingly enough, a few people I know liked it on Facebook.

One thing I want to explore further is how to differentiate between the various masses of green in a lush Irish landscape. I think I would have been better off working wet in wet, gradually dropping different shades in. But I had a nice, but very chatty, man standing behind me. And I just couldn't concentrate. Maybe I'm too nice! I should just have ignored him!

Seaside sketches

I love to paint. And I love Urban Sketching. So when I'm waiting for a layer to dry on my watercolour block, I whip out my sketchbook and start working straight away. No waiting and drinking tea for me. I burn bright, sometimes painting 4 scenes in the space of a morning. By lunchtime, I'm generally done, and even after a good lunchbreak, I am often unable to focus for an afternoon session. But that's all right - that's how I work. And that's why I do watercolours, not acrylics or oils

Plein air painting

As part of the #30x30DirectWatercolor challenge, I did this Plein Air painting with no preparation sketch, no pen, no pencil, hey not even an thumbnail. Which explains why the island is right bang in the middle of the painting. But at least I did do a low horizon, which helps the composition a little. I love how the sky worked out! it was a cold breezy day, before our sizzling heat wave set in! I was wearing a fleece, a windcheater, whooly hat and mittens - plein air painting is not for the faint-hearted!

A rose

Another painting with Green Apatite Genuine. But not on its own this time.
I first painted the negative space around the rose with just the one pigment. And when it was dry, I hinted at the rose, using PV19 and Rose of Ultramarine (a gorgeous pigment from Daniel Smith), and a little blue of some sort.
Quite happy with how it turned out.

Green Apatite Genuine

Mmm. It doesn't look like much. I painted this from a photo I took in Airfield a while back. The exercise was to do with using just one colour, Green Apatite Genuine. I did manage to create lights and darks. But it's a bit ... monochromatic. I must try something similar with Ultramarine and Green Apatite Genuine - I think that would be a bit more exciting.

Anne-Laure Jacquart, the artist who inspired this, managed to make a much more interesting painting out of the one colour! Check out her video below.

Sandycove

A view of James Joyce tower in Sandycove. (Trying to catch up on posting what I've been doing over the last little while, just in case you were wondering why I'm posting so much to do with the #30x30DirectWatercolor2018 challenge!)

One thing is for sure is that I love painting skies and water. For the other elements of the landscape, I really do need to spend more time planning and measuring. But, hey, one painting a day is the challenge, so it's simply not possible for me to spend hours on each one. It's a great exercise, though. Through sheer quantity, I am learning more in a month than I would in a year normally! Maybe I'll revisit all these paintings in the winter, trying to recreate the spontaneity, but striving for a better finish!

The lesson learned for this one is that I need to keep the details in the distance fairly light - the windows of the house second from the right are way too dark!

Stone - attempt at negative space painting

Another attempt at negative space painting. Does it even look like a stone?

Ferns and hostas

Trying negative space painting, trying ferns (inspired by Anne-Laure Jacquart, but clearly not as talented as her - I definitely need to watch her videos again!! 😂)

Clouds over Belfield

A view of Belfied. (You might just recognise the water tower). Well, actually, more a view of the sky above it and the tree line, but that's the kind of landscapes I'm drawn to!

Red acer

A quick loose sketch of the small acer in front of our house. I know it doesn't look like much, but I'm trying to find the balance between loose and controlled! Someone told me that adding some shadows under the red leaves would do the trick. I must try and remember that!