One of Us/Not One of Us

I've spent the last few months travelling and experimenting. Now I need to start proper painting. I don't mean go all serious and stiff. But just paint with watercolours and whatever other media I want with the intention of creating something, whatever that something turns out to be. I never know how a painting is going to look. But I need to concentrate on one thing at a time, rather than jump around like I have over the last while. Although it has been fun, but I have just thrown lots of crap pieces in the bin, and now I want to create new work that will stay. And, yes, Beara is still pulling me in. And the idea of "one of us"/"not one of us" playing on my mind.

Also, did you know that the words tectonic and architect are related? From the greek tekton, builder, carpenter, apparently, and the Proto-Indo-European root teks-, which means to weave, to fabricate. Hence also the connection with textiles and text.

Draw to see - reddy brown

Continuing with my intuitive exploration of the Beara landscape near Allihies. It's a few months since I was there, but the pull is still strong. I worked on these with ArtGraf tailor shapes, and lots of water, and a tiny bit of watercolour. I need to do many more of these, so I don't get too attached, then I can crop and collage them. I have ordered lots of cartridge paper so I don't feel precious about wasting paper.

I am inspired by Lewis Noble's process of exploring the landscape through drawing. For both of these, I worked from the same photo, just zooming on different elements. Sometimes it's the full mountain that inspires me, sometimes just the curve of cracks in a rock.

Echo

Working from a small ink thumbnail, I'm exploring similar shapes and effects in watercolour, using my colour swatches from the last few weeks.. It's all about the feeling of being by the shore near Allihies, although the initial thumbnail was done from a specific location. Now, I'm moving away from the visual to the emotional. The thumbnail carried the feeling of community,  women resonating as we were painting together, the precious friendships that help me through my life. This painting echoes that, as well as the sound of the wind and the waves against the rocks.

And, for a change, a had painted a very light first layer and let it dry completely before embarking on the second layer.

In love with the colour mixes

This smaller piece evokes a different feeling, a softer one, less stone, more tall grasses, an inner spirit dancing in the morning, while no one is watching. Maybe she's invisible? I used the same base colours, but with different mixes. Lots more to explore

Impressions of the landscape - quick ink studies

I was exploring headlands before I headed over to Beara, but now my head is full of images from the peninsula. It has headlands of course, but I think my heart is going in a different direction right now.  And I have to listen to my heart! Unless this is a form of procrastination? But if I don't record all these nudges that come to me, they will disappear and never come back. On the other hand, I might never get to finish a painting! I was also inspired by the session with Uma and Co. on Vivify, where we were doing thumbnails with ink and an awkward mark-making tool. I used a cut-up bit of watercolour paper. It held up quite well despite repeatedly dipping in very diluted ink.

Worked from photos for the first pass with diluted ink, then added darker ink afterwards, without the original photo, because I had skipped around and couldn't find them again.

Worked on quarter-sheet cold press paper.

Colour Colour

Love the variety of mixes I get from these 2 yellows, 1 red and 1 blue (see previous post). I think my black ink phase has passed. It served its purpose. But I feel joy looking at these colours. 6 to a watercolour sheet. Which will I pick as the inspiration for my next painting?

What was I made for?

Looking at what's on my wall in my studio, and it's all dark ink and strong value contrast and jagged shapes.  Now I look at it all, and I think, that's not me. But maybe the act of putting it on paper was like an exorcism? Like, expressing that darkness and sharp angles served its purpose of getting it out of my system?

I don't know. But I do know that I'm thinking about colour again, and waves and skies.

If you're interested in knowing what goes on in my head, here are a few pages from my studio book. If you can read my handwriting.

Deconstructing and reconstructing some more

I cut up two of the experiments from earlier, and when I put them together again, I had four very abstract landscapes. Let's see where these will take me next.

Journey in ink

Value studies in ink. I have zoomed in on one of the photos I took near Ballinskelligs in February. I'm still very specific about the location I'm painting, but by zooming in, it becomes both specific and universal, which is what I am trying to express in my art at the moment. How to capture a whole world in a small painting?

These two I probably will cut up and reconstruct

And this one is just a watercolour wash. Maybe I will add ink on top and see what happens.

Different day, different energy

They probably all look the same to you, but to me, each is a different feeling, a different energy. And each is a jumping point for the next exploration. The element I really like in both of these is the tiny little quiet corner in the top right, so I'm going to see where that leads me.

 

Energy - back painting

I still want to paint clouds, but right now, I have a lot of energy I need to express. So spring vegetation emerging from the ground is my inspiration for this abstract exploration. It doesn't matter what I paint. Just that I paint. And I had been avoiding painting in the last 4 weeks. Did plenty of sketching and other things that needed to be done. So I read through my notes from Creative Shift (look up Sally-Ann Ashley), and wrote down a few words that came to mind and started to explore these and how I could express them in my marks. And used lots of tools, gansai tambi, ink, tempera sticks, oil pastels and bamboo fork from Brussels airport even.

 

Did a version on heavy cartridge paper (A2) first, then on half sheet Bockingford watercolour paper, then on quarter sheet on the back of an old practice piece. By the time I got to the 3rd piece, the energy had shifted.

Cill Rialaig - large concertina sketchbook

Done in an A4 Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook. Lots of play with ink (ina-ho - why don't they make it anymore?).  Also, lots of Gansai Tambi paint, tempera stick, other inks, splashing, scratching and using found objects to make interesting marks.