Big Sky

So, it's always good when my sketchbook doodles can transfer to a painting. This sky, inspired by our stay in Inchydoney in January, was painted using the colours I tested in my sketchbook recently - Naples Yellow (DS), Moonglow (DS) and Prussian Blue (HWC). Quarter sheet.

I'm going through this debate in my head these days about whether this qualifies as a painting, or is it just a happy wash? Personally, I could put this on my wall and look at it all day. The colours and granulation make me so happy. But in all honesty, I probably wouldn't frame it, as I know most people would not find it interesting enough. I guess that I was happy while painting it, but is that enough?

Sea and Sky

Happier with this version of the sky, sea and beach at Inchydoney. In the morning. Sun rising over the sea. Quarter sheet. There isn't much to it, but I do love looking out at the ocean.

I kept my pigments to a minimum. I think it was Hansa Yellow Deep, Horizon Blue, Indigo and Carmine? I'm sure I've written it down somewhere! Story of my life, with my head stuck in brain fog!!

Brushstrokes, and experiments

The fact that I haven't jumped to half sheet this year yet is not a good sign. I think I have simply picked a subject that I am not ready for. The subtle shading of the shutters on the white wall, the light and shade, the car, it's all getting too much.

Well, time for one more practise!

I love the darker shadows under the shutters, but I think I'm jumping values too much. The second line on the left looks better. And note to self, the windows will follow the perspective line, but the slightly open shutters go up against it. Still, I have to remember that the starting point of the next shutter to the right is down the perspective line. That's a lot to remember for my aging brain!

At this point, I decided I needed to try something different. So I decided to paint from a photo I took down in Inchydoney a couple of weeks ago. It's a while since I've painted skies!

Although the original is not quite as bright as this, it's still too bright. More cloud experimentation needed to get back to where I was with clouds a few years ago!

Nothing is working out quite as I want! Deep breath! Trying different brushes. And definitely works better with fresh paint!

More skies

Another sky experiment inspired by a photo from Inchydoney. And this time, I was clever enough to take a photo of the painting with my little note so that I know which goes with which!

Steps 1 to 5:

Here is a little test I did to figure out whether to go wet in wet, wet on dry, tickle or drop!

Added a foreground, and my little note of how I got there:

Final painting, after I used a bit of gesso to fade the lower right part of the painting. It's a bit dull, but that's ok.  I'm reading through all the tips on John Lovett's website. I need to practise a lot, but lots of information and clear examples. So I'll be trying that again!

Sky and waves

Well, sometimes a fantastic photo doesn't turn into something I can paint. Yet anyway. When things go wrong, I always need to remind myself that I have never actually been taught how to paint landscapes in watercolours. All learned from books, before YouTube videos and online tutorials even existed. So I need to be kind to myself!

So for this idea, I used a photograph taken by @beebeepix1. Dramatic sky, rolling waves, silhouetted headland. It all looked good. But I can't make it work in watercolour. Maybe I need to step back from it. At least I have learned that the dark water is under the white of the wave! Hopefully I'll remember that. And also, that Phthalo Blue is hard to work with. Or was it Indanthrone blue? I'd better go look for my notes. Still have to figure out how to do orange reflections in blue water. And no, I don't want to use masking fluid!! So maybe I need to leave a lot of white to keep the two colours separate

Attempt #1

Practising the waves

Attempt #2 - dramatic sky.

So it is Phthalo blue (red shade)

Did another wash on the sky (kind of sorry I lost all the crazy effects) and added the sea and headlands. But although I used all the same pigments, it's like the sky and the sea don't belong to the same scene!

I ran another wash over the sea and it's unified the piece somewhat. It helps. Still. I think I need to use more artistic licence and change the colour of the sea altogether! That will be for another day, though.

Inchydoney and West Cork

This wasn't a sketching mini-break. It was about spending time together. Relaxing. Enjoying the thalassotherapy pool. Taking nice walks on the beach. Going for little drives, but not too far. Eating and Sleeping. And it was perfect. So I fitted my sketching in the in-between times, while having a drink in the lounge, looking out the window in the relaxation room, looking out the window in the morning, and even from the car (as a passenger, needless to say). And I managed to sketch more than I would have thought possible. But when the animals are being looked after by someone else, it's amazing how much time there is in the day!!

All in the carefree, pre-coronavirus, days. It was in the car on the way back that we heard about the first case on the island of Ireland. It was a rude awakening. Only two and a half weeks ago. There are 292 cases today in the Republic alone (Source: Worldometers). Much less than in other parts of the world, but a lot more than our health system can cope with. So we won't be going anywhere for a while. Feeling so lucky that we had that mini-break when we did!

The bar and the lounge.

The view from the Fushia relaxation room:

Looks nothing like himself:

A little bit more of a resemblance?

On the drive on the way down the country:

View from the room:
And since these ones are in my Bloomsday sketchbook, I managed to connect them to Ulysses, in my own, inimitable, way.

'theres nothing like nature the wild mountains then the sea and the waves rushing then the beautiful country'

'She is drowning. Agenbite. Save her. Agenbite. All against us. She will drown me with her, eyes and hair. Lank coils of seaweed hair around me, my heart, my soul. Salt green death.

We.

Agenbite of inwit. Inwit’s agenbite.

Misery! Misery!'

Skies, skies, skies

Social distancing is not too much of a hardship when you enjoy painting (unless you're a plein air artist, obviously). Since my urban sketching has to be put on hold somewhat, I'm practising skies. I was inspired when we were in Inchydoney two weeks ago, and the light was bouncing between the clouds and the sea. I did some sketches. But I also took lots of photos. Most of my photos are not great. Old iPhone. So I have to rely on my memory of the light. 

The difficulty with an Irish landscape is that it can easily look twee, particularly in watercolours I think. I'm not sure how to avoid that. So here is what I've been up to. My favourite part is always the first wash! I used a water spray to help the pigments stay live and moving.

3 versions:

Version 1:

A quiet interpretation. Main problem is that I placed the house right in the middle  of the view.

Here is the wash before I added the hill and the house!

Version 2

Had great fun with the sky. Enjoyed the glow. And I had practised the houses.

Here is how the wash looked before I added the other elements

And the practise for the house

Version 3

On the larger paper (550x380mm). Yes, it does help to repeat the same view over and over. Nothing wrong with being obsessive! I had to lift some of the pigment to reclaim the white of the house. And add a touch of white gouache. My next challenge is to figure out how to do a second layer of clouds without going too heavy!

The first wash: