Docklands

Oh I do love a good industrial scene! Two weeks ago, Dublin Sketchers were in the Docklands area, where there is a lot of construction happening. Probably all offices and maybe a few fancy apartments and a hotel or two. Nothing that will solve our homeless crisis, that's for sure.

The person who was organising the location told us there were good views from the balcony of the Gibson Hotel. And she was right. I spent most of my afternoon there, drinking lots of tea and eating a delicious waffle to stay warm!

I started the afternoon standing at a bus stop, under the cover of a construction hoarding. It was raining a bit. But the view was gorgeous, high-rise blocks, the canal opening onto the Liffey, cranes, the mountains in the distance. I worked with three Ecoline markers, to keep things simple!

After a warming cup of green tea, I settled into my main sketch of the afternoon, a mix of watercolour pencils, Ecoline markers and watercolour. I loved the colour of the portakabins and the cranes. And the sun must have come out for a bit, as I even saw (and painted!) shadows on the ground. A rare thing this summer in Ireland!

I still had time for one more. I had a chamomile tea then, so I wouldn't be too hyper. And a waffle for a little sugar boost. I sketched standing up, using a Pentel brush pen mainly, and some watercolour pencils. It was a bit messy. But I added colours, darks and patterns when I got home, and I'm happy with how it turned out.

Sunflowers

It was my birthday not that long ago. I decided to treat myself to a bunch of sunflowers from a street vendor. They lasted a week and offered me many painting opportunities!!

This first bunch was done in direct watercolour. I think I was trying to pack in too much, and it ended up in a dark heavy mess.

This one is quite deconstructed, but still bright enough.

This one is ugly ugly. I had nothing left to lose, so I played with lifting paint in different ways. Still a mess. I will have to run the shower over it, or paint on the other side.

Photos from the Arièges

Photos from my stay in Léran, Arièges. Lots of painting inspiration!

Arièges

I was lucky to have been invited to the Arièges region by a very good friend. When I accepted the invite a few months ago, I had no idea how much I would need this short break! What happened is that we got no Spring in Ireland this year (4 nice days at Easter doesn't count), and so far, Summer has been elusive - 15 degrees and heavy grey skies is not Summer! And I was delighted when the forecast showed 34-36 degrees in the Mirepoix region for the few days of my stay. Thankfully, I avoided the 44+ degrees that hit areas not that far away. So, I had a wonderful stay, mornings spent discovering the area, afternoons by the pool, evenings with a glass of rosé. I did fit in quite a bit of sketching, mostly by the pool and in the gardenss, as it was too hot to do much - just perfect!

You can't have a holiday without airport sketches - though I'm very bad at drawing planes!!

And passenger sketches. Next time, I must draw some context around the head!

The house we were staying in had a shared pool (we only encountered other guests on one of the days) and the wall behind the pool was this amazing crumbling structure, an old castle with no roof, just stone walls and empty windowframes. I became quite obsessed with it!

This view was a struggle - the paint was drying so fast that my washes were dry on the page as soon as I applied them. 

Morning and lunch in Mirepoix. A beautiful little town.

As you can see, I'm still in directwatercolor mode!

When I saw that there was a Lac de Montbel nearby, we had to go there! My favourite raincoat is a Montbell (OK, there is an extra L)

We spent a lovely morning there, sitting by the shore, under the shade of the trees. It was warm and quiet. I bet it's a lot busier now, with the holidays in full swing in Europe.

Just a little closeup to show your the pigment granulation

Rather than just the wall, I decided to do the full view. The sun umbrellas worked out nicely. Sunlounger not so much.

Too hot to do much else, so we went back to the Lac de Montbel. It was a lot busier, including a slide pedalo (a pedalo, with a slide on top - the 4 young Germans disappeared on the horizon and we never saw them again -ah well!), school trips, families, music. It was fun to watch and comment on it all! This time, I sketched it with a foreground.

Just a little detail

By the last day, I had finally figured out how to get juicy washes that wouldn't dry too quickly - well, lots of water, that's it really. Typical! This is my favourite sketch of the holiday, I think.

One last sketch for the road. I didn't sketch at the airport - if you ever go to Carcassonne airport, you'll understand why!

Perth storm sky

After all these Irish skies, I wanted to do something a bit more dramatic, so I used this photo I got from Facebook, about dramatic skies in the Perth region (Perth Australia, not Scotland - the one in Scotland has similar skies to Ireland I guess) due to a storm that was moving towards the region. In the photo, there was a lake in front of the trees, so I painted sky and water in one pass, adding the land and trees afterwards (as you can see the paper was still damp - I am not very patient)

Here is the full page (Quarter Imperial) with the three paintings. I like long panoramas.

Freshly mowed grass

I might as well publish all three today! Another Irish sky. Can you see this was on a brighter day?

Grey skies on the horizon

This is quite a small painting. I painted three on one page, separating each section with masking tape. I just wanted to paint more Irish skies. They are definitely more interesting than pure blue, despite the obvious disadvantages (cold, rain, no shadows are the three items that come to mind). This one is the view from the mount at the edge of the car park in Malahide Castle. There is a gorgeous line of trees in the distance. I painted it from a photograph I had taken a while back.

Sky 90 degrees

This one is not procrastination, trust me. I wanted to explore how I could paint sky and water in one wash, so that the light in the sky reflects in the water in the right spot. So I painted with my Key West colours (Hansa Yellow Medium and Quinacridone Rose (PV19)) in broad horizontal stripes, and when the paint was dry, I turned the page around 90 degrees. And I then painted an imaginary tree line and reflections. I quite like it. But that's not going to work with distant lavender hills. Unless I'm careful and avoid painting over them. But that's going to kill the spontaneity, unless I use masking fluid or film. But I don't like masking - the result is always too contrived (well, for me anyway - some artists achieve amazing results with masking fluid). Let's think about it some more. But if I ever find myself in a tropical paradise, I'll know how to paint the sunset!

Rocks

Did I say procrastinate?

The Atlantic ocean at sunset

This view is me playing with ideas for a commission - it might take me a while before I get to a version I'm happy with. And it's not just me that needs to be happy! I worked on 1/8th sheet. I really want to paint it in Quarter Imperial (that's roughly A3), or even Half if I dare. I shouldn't say that - painting that big is really scary, like a juggling act with paint drying too quickly in one spot while it's still sloshing around in another.
I like how the sky worked out - I'd like a little bit more drama, but not too much - this is the West of Ireland, not Key West. I also like the mountains in the distance and the bit of rock on the left. But the two hills on the right are too dark and too warm a tone, so they really jump forward, which is not where they should be.
So, I have a plan, now all I need to do is execute it. Or procrastinate.

let's try this lamppost again

I can be like a dog with a bone. That painting with a brilliant sky ruined by a wonky lamppost was playing on my mind. So I had to have another go.  I worked on a Quarter sheet - that tends to be my favourite format - anything bigger is a bit scary, and smaller is just, well, smaller.
Crazy wet-in-wet sky, tick.
Dark foreground, kept to a minimum, tick
Straight lamppost in foreground, tick
Straight lamppost in back, tick
Two traffic lights, tick.
DONE!

I have a lot more photos from that area, so do expect a few motorway bridges in the months to come. I say that, but I know I will get distracted by life drawing, or flowers or drawing with lines. It's been fun focusing on direct watercolour (not even a pencil line) for a month, but what I gain in spontaneity, I loose in accuracy. It's a fine balance. I'm learning all the time. And I'm in no rush.

By the canal

I'm not good at drawing boats, so rather than learning how to paint them, I just pretend they're not there, and paint blobs of colour instead!! Not sure that's going to work for me in Amsterdam, but I think I'm a bit late in the game to worry too much about it. So this is a view from the 12th Lock in Castleknock. A lovely spot, even when the clouds are threatening. But to be honest, I was more interested in the view of the canal where it goes over the motorway and there are tons of bridges criss-crossing, and it's noisy and intense. But that's just me I guess!

Bloody lamppost!

It was all going well, until I tried to paint the lamppost!!

This is the same view, done in a sketchbook. I kind of like it better. When I work in a sketchbook, it's always more free. Sometimes I find it hard to keep that light-heartedness when I work on watercolour paper. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Any tips on "how to paint like I sketch"?

Palm trees

Even though we're not having much of a summer, we still have palm trees. Something to do with the Gulf Stream that's keeping our winters mild. Although with climate change, I think the Gulf Stream isn't what it used to be. Hopefully these palm trees will survive, because I really like them. I paint them once a year! I did a better job last year, but this was a quick sketch, and I'm happy how it turned out.

A bed of roses

You kind of had to be there. The finished painting doesn't do justice to the bright light and the soft colours around this flower bed, this bed of roses actually. I managed to get a soft, sage-like, green by adding Lavender to my Cobalt Blue/Hansa Yellow/Monte Amiata Natural Sienna mix. Was delighted with that discovery! And also with the realisation that painting figuratively isn't me. It's not a case that I can't paint a good realistic flower (I can, actually). It's just that I don't want to. But it's hard to lean towards abstraction when you're en plein air, the birds are singing, the sun is shining, and the roses are there, right in front of you!

Tree and shadow

As I started to paint more, I really got into the zone. This one was all about the shadows on the ground.

The tree

I'm never one to let failed painting get me down. Well, I have my moments. On this occasion, I picked myself up and decided to keep everything abstract except for my focus.

Tree and wall

I had been sick for over a week, and I was excited at the idea of being outdoors, and the sun was actually shining for a bit. So I got carried away and made a mess. But it was a fun mess.

On the Luas

Every so often, I decide that I'm going to start sketching people on the Luas (that's what we call our tram here in Dublin). I bring my little book and a pen, and I set to work, hoping not to get caught. And I have so much fun. And I tell myself I must do this more often. And then I don't. These are a little bit disjointed but I had a man sitting beside me on the tram who was very interested in what I was doing and started talking to me, and admiring my work and telling me about the art class he goes to. He kept looking up and down from my page to my unknowing models. (Don't look up and down!!) Thankfully, they all were absorbed in their own worlds and never noticed us! Next time, I must think about composition before I start sketching randomly!