Applecross Sketches

Yesterday we were in Applecross, and it was as beautiful as ever!  We had a leisurely afternoon, making the most of the blinks of sun, and I managed to do a few sketches.  Our first stop was in Fearnbeg - we always stop there because it is the "place where Donald stayed in the 1970s", and we feel a sort of affinity (especially after going back there with Donad earlier this year).  We go to check out how regeneration (gentrification?) is progressing. There's not much change in Fearnbeg - it seemed deserted - and so it was an ideal sketching spot.  After a poor sketch of a contorted apple tree, I spotted this view of the gable-end of one of the cottages.  I liked the window in the gable, the fence and the power-line up the hill.  These elements are the essence of the character of these cottages which seem to spring out of the turf (and in some cases, return to the turf).

Fearnbeg Cottage copyright Aileen Grant

This sketch was done in charcoal, quite quickly in the cool of the afternoon. I think there's enough in this sketch to take a bit further in the studio.
Another cottage south of Fearnbeg also caught my eye. I really love the juxtaposition of the pine tree and the house.  I have sketched it a few times before, but in charcoal or ink.  So this time I did a quick pencil sketch.

Applecross Tree House Sketch copyright Aileen Grant

It's in a great location this "tree house". Although it's in a bog, it has the most fantastic view of the Isle of Rhona and Raasay.  I'm wondering if this cottage is being restored - the roof looks very good and I'm sure when I did my previous sketches, there was a hole in the roof. I want to live here in this elemental place!! It has such a desolate beauty.  It's my favourite Applecross cottage!
I also did a colour study, making an attempt to try and capture the colours of Applecross quickly in pastel.  There is an official viewpoint in between these two cottages where there is the most fantastic view of Rhona, Raasay and Skye.  I cheated and sat in the car to do this sketch - while the rain drizzled and the north wind blew.

Sketch of The Sound copyright Aileen Grant

Every time we come to this spot it seems to be cloudy and bright, and these pools of intensly bright light move across the water, ever-changing.  I have shied away from sketching this view in the past, but by using pastels I had more speed and the potential to make marks a bit like the wind rippling over this expanse of sea. On reflection, I now remember that John Houston used pastels a lot to capture the mood and colour of the sea. Anyway, I found it difficult to capture the colour of the sea (as well as the movement), but I have to say this sketch is much more like what we saw than the photos we took.  I need a little bit more colour in the foreground though.
But now we are back in Musselburgh. Very sad to leave the north-west, but I have a head full of vivid images.  I'll try to keep these images alive in the studio on Monday.

Lochcarron Days

We've been up in Lochcarron for the last week.  A mixture of hillwalking, catching up with friends, and a little bit of sketching.  I was hoping to use this week to get some good source material, but the weather has been atrocious since Sunday (altho' Sunday was exceptionally beautiful).

I was looking forward to seeing the colour in the hills - the oranges of the bracken and the sedge-grasses, and true enough, we drove through Torridon yesterday (far too wet to even think about getting out of the car!) and the orange slopes shone through the gloom.  They were offset by the navy-blue of the tops.  Sitting in the car,  rocked by wind,I did a colour study of Beinn Alligin.

View north to Alligin copyright Aileen Grant

This was just an attempt to capture the colour - that gradation from orange to navy blue which is the essence of these hills in these conditions, and the boiling dirty turquoise sea.  So moody!
Today, I was down in my favorite place, Kishorn Bay, and the colours were similar.  However, I was sitting on the shore and so the sea was not turquoise, but was more inky black.

View towards the Bealach copyright Aileen Grant

But I had only a limited amount of time to do this sketch before the next rain storm imposed itself.  It was another attemt to capture the colours. Done again in pastel for sheer speed and getting intensity of colour.
But to be honest, I had come up north thinking about trees, wanting to sketch trees. But the only trees I've sketched are those within Lochcarron itself rather than out in the wilds. Is this sad? Or just inevitable because of the weather.

Seafront Tree, Lochcarron copyright Aileen Grant

Every time I come here, I have to sketch this tree (it's outside the door - I can see it through the window).  It seems to me that it is quite vulnerable in this exposed position, but a great survivor. It's a cherry tree.  I was hoping it would have turned an interesting colour, but no, it's just managing to survive.  The other tree I love is the Lochcarron Larch.

Larch Sketch copyright Aileen Grant

This sketch is OK as a sketch, but is not a good representation of this tree which is a far more interesting shape.  I did it in pencil, sitting down on the shore and looking up at it, snatching a few moments in between rain showers.  Then I finished it off at home.  I think that's why I've lost the distintive shape.  But I quite like the feel of the tree, the featheryness of the branches, and that is what I was trying to capture, along with the windsweptness......everything is windswept here!
Anyway - enough - tomorrow is another day and the weather forecast is better!

KEEPING CHEERED UP

It's all doom and gloom this week in Europe - is this the end of capitalism as we know it?  These are strange and unnerving times and who knows what the future holds. Perhaps this is distracting me and affecting my energy and enthusiasm for painting - I did not go into the studio on Monday.  But another reason for not going in was that Rob and Michaela had given me some sunflowers from an East Lothian farm and I wanted to have a go at painting them.  So I started with a sketch in charcoal.

Sunflower Sketch copyright Aileen Grant

It's been a while since I used flowers as a subject for painting.  The trouble with sunflowers is that Van Gogh did them so well and any attempt to draw or paint sunflowers is inevitably measured against his achievement.  Nevertheless, I soldiered on, got the watercolours out and had a go at painting them.  This is what resulted.

Sunflowers by the window copyright Aileen Grant

I was trying very hard not to do a botanical painting, but still trying to capture the essence of the flowers, and I thought the fabric - with yellow and purple stripes - would help to make a good picture.  Sunflowers are rather beautiful - so strong and structural.  However, using watercolours imposed limitations in terms of the artistic treatment, but I tried to keep the treatment loose and catch the sun falling on the flowers. End result?  I think I prefer the drawing - the marks are more interesting.

I'm still not sure what I'm going to do next, but I don't think I'll become a painter of flowers. Maybe a few days up north will help me get a new focus and allow me to stay occupied over the winter.

Catching Up

Bit of a gap with the blogging, I'm afraid, partly due to losing a day's painting 'cos I had to work, and partly because we had a night out in Glasgow on Friday. So catching up today.
I didn't do much on Friday: the only thing I really did was to finish my wee, postcard-sized picture that I started on 5th September. Then I delivered it to the Gallery on the Corner for the charity exhibition starting at end of the month (watch my facebook page for details).

Towards Leith Copyright Aileen Grant

This is a wee picture based on Fisherrow Harbour, with Leith in the background. It's done in acrylic and inks. I think it turned out OK, so I hope the Gallery is able to sell it to raise funds for the project.

Today, I think my head was still in the hills, having been on a hillwalk yesterday. When I was there, I did a couple of small sketches on the top and took a photo, and today it just seemed the right thing to do to work on the image I had of a small pond with lovely russet-coloured grass in it.  Here are three images of what I was doing.

(Emerging) Hilltop copyright Aileen Grant

Emerging Hilltop copyright Aileen Grant

Hilltop copyright Aileen Grant

Well this is finished, but it's not a finished picture, and I am reflecting now on whether or not I have overworked it. The pond has definitely lost something - it was better in the middle version. But I think the grass is maybe better.  I used blue oilbar (ultramarine), oil crayons, a few acrylic colours and red ink. Oh, and charcoal of course.  I think I quite like the composition and so I may try it again. Does it capture that feeling of being on top of the hill, looking down over the dark valley below? Maybe a little? Anyhow, painting it did help me to feel that I was somehow still up on the hill.  Maybe I should do a hilltop series next.

Sketching in Edinburgh

It's been a week of sketching (with a few days of work in between). On Monday I had my drawing group in Musselburgh and did a few sketches of the model, along these lines.

Monday night sketch copyright Aileen Grant

Today has been a particularly a good day's sketching in town with pals. We started off in the recently re-opened Royal Scottish Museum (http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum.aspx ).  The Museum does look great now that it has opened again.  I miss the fish in the main hall, and I'm sorry about the clock being moved into a side gallery, but the main gallery looks very elegant and quite lovely.  It was really just a little too lovely, on too grand a scale, and distracting, difficult to sketch.  However, I did one little sketch of this - a view from the ground floor.

Museum View Sketch copyright Aileen Grant

I quite like the looseness of this sketch, and it was important to capture the image of that lady in between the arches.  The fact that the sketch is not too recognisable as the museum - there's an ambiguity - it could be a number of places  - is quite good and I like this about it. That feeling of ambiguity is probably less apparent in this sketch (done at first floor balcony level) which is (probabaly recognisably) a sketch of St Giles' steeple.

Sketch of St Giles through the window copyright Aileen Grant

  But I quite like this too. I think both of these sketches have some potential to explore. Anyway, after some time sketching we went for lunch across the road.  And I was very struck by my view in the restaurant. I managed to focus on the food and enjoy my lunch, but I couldn't resist doing a very very quick sketch just  before we left.

Sketch - lunch looking over the Old Town copyright Aileen Grant

The reality is much darker than this sketch, but I have a photo that I can use to help me get the depth of colour and darkness, should I choose to take this further.  And I just think that I might as I think this has potential as an interesting  picture.  I've already done another sketch, and it's inspiring me to think of a theme of window views.  Anyway, we went on to Greyfriars churchyard and did some more sketching - very inspiring - but that's another story. What a lovely city Edinburgh is - it's always good to be reminded of this!

An Acrylic Day

I wasn't in the studio on Friday (was starting to prepare a woodblock for printing at home), but I decided to have a painting day today so went into the studio.  I had also done a few sketches down at Fisherrow Harbour over the weekend. So I thought I'd work up a sketch in acrylics.

I  used a sketch of the harbour with the tide out - nice muddy harbour bed - in fact it was this sketch

Fisherrow Harbour Sketch copyright Aileen Grant

I quite liked the sketch - the feeling of enclosure within the harbour and the escape route to Leith, and that thought of being trapped because the tide is out. So how to approach this? I started with charcoal and then added white, sky blue plus raw umber - acrylic paint. I thought raw umber might be a good base for the harbour wall. So my start to the picture was looking like this.

Emerging picture Fisherrow Harbour copyright Aileen Grant

At the time I thought this was a good start, and looking at it again now, I think it does look quite good. Not too tight, not too clearly defined, a nice darkness in the harbour corners.  However, I felt that the harbour wall needed more colour in it and I wanted to have a go at painting the mud. So I carried on, adding orange and blue and also some inks. Anyway, what I've ended with today is this....

Emerging picture Fisherrow Harbour copyright Aileen Grant

Is this better or worse than my start? I'm really not sure. I feel I've lost something in taking it further.  However, I like how Leith has turned out - it's quite dreamy - and I like the foreground - the stone slabs and the setts. But I'm wondering if there's too much colour now in the harbour wall. Is it too bright and sunny and cheerful when I was really wanting to convey a threatening feeling - that feeling of being trapped? So I may go back in with the raw umber and charcoal to get the feeling I want. But I've brought it home to look at in the meantime.  I also did a petite version of the picture on a piece of wood.  It turned out like this.

Fisherrow Harbour mini picture copyright Aileen Grant

This picture is so small (11x16 cms) that I decided that the tide had to be in. I was doing this small picture to hand into the Gallery on the Corner on Dundas Street - they're having a charity sale and I said I would do something for them. It's supposed to be on a theme of journeys, memories or dreams, and I think this kinda works.  Maybe the sky needs a little more attention. We'll see.
Overall I was not particularly happy when I left the studio today. I am doing this blog with some difficulty as I don't feel very positive. But actually now that I have reflected on my efforts, I think I can see a way forward with the pictures. Possibly....

Finishings?

Was in the studio again today. Although I've spent the weekend thinking about other things to do, I had left some oil paints out on Friday, so I needed to make use of them.  Despite not being a great completer-finisher, I decided to keep focused on my two big pictures.
On Friday I had also worked on my large Applecross picture. It had started off like this.

Applecross View Take 1 copyright Aileen Grant

Although I liked the watercolour feel about this first layer of oil paints, it did not capture the brooding darkness I wanted, and so after another two layers of oils I had changed the picture to this, and this was what confronted me this morning.

Applecross View Take 3 copyright Aileen Grant

I was not happy with the horizontal effects - was worried that I had lost some energy - and the foreground looked a bit scrappy. And I also thought that the main hill was just too dark, too much of a big blob.  I needed to free up a bit, so I came in and poured some turps on the canvas, followed by some bleach and rubbed away at the paint.  Then I got the paint out and focused first on the sky, trying to calm down the horizontal lines and get a better structure into it. I also loosened up on the foreground, reducing some of the yellw/lime seaweed colour. Of course, having messed around with it, I had to go back and retouch other parts of the picture. Then I decided that the sea needed to be a bit more pewter, and the big hill needed some extra colour. So this is where I left it.

Applecross View copyright Aileen Grant

I also finished off the other two pictures. With Kishorn View I really just focused on the sky which I had not been happy about. Again I thought the sky needed a better structure, so I went in with darker tones on the right hand side, and also brought some white across from the left hand side. I also added a little to the rocks and the shorelines. It ended up looking like this (not changed much).

Kishorn View copyright Aileen Grant

 I then cleared away the oils and think I'll give them a rest for a bit. As to whether or not these are finished, I suppose I'll decide in a week or so.  I'd now like to try a little woodblock printing (if I can remember how to do it) or go back to acrylics and get some new ideas. I think I should focus on painting 'things', trying things out.  So I made a start when I got home by painting this wee watercolour.

Sugar shaker copyright Aileen Grant

Maybe I should try some still lifes...