Loving Printmaking!

I feel I've lost a little bit of momentum this week.  Other activities have crowded in on my time and I've found it difficult to paint.  I was thinking about embarking on a BIG PICTURE ...I would like to do this....but so far haven't done it - haven't even started one. Instead I went into the studio yesterday to do some drawing. As I was intending to go into Edinburgh Printmakers today I thought I should devote a little time beforehand to preparation (not something I'm good at). So I drew 3 pictures on different pieces of film and then decided I could use two of them as the basis for printmaking. That took me all day!

The picture I started with was a little beach image. Still thinking about Harris and the sand patterns and the outlook to the North Harris hills, I drew this out in ink, and today I've etched it on a polymer plate and done a print.

It's quite small and I think it looks quite good set within a large white sheet. When I drew it I was trying to make use of the effects I could achieve on the MMR film - I find that drawing with ink on film is a bit like drawing with charcoal and rubbing out .... you can get quite pleasing loose effects.

The other image I worked on was based on an Applecross view - a little rocky island that you see on the way to the coral beaches in South Applecross. I had done some quick sketches of this (and had pictures in my head). This is how it came out in today's print.

Again with this drawing I was attempting to make the most of the effects on the film.

I have to confess that I felt quite pleased with the prints that I turned out today. But, early days....I'll see what I think of them when I go back and collect them when they're dry! It did feel good to be in the Printmakers workshop again..and now I'm becoming a member! Brill!

Open Studios Week Activities

Back in Edinburgh last week after an amazing weekend at Inchnadamph. I tried to continue my momentum in the studio, but I was a bit distracted by all the activities in St Margaret's House - it was 'Open Week'.  Thanks to all of you who looked in to see me and my studio - always good to chat.

I did manage to do a little work.  I thought I should have a go at continuing with the beeswax to create encaustic paintings, following up from the course in August.  The smaller one - a morning view at Luskentyre was based on this acrylic painting.

I had a nice purple pigment and thought this picture presented a lot of potential for exploiting the colour. The start I had made was a bit rough and ready - too textural, I thought.

 I carried on working into it and it ended up like this - a little smoother and more intense colour.  I've decided to leave it now, for the moment. I THINK it may be finished...

I tried another Harris painting, focusing on the view of the North Harris hills, really based on this painting.

I had changed the composition a bit in order to fit with the piece of hardboard I was using. I had left it looking like this. Again a bit too textural, I thought.

Again I worked into it further and introduced more colour, more enriched.  I left it looking like this. I'm not sure if this composition works quite as well.

I have set it aside for the moment - not sure if it's finished yet.

My other main activity this week was a session at Edinburgh Printmakers (had to close my studio that day!). I wanted to make a new plate after my 6 week absence, but I've been thinking so much in colour recently that I found it very difficult to settle down to doing any meaningful drawing.  However, I had some 'MMR' (plastic film) and I finally managed on Wednesday to do a few drawings.  I was intending to make a copper plate etching, but I realised that there was quite a lot of tonal variation in the drawings. So I was persuaded to buy some (expensive) 'Toyobo' and use this instead.  I ended up doing two etchings - and I was really pleased that I remembered most of what I was supposed to do (using my notes) although I did get a bit confused over exposure times.
The first is a view similar to my Crannog view (based on Loch Assynt). It turned out like this.

The second was a drawing based on my Aberdour tree.

These are kind of interesting. I'll need to consider how much better they would be if I had reduced the exposure time. I did enjoy doing the drawing - I used some special pens that were left to me years ago.  I've never really found a proper use for these pens over the years and so I was pleased finally to use them productively this week.

Anyway - open studios week has now ended, so there are really no excuses now for not getting on with more work - but I'm sure I'll think of something.

Harris Paintings Emerging

Continuing to work up north despite missing my studio in Edinburgh. I managed to rearrange one of the rooms as my temporary studio so this helped to put me in the right frame of mind.

I was trying to continue the approach I had started to takewith the 'Two Beaches' painting (previous blog post), focusing hard on not overworking my pictures. I'm really aiming to try and find that freshness and looseness that I manage to capture in sketches. Much more difficult to achieve in finished pictures. I know I have to be a bit bolder about when to stop.

I also decided to focus on beach patterns. Because we had been staying so close to Luskentyre Beach, we had walked there a lot – early morning, daytime and evening – so had seen it in different lights. In the past I have shied away from attempting to paint something like an expanse of beach, but I do remember Matt tutoring us to attempt difficult things – not to avoid them – otherwise how will we ever paint these difficult subjects. So with this resolve I focused on a view looking south from Luskentyre.

I made a start with a square format and a view looking south from Luskentyre. Started in pencil and random gouache, then a little light acrylic wash.

I was thinking of early morning colours - pale blues and purples. Added more wash - sparingly.

Now I realised that I needed to get rid of some of the brighter gouache, and think about the sand patterns.

I was still a bit worried that this was too bright - lacking the subtelty which I wanted. So I had to knock it back in places without spoiling the freshness. This was the tricky bit. Here's how it has ended up.

OK I think. The yellow is interesting. I had seen a piece of yellow plastic floating in the sea the first morning - perhaps that inspired this...

I thought I'd try another scene - similar to the first picture but in landscape format and even colder colours - no yellow.  Still trying to get those subtle sand patterns.

And I had a go at a picture based on some other interesting patterns in the sand. Colours are a bit warmer in this. It's hard to get the colour of the sand at Luskentyre.

Also went back to an unfinished painting. I had left it like this a few days ago, looking a bit dead and uninteresting.  Well, it didn't excite me. This was based very closely on a sketch. Was I trying too hard to reproduce the sketch?

I decided to try and 'improve' it with my new techniques.  I added some conte to the sky and some white gouache and improved the sand colour. This is as far as I've taken it.

I think it's a bit more interesting now. More dramatic too.

But these pictures were all done using acrylic as the main medium. I have some pigments etc with me, and wanted to have a go with some of the things I'd learned with Jill at Lookand Draw. So I tried out that first picture again in encaustic. This is a very small picture. I quite like it.

Maybe it's a bit 'knobbly'. But I like the colours. Much more vibrant than the acrylic.

Then I had a go at another encaustic, a larger pic, based on a scene of the North Harris Hills. It's less successful – probably needs more work.

 What to do next? So many ideas - for printmaking and little pics. Or should I try more acrylics? Time is running out up here...Must get busy tomorrow.

Making a start

Trying to make something of my Harris sketches whilst the images are still in my head. Perhaps it helps that I'm still up north (in Lochcarron) - feeling I'm still in the right part of the country. Although I'm missing the studio I am managing to work up here.

I started by going through all my sketches and photos, making notes and drawing little thumbnails.

 The view I had sketched most often was the view towards the North Harris Hills from Luskentyre. This was the pastel sketch I had done on our last evening of the holiday.

I had spent a bit of time on it and was not happy at the time, but looking at it again I thought it not bad for colour and composition. So I had a go at it in acrylics and gouache, trying to get that contrast in sea colours between the turquoise and the deep blue-black..

 Then I tried a more ambitious composition; the view towards Lewis from behind Huisnuish.
Here is the sketch I did on the spot

I thought it needed a portrait approach and I started off like this.

Then I worked more into it with the acrylic, added some conte crayon and it ended up like this. I was focusing on the choppy sea in the foreground and that lovely bright beach in the middle-distance.

I wasn't sure that this worked as a composition. Thought it might work better with some land in the foreground, and I thought I could identify some abstract values in the shape of the hills and the foreground rock. So my next version ended up like this.

 I still was not happy with it; maybe it's too overworked? Maybe I should go back to a square format? Anyway, decided to abandon this composition and started on a view of the two beaches, looking north from Seilebost.  Again I started in pencil, gouache and a thin acrylic wash. It had been a blustery day when I took the photo and I wanted to try and convey that.

Actually, I quite liked this effect, and I paused, determined not to spoil it. Then I carried on carefully in acrylic and conte, and it ended up like this.

I think this is finished and I also think this is the best so far. It has a lightness about it that I am always seeking - it's the sort of effect I'd like to achieve again. Whether I'll still like it in a few days time remains to be seen.

Plenty more to be done!

A Week Exploring Harris

Just spent a week on Harris. It was really a holiday, but I got some sketching opportunities. This blog is a record of the week.
Day 1 was our best walk of the week. We were staying at Luskentyre and we climbed the hill directly behind the cottage - Beinn Dhubh. It's the highest hill on South Harris and a great viewpoint. Visibility was particularly good - we could see so many of the hills on the mainland stretching from north of An Teallach (couldn't quite decide which hills these were!) down to the Five Sisters at Kintail, and the Cuillins and maybe even Ben More on Mull. We also could see St Kilda...amazing!
I did a quick pastel sketch on the top, trying to capture the light on the water and the feeling of far-awayness.

And on the way down I couldn't resist doing a sketch looking down over the beach at Luskentyre, with the black mound of Chapeval on the right.

Day 2 was spent driving round South Harris, starting with Northton and a walk out to the 'temple' on Chapeval. We could see right down the chain of the Outer Hebrides. I tried a pastel sketch first.

And then a watercolour looking in a slightly different direction from a higher viewpoint. It should have been Peploe-esque....a rather poor effort...

Then it was down to Rodel. A lovely old pier and unusual harbour, but I did find it a bit dark.

The Church at Rodel is lovely, with terrific old carvings, but I had no time to sketch there. We drove on around the east side and resolved to return.
Day 3 was a bit wet, and so we abandoned plans to climb Clisham but still headed for North Harris. I had already done this sketch of the North Harris hills - not really able to fit them all into a pic.

We reached the end of the peninsula at Huishuish - more lovely beaches. We decided to walk out to the end of the point, overlooking the island of Scarp. I kept hoping the cloud would lift, but through the gloom a distan beach shone out in technicolour. I felt I had to try and capture the scene (looking towards Lewis - Scarp is on the left).

There were spectacular cliffs and a raging sea which I attempted to skech, but again was a bit constrained by the size of the sketchbook.

The road to Huisnuish was amazing: we drove through the grounds of a castle and also thought we had seen a couple of eagles just at the side of the road, and we later walked up to the bird hide - a good walk, but no more eagles.
Day 4 dawned with uncertain weather. We headed for Grosebay and the Harris Tweed shop, and then drove south along the bays and inlets. We had thought Mannish looked promising for a bit of an explore, and I wanted to try and get a fairly detailed sketch of the bays. We walked out beyond the village and I thought this place looked good with the peat terraces leading down the hill in the foreground.

Interesting walk with old fish pools, causeways and remains of old graves...plus a dead sheep etc. Back in Mannish there was lots of interest. An old corrugated iron shed

An old boat (not unlike the Dunbar Boat)

Another old shed (possibly a blackhouse in an earlier life?)

Difficult to drag myself away, really.
Day 5 we had a trip to Lewis - Great Bernera on a visit, and we also took in the iron age house at Bostah (absolutely amazing!) and then onto Callanish (a bit disappointing, but still worthwhile). We returned via Stornoway. Too much driving, and driving rain. It would be good to visit Lewis again.
Day 6 I decided to focus on Luskentyre. I had done a couple of evening sketches sitting on the beach. This one looking east in failing light.

And this looking west - no sunset in sight.

And from the window of the cottage I had done this quick watercolour in the early evening

I wanted to get a proper feel of this amazing beach.

And the shoreline

And looking into the sun, with the sparkly sea and shoreline patterns

And watching the clouds build up

And finally the grass above the shore

Not long enough, really but I now have loads of sketches and photos. I'm giving myself 4 weeks to work on these and produce a couple of paintings....and the good thing is I'll be able to keep the dream going (I hope).