A Struggle

Very tired again today - it was a hard 4 days at work. However I foced myself to go into the studio. To try and get into the mood I did a couple of sketches here at Musselburgh first - it was a lovely day, after all. Anyway, one of these was (inevitably) of the harbour wall.

Harbourwall sketch copyright Aileen Grant

I quite liked the lines in the foreshore and Leith in the background. I thought it might make a good picture in the style of Diebenkorn - detail in the middle and great sweeps of flat colour top and bottom. So when I went to the studio, I had a go at a small acrylic of the same scene. However, I used one of my pieces of Japanese paper with gouache already on it. That may have been a mistake as sadly it didn't really work.What's even worse is that this photo makes the picture look good!

Harbourwall Study copyright Aileen Grant

Ah well, I may doctor it, or I may try another pencil sketch before I abandon this idea. I do feel a bit stuck in the studio and am clearly missing the Friday class. Maybe I need to go out sketching again, but the trouble is I have so many unfinished pictures. I get to a certain point and then I can't quite finish the picture off. (Perhaps I'n finding out that I'm not a completer-finisher.) Anyway, here is a case in point.

Hairdressers copyright Aileen Grant

This is almost finished, but not quite. Peter was encouraging me to finish it off so maybe I'll knuckle down on Monday and try and get it finished. Trouble is, I don't have any other pictures of figures that are anywhere near ready and I feel as if figures may be more of a winter subject. On the other hand, there are plenty of people on the beach here, so maybe I should try some local studies to put me in the mood.
Ah well, I'm off to Art Tarts this evening, so maybe that will spur me on.