In the Studio

I was glad to get into the studio today after a bit of a break.  There have been too many other things going on of late...so it was good to have a chance to work on some new pictures.

I decided to focus mainly on the seaweed sketch from last week and have a go at developing this.  I felt it had abstract qualities that I wanted to develop.  So I started with the sketch.

Sketch from Slumbay looking north

It's interesting to look at this again.  The foreground marks were carefully considered - I think it was a sort of stonecrop growing through the pebbles.  And I quite liked the trees on the hills.

So I started in charcoal and some rubbings out, then added some golden oilbar for the seaweed etc. I then added a bit of acrylic colour.  I was trying to limit the palette to blue at first with some black ink, focusing on getting the sea colour right - that lovely navy blue which is such a great contrast with the orange seaweed.  I thought the blue had a hint of violet in it, but not too much.

Emerging picture - Shore with seaweed, Slumbay

In the end, I added a mixture of black and blue inks to try and achieve that dark sea colour.  I also realised that there was really no getting away from adding some green.  So I mixed the cobalt with lemon and ochre to try and get something naturalistic looking.  Then I brightened up the seaweed with a mixture of Indian Yellow, Lemon Yellow and Yellow Ochre.  The result is fairly dramatic. 

Shore with Seaweed, Slumbay

Looking at it now, however, I think I could improve on the shoreline marks to give a better feel for the stonecrop (or whatever it is).  And the foreground is not quite the right green.  But the marks are quite loose, and I'm happy with that.  A good start, perhaps.  But I want to paint it again!