Tuesday 14 May 2013

Nungate...Finally

Yesterday and today I've been back in the studio trying to finish off the Nungate picture. We have to hand in our pictures for Cockenzie House a week today, so today was the day I felt I needed to have all pictures for 3 Harbours finished.

In order to warm up a bit I did another big sketch of the same subject - started in charcoal and added pencil and white conte.  When I had finished, today, it looked like this.
Nungate Bridge - Drawing
 Then it was back to the painting. I find it so difficult when I'm trying to improve on a picture and not lose what I consider to be the good bits.  That's where my tendency to overwork a picture kicks in.  So this time I spent a bit of time looking at the picture and noted down that I wanted to tone down the sky, 'improve' the stonework on the bridge (really by toning it down a bit), and adding more interest to the stonework under the arches.  It was only at this point that I realised the picture is absolutely full of stonework of different types - coursed rubble in the bridge, random rubble of the river wall and a mixture of rubble in the house.  Anyway, by the time I had finished today, it looked like this.

Nungate Bridge - Painting - Finished?
A very interesting exercise.  Which is better - drawing or painting?  I suppose they are just different - not comparing like with like.  The question I must address now is whether or not I should get the picture framed ready for 3 Harbours. The composition is quite strong, but maybe my painterly treatment just not exciting enough...

No comments:

Post a Comment