Re-booting the Blog

Hi there!
Gosh, it's a long time since I did a blogpost. A sure sign of life getting in the way of art. Been busy painting walls and doing DIY in order to get the Musselburgh flat up for sale (sadly!). But I think the hard work is done now so I'm trying to get back into work.

We're back up north for a brief week before we're tied to Musselburgh for viewings. My discipline of a sketch a day is working, getting me back into a work habit. And it's New Year: an appropriate time to take stock and re-focus.

Did a few charcoal/pencil sketches at Fisherrow - mostly boats! Good to get the drawing going, helping me to think about composition.

I also feel both energised and challenged by my recent trip to London when I went to exhibitions of work by Lanyon and Auerbach. I'm definitely in the Peter Lanyon camp on the importance of observation to inform my drawing and painting - there's a great quote of his which I can't lay my hands on at the moment - and I think both artists worked hard at expressing their feelings for places (and in Auerbach's case, also people) through their work. I did particularly love Auerbach's charcoal portraits. I suppose this type of work is 'experiential observation'. So...I think this gives me a signpost...I observe and draw quite well but I need to work at the emotional side in order to enrich the drawing/painting. I suppose that even in coming to this conclusion I have developed a bit! And I know that I must 'practice' to improve my technique and the quality of my painting and printmaking.

So far in January I'm continuing to focus on sketching to renew my interest in subject matter and draw myself back into work. Also I do find that the longer I am away from practice the worse the critical nagging voices get - the ones that say 'why are you bothering to do this?' (like Oor Wullie's devil on his shoulder). However, even through doing this Blog I am trying to counteract the nagging voices - there is something worthwhile for me to do; there's a challenge for me and there are ideas to explore.

My one-time tutor, Matt Storenstien, once advised me to go back to doing a few simple watercolours in order to get my head together. So this month I see it important to 're-boot', to go back to first principles and rebuild. I'm trying to sketch as much as possible. Here are a few from the last couple of days.

Across Loch Carron (Sketch)

Slumbay View (Sketch)

Sgorr Ruadh and Fuar Toll (Sketch)

And now I'm thinking about a little colour but with restraint. Using acrylic inks to supplement the graphite. I quite like this approach - I feel it's appropriate for this time of year.

Across Loch Carron (Study)

Sgorr Ruadh and Fuar Toll (Study)

I'm aiming for that zone where the painting is easier and things flow better, when you find unexpected good things in the paintings you make. Wish me luck this year....

In Reflective Mood

During the past week I was working both in Lochcarron and back in the studio.
I started thinking about images of Applecross, particularly the long views out to sea. First I did a charcoal drawing based on that quick charcoal sketch I did on Applecross.

 I then did another version using watercolour paper. I used graphite and ink.

I then added white conte and darker ink marks. However I wanted more light in the distance, so I added white acrylic. I really wanted to focus on getting good sky effects.

When I looked at this, I thought the Skye hills were not the right shape. And I wanted to capture the small luminous clouds near the horizon and the little hint of blue sky above. So I did a bit more in acrylic and conte and it ended up like this. It's close to the look I was trying to achieve. But is it interesting enough?

I also tried a more colourful view, based on a view over Lochcarron. I had done some earlier work and it was looking like this. I wasn't happy about it - I liked the colour (I do really love the orange and russet colours at this time of year) but it was a wee bit too bright and literal for my satisfaction.

 I tried to darken it down and make it more moody, using conte, brown and black inks, and acrylic colours, but in the end I wasn't particularly happy.  The issue, of course, may be that the composition is not good enough. Or that I've not been clear about what I was trying to achieve. So I've set it aside.

Back in the studio, I had a go at painting the view over the island of Rona that I had sketched in pastels. I have tried painting the isle of Rona a few times, but never been happy.  I thought that focusing on the sky might help to produce a good painting. After working at it for a while, it ended up like this.

However, as so often happens at this time of year, I'm feeling a bit stuck in a groove - not sure that I'm really achieving what I'm setting out to do. Maybe I'm not being ambitious enough: maybe I'm not clear about what I am trying to achieve. Whilst I'm attracted by wildness and like to focus on the wild Wester Ross landscapes, maybe I haven't yet found an appropriate 'language' for capturing the emptyness and wildness. So I'm setting these aside for a while and I'm going to focus on some quirkier scenes. I've started with this.

This is based on a little harbour I saw in North Harris. To me it looked like boats placed within a boat. I did a little CD picture for the Inchmore gallery of this, and wanted to try a larger picture. Again I used graphite, conte, gouache and acrylic. I'm satisfied with the boldness and graphic qualities - a slightly different approach, I suppose.

And I've also brought this unfinished picture out of retirement.  I had got a bit stuck with it in the summer. It has my Aberdour tree in the composition. Wasn't sure how to finish it.

So after a critical self-review, I've got rid of the figure and made the cottage a bit smaller to get better perspective. (NB Is it necessary to get the perspective right? A modernist approach might play with perspective, I suppose.)  Anyway I feel as if it's coming along - just not sure where it will end up.  I'll get back to it next week....

A Bit Too Busy Of Late

I appear to have been a bit busy over the last month - not enough time for blogging!  The exhibition that Rona MacLean and I put on took up quite a lot of time.  It went well, and I enjoyed meeting people, but nevertheless it has disrupted the flow of work.  Bit of a challenge getting back to painting.  And then I had my birthday yesterday.  Thanks to friends and family who came along for a bit of a celebration in the Fisherrow Yacht Club.  It was a bit of fun for a Sunday afternoon.

Getting back to normal today.  Didn't manage into the studio, but I did a couple of sketches on the bus and the weather was just good enough for me to sit at the harbour and do a more detailed sketch of the boats and the tenements.

Fisherrow Harbour Pencil Sketch

Well - maybe it's a start to my new East Lothian series...watch this space....