Sorry not to have updated this with the end result of the course.  I worked a few ideas up in the sketchbook.  I was trying to bring a few ideas together - not something I've really done before - and I thought I ought to try this.   I ended up doing this little picture which brought together my figure on the museum balcony with the Newhaven lighthouse.  There may be something here I could develop, but I haven't yet done so.

Lighthouse Woman Study.

The other image I worked on was the skiff.  I did a very big picture of this which started out looking like this.

Newhaven Skiff (big emerging picture)

This was really underpainting, so when I took it further, I did tone it down somewhat.

Newhaven Skiff (big picture)

But in taking it further I lost all the energy of the marks.  It looks a bit boring.  I wasn't all that happy with it
Not to be put off by this, I tried another version in the studio this week.  It ended up looking like this.

Newhaven Skiff (small version)

I think this looks more interesting.  I'm quite pleased with the edge of the pier (I did focus a bit of attention on this).  Maybe the boat needs a bit more colour before I set it aside.  But it does have a dreamyness about it.

Ah well...what next?  More sketching perhaps.  And there's a trip coming up a week on Friday at Crammond, so that means more boats...!

A week of sketching

Midway through doing a week's summer school at Leith School of Art.  Doing a course with the artist Jenny Martin, focusing on sketchbooks and the connection between sketches and finished pictures.  It's been interesting so far.  We've been to the Museum and to Newhaven Harbour, and we were privileged to view a few sketchbooks of Scottish Artists of yesteryear - Crozier, MacTaggart, Mackintosh Patrick, and Eardley - demonstrating how well they could draw!

Our efforts on this course have been done on coloured and collaged pages, which we have prepared, as well as white, and in a variety of media - oil pastel, chalk pastel, pencil and charcoal.

Today was beautiful at Newhaven, and here's the first sketch I did on a sketchbook page I had painted up in orange.

Newhaven Boats Sketch

I've painted on a coloured ground, but it was quite interesting SKETCHING on a coloured page.  In this one I've used oil crayons which forces me to be bolder than usual.  Here's another also using oil caryons.

Newhaven Lighthouse Sketch

This is less successful, I think, and perhaps the dark shade of red was just a bit too dark for sketching on.  And this was at the end of the day - getting a bit tired.  I did a thumbnail of the same view in pencil which made me think it might be a good composition.  I also did this study of one of the boats in the harbour.

Newhaven Skiff Sketch

The boat was sitting in the mud, and I was keen to try and capture the colour and shiny texture of the mud as well as the angle of the boat.  I then noticed that the boat had both a shadow and a reflection, making it even more difficult to capture.  I did it in chalk on a greeny-yellow ground.  How do you get the colour of mud?

Anyway, I had also used a yellow ground for this sketch at the museum yesterday (it seemed like the most appropriate colour).

Silver Relics Sketch

The colours made me think of a Philipson painting - I suppose he used that yellow a lot in his church interiors.  Maybe that was in my subconscious when I looked at the objects in the glass case.

So now I need to make a decision on which sketch to work further on tomorrow in the studio.  A difficult choice.  But it's just great to have a full week of drawing and painting!