Mariner's foe

This piece is part of a series of rock studies that I am doing to help understand how rocks are formed and to enable me to draw and paint them more realistically. This will be the first for the rock challenge. Feel free to join in!

This is a section of rock that juts out of the sea in Savage Cove at low tide. With rocks like these submerged, you can see why it was called Savage Cove. I loved the shape of it and how the water around it was so still and reflective - a rarity in the Atlantic.

I still haven't gotten quite the level of roughness and jagged nature of this rock, but I'll keep trying. I started with a line drawing, then switched to coloured pencil in sepia. I didn't like the grainy nature of that on Bristol vellum, so I switched again to 'Sketch & Wash' General's pencil that I found in the bottom of my pencil case. This pencil is a water soluable graphite, perfect for light washes. I added a hint of colour with watercolour pencil and a light wash.

Birthday portrait

I took a few photos surreptiously of my mother at my daughter's wedding in the hopes of finding something suitable to do a portrait from. She hates having her photo taken so its a rare thing that I can find any material to work with and she isn't interested in sitting for me.

She will be 85 at the end of July, still lives alone and although there are challenges in many areas, she continues to do so. I thought that a portrait to mark this birthday would be good, but I doubt she will feel that way somehow. But whatever the case, it will still be done and you never know, she may even like it!

I've done the line drawing and will continue it in watercolour initially. I may try an oil later, I just wish the original photo was clearer when enlarged.

Rock challenge

Today was a beautiful day depending on where you were. I left home in bright warm sun and arrived 5 minutes later at the beach in Flatrock where the fog was rolled in and got thicker and thicker as I sat there. I was determined to do a little plein air painting, so with billows of fog floating around me, I made a very quick watercolour of some of the rocks partly submerged in the sea. Literally, as I was painting, the fog was obscuring my view of the scene so I eventually admitted defeat and this is the final result of about 20 minutes work.


I want to spend more time concentrating on painting and drawing rocks. They are a constant in the waterscapes that I draw and I never seem to do them well. I know its all down to practice and I am determined to work on the structure and colour of rocks around me. I played around with the start of this large cliff last night and will work on more details over the next few days. I wanted it loose, but still to have the ability to 'read' as rock.


So I thought I'd throw it open as a challenge to any others who want to hone their rock skills. Create rocks in whatever medium you like, look at shapes, planes, values, texture, colour. Small beach pebbles or large cliffs, I would love to see them all. This will helps us learn from each other.

I think about a month should provide enough time to tackle rocks, so August 4th do you think? Then simply add a link to your drawing or painting in the comment section of this post when you're done and I will create a post with the links to individuals work then.

1,023 fingerprints

I knew I was approaching my 1,000th post, but hadn't realized that I had over run it by 23, well 24 now.

I originally started my blog as a way of making myself accountable to my art - to ensure that I would produce both artwork and writing. I also enjoyed the process of writing and sharing knowledge and life with others from around the globe.

The original purpose of the blog is still there and there have been many benefits along the journey.

• I have met hundreds of people that I would never have if I had stayed silent.
• I have pushed myself to explore other media, spurred on by others.
• I have participated in artistic groups and ventures, though done through words and pictures are as real as any local ones.
• I have honed writing skills and the ability to know what appeals and what doesn't.
• I can expect honest critiques of my work for which I am always grateful.
• I push myself to produce, share, market and build my craft because I know others are watching.
• I have left my fingerprints on the world.
  

The image of my fingerprint, above, was an idea for a painting that I had. A blown up version of my own print, painted. It is an intricate labyrinth and unending maze of corridors when seen enlarged. It is a project for the future.

Portrait complete

Watercolour in many respects is a quick medium. Once you start, aside from drying times, it tends to fly along I find. I've worked more on this portrait in spurts of time today and am calling it complete.

It hasn't got the looseness that I've come to like, but the watercolour pencils veer me towards a more controlled portrait. I did add some washes of colour with my pans set of paints but overall kept it fairly tight. I may still go back in and deepen the shadows, but I don't want to muddy the piece. I'll let it sit for awhile then see how I feel about it.

Watercolour portrait

I've been working in oils last night and today and the result of that is posted on Watermarks today. The turps fumes were getting to me but I still wanted to do something so I tackled one of the portraits on WetCanvas July portrait thread in watercolour.

This is the initial drawing and the first layers of colour. I'm using watercolour pencils for this piece but my pans may come out as well depending on how it goes. I find that I can't acheive the depth of colour with the pencils as I can with pans. I also like the fluidity of the paint/water with pans, however the control that watercolour pencils give, especially for tight areas can't be beaten.