Preparation, and then something odd

Do you ever have days when you want to spend the day making art, but just can't nail anything concrete down? This was that kind of day. So I dampened some paper in readiness for lino printing and, in the mean time, made some rubbings in oil pastel of the lino block I'd cut of Penshaw Monument. I messed around with different coloured pastels, and then tried rubbing the sky block, and then the monument block over that. With questionable success. Never mind; they'll make useful starting points for the collages I want to do.



Then, I started scribbling a skyscape on cartridge paper, which then took off and became this mad view of Penshaw Monument. There's not enough contrast for me to be totally happy with it, but I like the layering and inter-mingling of colours and lines. Again, maybe I'll rip it up and turn it into something else.

These are great!

Actually, they're awful. They're oil pastel studies of the sky over Roker. I could see that the sky is like a landscape, and the further towards the horizon you look, the more compact the formations seem to get, in a way. The cloud banks were grey, with yellow highlights.

What makes me happy with these, even though they fail in so, so many ways, is that they show I've made a start in trying to get to grips with the sky. Hey! Things can only get better, right?

Intense colour

This morning I managed to snatch a couple of hours, and decided to get out the oil pastels and acrylic board I set to it, working from the distance to the foreground. When I had filled the canvas I looked again to see what detail needed to be added, and overworked each piece, adding more colour, or scratching away, smudging & blending, and scratching some more.

The first one was Tunstall Hills. I was surprised at the colours I found when I really looked, the hills, the buildings in the middle distance, and even the road. I enjoyed adding in the street lights, and the bollards.




The second view I'm not so happy with, as I don't think it hangs together as a whole picture. I had trouble catching the colours of the roofs. I know they are a terracotta close-up and I struggled seeing their 'true' colour within this view. However, I am happy with the fence and trees, and I love the energy in the sky.




The last piece I did was a view of my front gate. As soon as i picked up the pastels I panicked. So I broke it down, sketched out the composition, and started on the background. I love the way the pavement comes under the gate into the foreground. I did a lot of under colour under the shrub on the left before I overworked the leaves and branches.





I feel so enthused by this work. I want to get out and start tackling stuff. Wow.