Not happy, decisions to be made

Ugh. This is a colour drawing of the same stretch of trees done this morning at about 7.45am.
Pros - I'm looking intently at colour, and working on the same hand subject over and over is stopping from jumping to conclusions and making me really look. It's nice to line up the drawings next to each other afterwards and look at the differences the light and weather and changing seasons are making to the same scene.
cons - the limited colours I have are dissatisfying, and the scribbling of the fine nibs isn't letting me lay down colour fast enough. With this technique I'm left with a lot of white paper in the background which is diluting the effects I'm after.
Conclusion - abandon felt tip pens, reach for soft pastels, continue with colour studies.

Southcliffe, Roker

Along the seafront at Roker there are some amazing buildings; grand 3 and four storey houses, some converted to flats now, which nestle together overlooking the North Sea. I'm sure that passers-by look up at these houses, dreaming of which they'd love to live in. I know I have my favorites, where I've already picked out the master bedroom and art studio, with some additional skylights and a balcony fitted on. I even have plans for vegetable patches and treehouses in the back garden. If i were a rich man, dum de dum de dum de dum de diddle dupmpty dum de dum....

Everyman #2

Down on Roker Beach I drew as many people as I could see. I was sat in a camp chair because sitting on the sane would have damaged my back, hunched over drawing while peering up at people. Added to that the sand flies, and you'll appreciate how I suffer for my art. Instead we took a picnic with us, and a selection of buckets and spades from our growing collection in the garage. The kids stripped and played with newly-made friends in the waves while I drew. I was careful to apply sun cream this time, after getting burnt forearms doing the previous everyman #1 drawing.
And I still want to do more of these. But I'd like some suggestions as to where I may take this project. Any ideas out there?

Everyman #1

On Wednesday morning I spent a couple of hours sat outside of the Bungalow Cafe, which is on the corner of the river Wear overlooking the bay and pier at Roker. But I wasn't looking east at that view. I was people watching.

If you're interested, I used a Faber-Castell Pitt artist brush pen in Indian ink, on an A3 Daler Rowney 140lb grain fin (not cold pressed) watercolour paper pad.

I am going to do more of these.

Suitable Materials

Looking back through old sketch books I though how my bus stop figures would translate well into a lino cut. So here's the result.

I want to play around more with the background, and try carving out the figures and printing in greys on black paper. Often, so many possibilities come to light while I'm working, and it's hard not to jump ahead. I'm trying to discipline myself to complete the work in hand before moving to the next idea.

7 of 7 of Roker Sky #1

Here it is. I'm not totally happy with the roofs, I think they look like burnt-out industrial units, which wasn't the intention. But I'm glad I put them in because they were essential, and I could have made excuses for not taking the plunge for weeks. But then I would have been left with a 'pretty' sky, which wasn't my intention either.


Also, the whites in the upper areas weren't white but a very pale grey, the only area of true white was near the skyline where the sun was shining, under lighting the clouds. I won't change the painting at this stage as the paint is still very wet. I may put a slight grey tint over them when the paint's cured more.


In the next one the roofs will be on a smaller scale so that the sky looks even bigger.


The photo has pixilated the colours, but if you send me $5,000.00 I'll be happy send it to you, if you agree to pay the postage.

steps 5 and 6 of 7

Almost there now. Stepping back to make sure I hadn't compromised any proportions, which might result in a contrived-looking scene, I saw that there were greens in the greys and yellow in the whites, so I added these, and suddenly the painting was 'lifted' to another level. I'm definitely going to do more sky gazing, making a note of any colours I see other than blue, grey and white, for future reference.

I built up the depth of oil paint in the lower portion, as I knew I wanted to slice into the paint when adding the rooftops. This is when I started to hesitate. How to add the rooftops. I only had a fleeting urge to leave this one as it was, and add rooftops top the next painting. But NO! They were an integral part of my idea. I must be brave.

You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if I pull it off. here's hoping.

stages 3 and 4 of 7

When running downhill very fast, if you stop to think, then you'll fall over. That was the sensation I had when I was painting this. I think I held my breath for those 2 hours.

I'd take a slug of water every so often, stepping back to judge where I was up to, then I'd launch back in, to make a change, or to move on down the canvas.

I could see that the clouds were lit from below and slightly from behind. This was a sky in the late afternoon, early winter, with only an hour of light left in the day. It rained later that evening.

To think, those clouds don't exist any more. It's not like painting a landscape, where the hills and trees will be there tomorrow, even though the light changes and the seasons advance. With skies, I don't know. But it's different. I know one thing can't me more unique than another unique thing. But skies are. Maybe I just need more coffee.

stage 1 and 2 of 7

I made a start in oils on a sky today, working from the photos I took.

The canvas is about 14" by 20". I decided to work on it as though I was painting a landscape, blocking in the distant blue sky first, getting the general proportions, but keeping it loose. Then I painted over the blues in a wash of white spirit, because i didn't want the texture of the canvas showing through with any dry-brushing in those areas.

Then, starting top left where the deep grey cloud bank was, I worked my way gradually down. I worked with my eyes half-shut sometimes at this early stage to sketch in the areas of deepest greys and blues. I was amazed at how twisting and contorted some of the areas of cloud were.

Whilst I was working on this, I was listening to Mendelssohn's 'Elijah', a very stirring choral work which suited, or maybe even set the mood perfectly.

I have finished this in the one 2 hour sitting, but I think I'll build your anticipation and reveal it over the next few days. I can say at this moment that I'm very excited about this painting. And already I can see what I want to do next.

Here's what's got me excited

This is a photo of the sky over Roker last week. For anyone who's not familiar with Roker, we're on the corner of the River Wear on the North East coast of England, looking east over the North Sea.

Now if I can paint this, without making it look pretty, I'll be a happy person indeed.

Today I hope to get more photos as it's about to rain and the clouds are black and saturated, and there's a bank of cloud hanging heavily in the sky like a scruffy old wet floor-cloth.

Creative Journal

Since October this year I've been keeping a journal of ideas, sketches, images, quotes, ideas etc. Also, the odd shopping list if that's all the paper I have on me. I keep it with me at all times. Well, most of the time. While waiting for my husband at the bank I drew a scene across the river, while waiting at Durham train station last night I sketched the grand entrance. I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea for a children's story, and instead of lying there, worrying that I'd forget the idea, I got up and wrote it in the journal.

It's good to get things out of my head and down onto paper, and it's good to have them all in one place, where I know they are, instead of on scraps of paper all round the house. Keeping a journal has also helped cement the idea that my thoughts and ideas, sketches, observations, hopes, regrets, and all part of an ongoing creative process for me.

Time to paint

Yesterday afternoon my hubby kicked me out while he & the kids made their final arrangements for Mothers Day. So I got to spend an hour down on North Dock with my oil pastels and boards. Here's the results:



I'm finding that just having the materials in my hand are making me want to start painting. The oil pastel is so soft, and I can build up four, five, six layers of colour. If it starts moving about on the surface and not really 'taking' I just scratch back the area and work from there. I used a stick to strip back some areas on these and found that the board had stained with the first one or two colours I'd lain down. So if I wanted a highlight, I'd lay down white pastel first, work over the top, then scratch back to reveal unstained board.