This is a painting of a piece of the Camus Mor coast that I’ve put aside several times, never quite getting it to where I felt it was working satisfactorily. Looking back I’ve realised I started it nearly a year ago! Today’s tweak was to add some tiny sheep, and I hope think the sense of scale these add is what the painting needed.
Acrylic on Canvas. 24x18 inches.
I’d been enjoying painting this, but when I found myself fiddling with this little bit and that, just quickly trying this and that, I forced myself to step away from the easel. Fiddling rather than doing definite things is a recipe for messing things up. I’ll let it dry completely and have another round with it later.
At the moment I’m aware some of the heads feel too large for the bodies, or is it bodies too small for the heads, to me? It’ll probably be easier to make the bodies bigger than the heads smaller, but is that the best things for the painting?
Another decision to be made is whether to leave the grass as it is, or add another layer to it. Part of me likes it as a calmer area, a contrast to the sky and sheep. I may only do a little, starting by eliminating the dark vertical streak towards the bottom left.
Work in Progress. Size 36x36" (92x92cm).
Having had these two paintings side by side, I’ve decided they won’t have islands (as I suspected while waiting for the paint to dry). Until I put them next to one another I’d thought they were the same size, but turns out one’s a little taller and narrower. Most likely one was a metric canvas and the other imperial.
These paintings will amongst those in my exhibition at Skyeworks Gallery in April.
Approx. 40x30 inches. Acrylic on canvas.
A couple of details from the paintings, which gives you a glimpse of what the iridescent white adds:
Details from the paintings.
Driving to the Skye Quilters meeting yesterday, I spotted a gorgeous black black in a field near Kensaleyre. Thinking it’d make a great reference for a future sheep painting, I stopped to take a photo on my way home. But it was having other ideas, as sheep so often do…
Oh well, maybe some photos of a white sheep then. Or maybe not…
I did, ultimately, get a shot.
I’m waiting for the paint to dry before straightening the horizon on this work-in-progress, and knocking back the edge of the strong brushmark in the sky that leads your eye off the top. I’m debating whether or not to add islands, whether it should be a pure seascape (or landscape with land).
I’ve another, similar sized canvas dominated by summer sunset colours (similar to Minch 28) also without islands at the moment. When I’ve done the horizon on this, I’ll put them together and then decide about whether there’ll be islands, or not.
Work in Progress. 40x30 inches. Colours: Prussian blue, cerulean blue, cerulean blue dark, cobalt blue, titanium white, iridescent white.
Part of the rhythm of the day is seeing the ferry on its journey to and from the Outer Islands. As it turns to leave (or enter) the bay at Uig, it draws curves in the sea.
Ferry to Tarbert. Acrylic on Canvas. 40x60cm.
On a clear winter’s evening, if you stop at the parking place overlooking Uig, you get the glow of the sun on the horizon on the far left and the twinkling reflection of village lights in the bay. Like many of my ideas for paintings, this one has been wandering around my mind for some time, gradually consolidating into how to paint it. Not that this guarantees an outcome, it’s more like having a basic map that points me in a direction and what I discover when I get there ultimately determines the result.
I’m leaving the painting to dry thoroughly before deciding on final tweaks. While acrylics do dry rapidly, there are always a few thicker places that take a bit longer. There’s nothing more frustrating than wiping off a tweak you decide didn’t work after all and removing lower layers too!
Work in Progress. Size 100 x 50 cm (about 40 x 20 inches).
This painting is in the waiting-for-the-paint-to-dry-pondering stage, and goes with the two sheep paintings from last week. I’m contemplating adding some dark browns to suggest the rocky shoreline and differentiate the sea further, but suspect I’ll keep that for another painting.
Painting in Progress. Size 100x80cm (40x32")
Wednesday morning at 09h30 was cold enough for there to be ice in the fountains of Trafalgar Square.
Fountain nearest the Fourth Plinth.
Waiting for the rail shuttle at Gatwick on Tuesday, the patterns in the snow on the roof caught my eye. Looked like someone had been drawing in it with a squeegee.
Snow on roof at Gatwick
Headed down to London on Tuesday for the press preview of the NPG’s Lucian Freud exhibition. London’s been hit by Europe’s big 2012 freeze while Skye’s been enjoying relatively mild weather. It was strange to pack thermals for London, but were they needed!
Left: Scottish Highlands (south of Inverness). Right: England (nearing Gatwick).
