Photos: Painting at Staffin Beach in the Sunshine (aka My Pebbles Got Bigger)
Painting yesterday at Staffin beach at low tide, I found myself enjoying the large boulders dotted around. When I later showed the in-house art critic my photos, he said my paintings looked postcard size. That’s when I realised that not only had I supersized the average rock I was painting, but that the pebbles I was using to hold down wet paintings were also bigger than normal. Do wonder what I might have painted if I’d had a bigger brush with me!
The first drawing. I initially stopped when it was line only as I was enjoying the piece, but later added wash to it as it felt too sparse. The second painting. Judge the top angle of the rock by the horizon of the sea, not the edge of the shet of paper. My second-last painting. I blame the soporific sun for the rounding of the shape…Looking the ‘other way’.I mostly used Daniel Smith hematite genuine for the ‘rock colour’. Its granulation gives a sense of the texture of the rock. It’s the second-nearest colour in the left hand row in my box.Watercolour and acrylic ink on A3 paper. I like and dislike bits in each.In terms of composition, I think this works as a photo, but could I make it work as a painting? The dot of red is where I was sitting when painting; the orange is my Ma. I’m standing a couple of metres from the water’s edge.My Ma, plein-air knitting.“Do you need a viewfinder?”My Ma, plein-air knitting.Me thinking “I can’t see anything on the screen in this glare but this looks about the right angle”.This volcanic rock is amazingly matte black, darker than in the photo..Not a fossilized dinosaur brain. (We were close to where the dinosaur footprints can be found.)Abstracts from nature.I think the sheep noticed I was painting rocks and wanted to be included too.
A modern day Cora! Have you read the Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry and did you find the missing winged serpent lurking in the rocks up in Skye near those dinosasur prints? I loved the b&W photo of Ma and the abstracts plus the glorious lime green lichen
I haven’t but looking it up I’ve added it to my book wishlist!
There are endless possibilities for abstracts amongst the rocks here, but that lime green is particularly appealling though out of context it may seem exaggerated colour w’d know it isn’t!
What a fun day!
Low tide here is my new favourite spot!
Did you see the shadow of a hare in the last photo?
< cue: rushes to have another look at photo... >
So there is! That lends itself to some fable about the Hare who’s watching and waiting!
A modern day Cora! Have you read the Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry and did you find the missing winged serpent lurking in the rocks up in Skye near those dinosasur prints? I loved the b&W photo of Ma and the abstracts plus the glorious lime green lichen
I haven’t but looking it up I’ve added it to my book wishlist!
There are endless possibilities for abstracts amongst the rocks here, but that lime green is particularly appealling though out of context it may seem exaggerated colour w’d know it isn’t!