seascapes update February
Tides Edge. mixed media on canvas 40 ins square. Vivien Blackburn
I'm happy with how this one is going as it evokes to me what I wanted. I'm not sure whether I'll glaze a bit more blue and viridian over the purple sections of sea or not - what do you think?
It's hanging over the sofa just now so that I can consider it. I love working this size.
I wasn't trying to catch a frozen moment of time with the waves in realist detail - that isn't how you experience it. The waves come pounding in, funnelled by the shape of the beach, meeting each other in a crash of spray. It's all confusion. A horizon that isn't level, consisting of swells of water racing towards you, rearing up - power, colour and light and noise. I wanted to catch this feeling.
I finally did what I'd advised my daughter to do - and what I always forgot to do myself and was reminded :>) in the comments section to do - put a piece of tissue over the flash to soften the light. MAGIC!!! the subtle colours show so much better and the photo of the painting isn't bleached, or needing lots of tweaking in PS to bring it back to 'how it really looks'.
Tissue and an elastic band are going to be permanent residents in my camera baga :>)
work in progress, charcoal on grey paper 19/20 ins approx. Vivien Blackburn
This one is a work in progress, done as a demo. I haven't decided yet whether to add muted touches of colour with pastel or paint or simply use white pastel for highlights and keep it monochrome. The grey paper is a slightly warm grey so subtle additions of earth colours would work well - even those Lyra skin tones coloured pencils ????? now there's a thought .....
finished - Across the beach, sunset. Charcoal. 16 ins square. Vivien Blackburn
Sorry this one is a bit distorted - it's leaning on my printer at the moment. This is the one on watercolour paper. I decided to move the moon and do a little more work on the darkest areas. Finished now.
These charcoal sketches were partly about exploring those evenings when the rays of the sun showed like this and working out how to pull together the painting that I wasn't happy with. I do like charcoal to work with, it's got such painterly qualities alongside the ability to produce lovely black flowing lines :>).
Comments
Thank you so much for the tissue tip! What a great idea!
Your other WIPs are also quite good, but I am particularly drawn to your beautiful colors!
I look forward to seeing what you do next.
Kim thank you :) I'm going to do a proper post on the tissue tip with some examples later this week
I'm virtually on top of the ocean here, but haven't really done much with it in terms of drawing or painting. I must.
Working big is very freeing I love it. I limit the size to what will fit in the car, having had a huge blank canvas sail off the roof rack in a gale when I was at uni!
Your charcoals are haunting. An altogether different feeling from your paintings. Very mysterious. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the moon one. That one has a romantic feel.
Lindsay it was a nightmare when the canvas sailed away - it landed on the other side of a dual carriageway in the middle of the city (luckily hardly any cars about due to the torrential rain and gale force wind and dark night)
The reason it came off was because I couldn't find my bunjie cords and my husband said it was fine tied on with string - and no he didn't need to come in with me to make sure - huh! I heard the string go ping!
I couldn't see where it had gone and had to go round the block and park on the pavement to look and there it was - across the dual carriageway with a lorry driving over it :>o sob
I ran and got it and was tying it back on with even less string when a police car stopped, opened the window, looked and drove on.
i was soaked to the skin and had to drive the rest of the way to college with my hand out the wind in the cold and rain holding it - and going at about 5 miles an hour - to check that it didn't skim off again.
I had a few words to say to himself when I got home :>Z
Well, I'm sure I'd limit my canvas size after such an adventure!!!
and it's left me paranoid about paintings on the roof rack!
BTW, I ment to say that the splashes on the waves in this painting give the waves a wonderful movement.
I would love to see that charcoal drawing with some colour added. In my mind I imagine it looking somewhat like those old tinted black and white postcards (only better obviously), those muted colours over the monotone are always so appealing.
Martha - hi :>) I check your blog out regularly but haven't commented before
Cath - :>D
Becky - it's funny you should say that but I'm doing exactly that - adding subtle muted hints of colour on a charcoal drawing done on grey paper. I don't know how it will work because I decided to see how coloured pencils will work with charcoal - not a mix I've ever thought to use before. As it's a 20 inch drawing it'll take time to work out. (pastel would have been more sensible - I just fancied experimenting :>) )