Incoming Tide, still blue day, mixed media painting


Incoming Tide, Near Porthgwarra, mixed media, approx A4

Working from sketches done plein air and memories  - I felt in need of a virtual trip to the coast.

Sketching and painting plein air really helps to fix colour, movement, the shadows of rocks  underwater, the swirling water around rocks where air bubbles turn it milky and the ripples of incoming waves as the tide comes in on a warm, still day  -  - I want to be there now.

Working plein air is really important to me because of what I remember from  sitting studying a scene and working out how to catch movement, colour and mood.   I can then play in the studio with those sketches and memories, developing ideas from them.  If I simply looked but didn't sketch, then I wouldn't remember a fraction of the information that sketching fixes in the brain.

Comments

Bridget Hunter said…
I agree with you about sketches providing that atmospheric link to the place. Yes - photos can give the detail but in a sketch you put down what inspires in the first place and usually miss out the superfluous -just as you've caught the sea- here so well and we can relate to what inspired you.
8:20 pm
Lisa Le Quelenec said…
I know exactly what you mean... it's like the sketching part makes you slow down to really look and feel the scene. I've started making written notes when I sketch now too about sounds, smells and textures. It seems to help jog my memory when I go back to work from the sketches. I guess this is what Kurt Jackson is doing when he adds notes to his paintings. (I don't think I'd add mine to the paintings though...)

Your virtual trip to the coast shows just how strong your memories and experiances are. I like the movement that you have caught.... and those blues....sigh..
9:29 am
vivien said…
Yes I make notes as well but agree that I don't want to write them on the painting - sometimes I include something of it in titles.

I so wish I was there now!
11:16 am
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