Seascape Canvas in Stages

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on May 1, 2012

01 May

This is a small seascape on canvas ( 4 x 4 inches ) carried out in a few stages. This is as much as I did at the first sitting. The sea and land take up less than a third of the painting, so the sky is the dominant feature.

The photograph below shows the canvas as a whole at the next stage, having added more colour to create the headland shape on the horizon line and more depth to the sky.

The last photo is taken straight on and shows the final inclusion of some red paint to the headland. I have flattened the perspective slightly in the foreground by dragging the paint downwards, which has the effect of allowing the viewer to look under the water.

I’ve decided to leave it at this point. I feel that it is finished even though the paint layers are thin. What do you think?

Finished Sea scape

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 26, 2012

26 Apr

I’ve been working on this one for a while now. This is where I left it …

This is the finished painting below. I’ve added more buildings and telegraph poles to the landscape to make this a seaside community under the eye of the storm, rather than just a lone building.

I’ve given the sea a bit more substance with more paint and I’ve used some more gold in the clouds. Finally, I’ve used charcoal to darken the surface a few degrees.

Recording the stages of work on this blog has been an interesting process for me and sometimes I wonder if I should have left the painting at an earlier stage. I am often tempted to darken things towards the end of a piece. What do you think in this case?

Sea Paintings on Canvas – Next Stage

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 23, 2012

23 Apr

To day, I worked on two of the small paintings I started recently. At the risk of repeating myself, I am showing you the paintings as I left them. The first began like this.

I added lots more colour using ink and paint together to get it to this stage (below).

I left it to dry completely before working on it again. Then I touched up the house and added some charcoal to give the effect of rain in those clouds (below).

The next photo is of the same scene but it is the larger 8 x 8 inch canvas which began like this.

I really attacked this with colour (below) in an effort to emphasize the dominance of the elements in this landscape and the insignificance of the house as a manmade construction within it. This is how it felt on this particular evening – the power of the natural landscape over everything.
I often think about this in relation to how it feels to live here in Connemara and I remember being quite struck by it when I settled here first. We are at the mercy of the elements here in a way that one is not living in a city. I suppose it is the effect of the wide expanse of the sky and the exposed, mostly treeless spaces combined with the force of the Atlantic weather.

I used a combination of acrylic paint and ink and I used my hands instead of brushes to make strong gestures with the colour to achieve a kind of drama. It’s not finished yet but I am reasonably happy with the sky so far. I will let it dry and return to it later.

New canvases

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 21, 2012

21 Apr

I’ve started some paintings on canvas. These usually develop over several sittings so I’m recording the progress (or otherwise!) as I go.
While it is possible for me to finish a small painting on paper in one session, I find that the canvas surface demands much more. I usually apply a base colour followed by a rough sketch of the composition in paint. I often work on several at one time so that I can explore different ideas during one sitting. Here are three pieces I have started. Once again, the theme is the sea.

I covered the canvas with a metallic gold paint in this piece above before outlining the composition roughly. This next one (below) is of a house near Mannin Strand.

I’ve cropped all of the images except the one above so that you can see the canvas in three dimensions.
Many painters choose not to paint around the edges or paint a neutral colour there instead. I prefer to continue the line of the composition loosely around the edge.

This one is a larger version ( 8 x 8 inch canvas ) of the last piece which measures 4 x 4 inches.
I was able to fill in more detail with this one while the paint was still wet, although the piece is still quite basic in its form and range of colour. I will come back to it once this layer has dried completely.

Evening Sea – More sketches in paint

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 17, 2012

17 Apr

Here are some more of the Sea paintings I made recently. The photographs describe the paintings as they developed. The first group of three include the beach, but it is essentially the same viewpoint as the photos and painting from my last blog post.

These next two photos are of another piece in progress. I have used less paint in this one because I’m working with a lightweight colored paper which cannot take too much paint or water.

I quite like the energy in this one although again, I may have allowed it to become too dark.

Evening Sea – In Paint

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 16, 2012

16 Apr

Last week, I took a short drive south of Clifden to the Coral Strand, which is near the village of Ballyconneely. It was evening and the sun was setting against a menacing sky which threatened for a while and opened into a downpour just as I was leaving. The dark blue and turquoise colours of sky and sea against the peach coral sand and golds of the evening sun were truly spectacular. Here are a couple of the photographs that I took;

The top photo was taken slightly earlier in the evening. The rain storm is visibly brewing in this magnificent cloud, which seems unnaturally solid and bulky in the way that it hangs over the land in the distance. I tackled the subject in paint, as you can see below and tried to keep my focus on colour and atmosphere. The first picture shows the initial sketching out of the composition in charcoal and acrylic paint.

I’m using a heavy acrylic paper here. I’ve added more colour for the next shot.

I’m always in danger of going too far with these because I’m working quite fast and layering wet on top of wet.

Looking back I like the piece at this stage ( above ). However, I took it further as you will see below and it has darkened considerably.

What do you think about this one? It was still wet when I took the photograph. Did I take it too far?

Woodland in paint

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 9, 2012

09 Apr

I took some photographs in the old graveyard in Clifden on Friday which I had a look at over the week end. I wanted to use them for a painting, but not too literally. I decided to focus on the trees and woodland floor and omit the gravestones and the old church ruin. Perhaps I will include them in another image but this time I wanted to focus on the upward reach of the trees, from the richness of the earth and the woodland floor right up in to the light and the sky.

I chose this photograph, not because it is a good photo in its own right, but because of the arrangement of the trees and because it could be a woodland anywhere and not necessarily part of a graveyard in the middle of town. Here’s the first sketch below. I used acrylic paint, charcoal and a little oil pastel.

The bluebells are suggested with some blue paint in the lower part of the piece.

I turned the page around for this one, to emphasize the length of these spindly trees.

New Heron sketch

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 5, 2012

05 Apr

I returned to the subject of the Heron to day. I approached this one in two stages. The first photo shows as much as I did at the first sitting – I decided to leave a white space for the Heron rather than working it over the background as I did with the last piece.

I completed the sketch when the first layer of paint and ink was completely dry. I also worked in a little more charcoal and some white chalk highlights when the second layer of paint was dry.

There is always the danger of overworking a piece that requires careful detail as with the heron in this case, but I am reasonably happy that I haven’t done that here.

Sunshine, beach and Heron in paint

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on April 2, 2012

02 Apr

Last week, I spent some time on Ardmore beach, near Clifden and I took some photographs which I blogged about. Over the week end, I returned to these and made some sketches in paint.

I used acrylic paint, ink and charcoal here on a heavy acrylic paper. The colours are not strictly true to life but I love this combination of blue and brown and I think the two together look exactly how the sea smells, if that makes any sense at all..

The paint is thicker here in places. These sketches are still wet as I photographed them. They were done in one sitting – I might have a look at them again when the paint is dry and make some additions. Here’s one below of the Heron. It is done on a light weight coloured paper.

I will add some chalk or white pastel to this one when it is dry just where the rocks have bled in to the sea on the top half of the sketch.

Sketches in paint 2

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on March 28, 2012

28 Mar

These sketches are all based on the same scene, along the coast just outside the village of Claddaghduff, which is about seven or eight miles from Clifden.
In the vein of loose painting, I completed them very quickly (if they can be called complete). One is on a colored paper and the other two are on a heavy acrylic paper.

I enjoy working on a colored ground or paper and it is not quite the same thing as paper that I have colored myself, although I probably need to work on this. Psychologically, one feels more free straight away and I think this usually shows. It has something to do with the daunting hold a blank white sheet of paper has on the mind – it scares us a little. This really should not be the case for someone like myself who has been putting paint on paper since childhood but I do think that it is so.
The other point about these colored papers is that they are very light and not really designed for heavy applications of paint. They tend to buckle especially if larger in size than about A5. This does not bother me especially but may be off putting for a potential buyer/owner of the piece. What is your opinion?