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 – 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?

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.

The Sea

by Deborah Watkins. Posted on March 15, 2012

15 Mar

The sea is a constant source of inspiration here as we have stunning stretches of beautiful beaches and coastline to enjoy.
The Atlantic ocean is completely different to the Irish Sea on the East coast of Ireland where I grew up. It is wild, cold, often dangerous and always beautiful compared to the temperate waters of the East coast.
I have done a number of sea paintings on paper with paint, ink and chalk, to give the effect of the waves. Here are two examples below;

I was thinking about Japanese sea prints when I was doing these. The famous one below is called ‘The Waves at Kanagawa’ by Hokusai. It is part of a large collection of Japanese prints in the Blackburn Museum in Lancashire in England.

Hokusai (1760-1849) is possibly Japan’s best known artist but this image is not at all typical of what was being done at the time. Traditional Japanese art would not have painted the lower class fisherman, seen here riding the waves in their boats. Neither would they have been concerned with perspective, used here to show Mount Fuji in the distance. Hokusai was influenced by Dutch landscapes of the time and his unique use of colour and flattening of images went on to influence Western art. European artists such as Van Gogh, Manet and Degas would have studied this style and made elements of it their own.
In my paintings, I imitated the use of perspective by making the waves the focus in the foreground and and suggesting a typical Irish island shape in the background.