My Next Exhibition

Poster for my next exhibition. Make a note in your diary!

Staithes Harbour Office

Staithes Harbour Office (Oil on canvas, 12 x 12 ins)

I'm not sure this has gone in the direction i thought it would, but I'm satisfied with the end result.

Boat, Trogir Marina

Boat, Trogir Marina (Oil on board, 30 x 30 cm)

This needed only a little work to finish it, so it was a good way of easing into the day's work.

Seven Cakes and a View of Glasgow

Seven Cakes and a View of Glasgow (Oil on canvas, 16 x 16 ins)

I've worked on this one off and on for some time and finally decided today to just have a good go at it and pull it together. I think it works now.

I'll be taking it to a meeting of the Painters Group on Saturday where I'm unsure of its reception. The tutor and several of the painters seemed to find the concept puzzling last time I showed it to them. I find that puzzling.

First Staithes Painting

Harbour Office (work in progress)

This was one of the subjects I'd like to have tackled while I was at Staithes, but standing on the beach with the wind howling against my back made it impossible. Once I got back, however,  I really wanted to have a go at it, so trying to shake off the current mood of "what's the point of it all", I got down to it today.

I think it's working out well. It would be possible to leave it as it is, I guess, but that's not my way. Having said that, there's not a lot more I need to do to it - some railings, a bit of defining of boat shapes and some lightening of the sand areas here and there.

A Little More Cathedral

Cathedral (work in progress)

I've been struggling recently to get any painting done, partly because of some kind of existential angst - what am I painting for? However, I did drop into the Art Club last week and move this painting of the Cathedral and Black Gate along somewhat.

The buildings are working out OK, I think. I can now turn my attention to the top third, defining the town in the distance a little, and then settling the sky.

A Week in Staithes (7)

Stone and Brick Wal, Staithes Beck 
(Pentel Brushpen in 21 x 26 cm sketchbook)

Although I'd been happy using the fine line marker for some of these drawings, it did seem to need quite a firm hand. Last year, I'd so enjoyed exploring the qualities of the Brushpen that I'd been a little disappointed to realise it didn't easily lend itself to the depiction of buildings.

Sitting on one of the concrete stepping stones that cross the Beck, I decided that this crumbling old wall was just what I needed to get out the Brushpen again. It really is a joy to use.

A Week in Staithes (6)

Round the corner, Staithes (0.8 fine line marker in 21 x 26 cm sketchbook)

You can probably begin to appreciate how much I was trying to avoid standing in the wind still blowing through the town when I tell you that this subject was quite literally round the corner form the front door of our cottage. Having said that, it wasn't out of desperation that I decided to draw it; I walked past it every time I went down to the Beck and was always taken with the way it seemed to fold in on itself.

A Week in Staithes (5)

Chimneys, Staithes (0.8 fine  line marker in 21 x 26 cm sketchbook)

As the freezing wind ate away at my confidence to do work of any duration, I went back up the path I'd used the day before. This time, however, instead of concentrating on what lay across the valley I decided to draw what was closer to where I stood.

You might think that the lines in the background represent a cloudy sky, but they are, in fact, a basic delineation of part of Cowbar Nab, the grass-covered rocky outcrop to the west of Staithes. The Nab is covered in nesting seagulls, but at least one of them has settled on the smaller chimneys to the left.