Funchal

Funchal

(mixed media on board, 30x30 cm)

This is the second of my new wall paintings. It may seem very abstract but is based quite definitely on a crumbling wall I found in Funchal, the capital of Madeira. Still, it was the abstract quality that intrigued me and continues to do so. I love the way the various elements of it seem to float free from the rest and I was at pains not to make it so obviously a wall.

There are two more in this series so far. You may well find that they look more like walls, but it's this one I'll look to for inspiration in the future.

Fisherman WIP

Fisherman WIP

(acrylic on board, 9 x 9 in.)

I'd intended to push on and finish the two balcony paintings, but Friday morning dawned and I knew I'd need to find something to do at Gateshead Art Society. Finishing small details on the balconies didn't feel like an option, so I looked at the suggested project for the day - "Maritime Subject" - and turned to a recently abandoned figure painting. My regular reader may recognise it as the man in a garden:

The man in the garden was never going to earn his keep, so he's become a fisherman on a beach, probably somewhere in Madeira (but not necessarily). 

I'm liking this version much more and will finish it soon. Yes, along with all the others!

Madeira 2016

Car Park Ventilators, Funchal
(0.5 Micron marker and Pentel Brush Pen 
over two pages of A5 sketchbook)

Little Lighthouse, Camara de Lobos
(0.5 Micron marker and coloured pencils in A5 sketchbook)

Monte Palace Tropical Garden, Funchal
(0.5 Micron marker, Pentel Brush Pen
 and coloured pencils in A5 sketchbook)

In June, Pat and I went to Madeira for a week's holiday. We stayed at the same hotel as last time, Vila Vicencia, because we'd liked it so much and we weren't disappointed this time either. It's a nice little group of buildings clustered round a small pool and far enough out of the centre of Funchal to be quite quiet, but near enough to walk in or take the bus.

I was determined to get more sketching done this time and got off to a good start with the double page spread of the car park ventilators. While I was drawing it, I could hear my Mum in my head saying, "Couldn't you find anything nice to draw?" but I'm resigned to drawing only what interests me and these shapes I found fascinating.

My recent trips out with my Sketch Crawl friends have certainly made me more confident in simply starting a drawing and making it work, but because of this need for "interesting" subject matter, I'm still slow to settle on a subject. Which meant that I only managed to do two more, despite constantly keeping my eyes open for things that would appeal.

There was one new development in this drawing trip: I moved my position several times when making the first two drawings. Not an earth-shattering development, because artists have been doing it for hundreds of years, but new to me.  With the ventilators, I moved my position to get the (quite important) palm tree where I wanted it; with the lighthouse drawing, I moved from drawing the rock outcrop to a position where I could take in the cactus and once again so that I could have a better view of the  lighthouse.

No such moving when I did the drawing of the folly at Monte Palace Tropical Garden, because I was limited to a park bench on another terrace overlooking the folly. A very complicated subject, I found myself getting very confused and perhaps it shows a little in the drawing; however, I think the coloured pencil additions made back at the hotel help to pull it together. Am I wrong? What do you think?

Plantlife Madeira

Black 0.8 marker in 21 x 20 cm sketchbook

I always go on holiday with my sketchbook with the honest intention of filling it with drawings. Sadly I find that wandering about just looking at new things is an activity in itself that takes up most of my time. As a result, the opportunities for sitting and drawing are rarer than I'd like. Perhaps if I could develop a more rapid sketching style, I could get more done, but I'm afraid I'm a careful observer of fact and detail ...

Anyway, in an attempt to set aside some time purely for drawing, on Wednesday Pat and I went off to the Botanical Gardens on the hill above Funchal; she with her Kindle, I with my sketchbook. The result: three carefully observed pages of drawings of alien trees.

A Missing Piece

Funchal, from Hotel Sirius. 13 August 1992
(Rotring Art Pen in A5 sketchbook)

I knew when I posted the painting of Madeira that I'd missed out a sketchbook study that was an integral part of the painting. And here it is, found in the sketchbook which I've been using as my holiday travel sketchbook since September 1990.

This is where posting from the sketchbooks starts to get complicated. In the time I've been blogging here, I've posted a great deal from this Holidays Sketchbook, so I think it may not be desirable to post the same things again. But maybe I'm wrong. What do you think?

Sketchbook No.2 (#6)

Still Life, Hotel Sirius balcony, Madeira - 14 August 1992
(2B mechanical pencil in A4 sketchbook)

The day after drawing this table of stuff on our hotel balcony, I decided I'd have a go at the hills to the north of the hotel:

Hill above Funchal, 15 August 1992
(Watercolour and oil pastel on 7 x 9 in.watercolour paper)

Some time later I put the two together and made this painting:

Madeira (Oil on board, 28 x 14 ins)

Not entirely successful as a painting, but it was important at the time. It's still on my living room wall.

Sketchbook No.2 (#5)

In the Boatyard, Funchal. 10 August 1992 (Mixed media in A5 sketchbook)

Drawn the same day as the previous post, this is a pair of a huge tanks normally floated in the harbour to keep ships from bumping into the harbour walls.

It was probably a mistake to favour the dark local colour of the tanks when drawing this. I should have simply concentrated on the linear and tonal qualities.

Sketchbook No.2 (#4)

On the Mole, Funchal, 10 August 1992 (Rotring Art Pen in A4 sketchbook)

It was quite intimidating drawing this huge grab. It towered over me and getting the perspective right was a challenge. Putting the two pages together in Photoshop proved almost beyond me, however, so apologies for the slight disconnect at the top of the drawing.

Sketchbook No.2 (#3)

Funchal, 7 August 1992 (Coloured pencil in A4 sketchbook)

I sat on a bench in one of the municipal gardens of Funchal,the capital of Madeira, and drew this. I wanted to see how I might tackle the subject with coloured pencil and the end result seems to owe just a little to Pointillism. 

Not entirely a success, but not a waste of time either.