Shark Rock

Shark Rock (Oil on canvas, 12 x 12 ins.)

So here we are, back at the Club and Shark Rock is finished. [Note to self: get a better photograph]

The rock itself is at Blawearie, a place I've talked about painted before, but the name is for it is my own. Sometimes, I get a name in my head which makes sense to me and after a while it sticks, so I append it to the painting.

Trouble at Shark Rock

Shark Rock (work in progress)

OK, OK, the post title doesn't indicate more brooding gloominess. It's just a wry nod to old movie titles, but also indicates something that went wrong with the painting today.

I was back at the Club for a Friday change of faces, not really expecting to finish this painting. Progress was good, however, and I like the way it's going. But I made the mistake of trying to change the colour of the sky from blue (too much with the rock also being blue) to a kind of yellow which would echo the orange in the foreground. Too late, I realised the yellow was picking up the greens in the trees and before long there was no yellow, just a yellow-green.

Not to worry. The new colour will make a useful base for more work next week, when I expect to easily finish the piece.

Unrecorded Work

Hot damn! No camera! I went to the Club again today and worked on the Split Rock painting, adding trees to the brow of the hill behind the rock. I also did more to the rock, but I had no camera to record what I'd done.

As a consequence - short post.

Another Rock

Split Rock (work in progress)

There was a private view in town this evening, so I decided I'd go to the Club this afternoon and go on to the preview from there. This turned out to be a not terribly good idea, given that by the time I got to the preview, I'd been on my feet continuously for five hours, so shuffling round the gallery became a test of endurance.

However, on the positive side, at the Club I got yet another rock painting going. There are trees to put in on the brow of the hill. I know I eventually took the background trees out of the Sawrey Farm painting, but - at least for the moment - I think the skyline trees are necessary to make this picture balance. But you never know, I've been wrong before (just don't tell Pat that).

Rocks Nr Sawrey

Rocks Nr Sawrey (Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cms)

Thank heavens for the Art Club. On Thursday I found myself with a burning desire to finish off the rock study. I knew there was little to do, so I made a short visit to the Club and put in the branches, did a little glazing with some sap green, signed off on it and came home satisfied.

For most of the time I was on my own, as the boiler in the building has broken down completely and the old gadgies at the Club are feeling the chill. But there are electric heaters and it certainly felt warmer than the studios when I was at University. I'd taken along one of the Brighton cafe pictures, but realised that I need some very small brushes to finish that off. Something for next time.

Back at the Club

Rock Study (work in progress)

There was a powerful load of inertia built up over that Xmas and New Year break. Yesterday, although I felt I'd recovered sufficiently from my Week of Constant Coughing to detect a resurgence of interest in painting, I simply couldn't settle on anything specific.

Today I figured that the only way forward was to go to the Art Club, catch up on some gossip and simply launch into the only painting there left to work on. And this is it, now almost finished; just some branches to indicate, which I think are necessary to draw the composition together.

Oak Citadel

Oak Citadel (Oil on canvas, 24 x 24 ins)

I tried to post this yesterday, but I found I couldn't connect to Blogger all day. A little searching on Twitter showed that I wasn't alone in this, but that it wasn't universal. Odd.

I made an effort to get to the Art Club on Friday ... and found myself alone. Maybe it's due to the half-term holidays and all the regulars have been roped into grandfatherly duties. I suppose I could have gone home again, and the thought did cross my mind once or twice, but I felt that I needed the discipline of getting back into to some work. If I'd gone home, I might not have started on anything at all.

Rocky Start

Rocks (work in progress)

I was tempted to make a quick run into town last Friday to stick up a copy of The Crack page on the Art Club notice board, but checking with a phone call, I discovered the heating wasn't on and the members were on the point of giving up. As I don't have a key for the door at the moment, there wasn't much point in going.

But on the assumption that I will get there soon, I started this small oil, to be continued at the Club. It's on a rather violently green background, which may or may not be a good thing. It's also on a rather unstable stretcher, which is definitely not a good thing.

Rock Forms

My thanks to Vivien for drawing my attention to Jeanette's rock challenge. I don't have access to any rocks right now, but the challenge gives me the opportunity to post a slideshow of older rock drawings and sketches.

Now where was I?

Oak Citadel (work in progress)

It seems such a long while since I spent any time at the Club and today proved to be not the best day to pick up where I'd left off, at least in terms of finding out what everyone had been up to.

Maybe they're all on holiday, or perhaps it was just too hot in the studio. I learned last time that although the skylight windows open, they can't be closed again. So, of course, they never get opened and we have to rely on keeping the fire exit door open and switching on the fans. Boy, does it get hot in there!

After a while the heat evidently got too much for those who were there and I was left on my own. Enforced solitude is good for getting things done, however, so I made good progress with this new painting, based on a drawing I made in Sawrey two years ago. It'll make a companion for the other painting of the same stand of oaks I was working on in April. They should both come to completion together now.

Auchterarder: 6th Day

Rock Form (Pentel Brushpen, watercolour, A4 sketchbook)

First of all, a Happy St George's Day to Englishmen and women everywhere, whatever your colour or creed. This is your day, even if, like me, you're somewhere where the more exuberant display of celebration might not be diplomatic.

I did this drawing at the quarry on the way up to Craig Rossie, too. The more I stared at the rock face, the more evident it became that there was a triangular, or pyramidal shape in the fractured rock. So I drew it with the Pentel Brushpen, losing myself regularly in the splits and shadows until I'm sure this isn't in any way an accurate record of the rocks.

The watercolour wash was an afterthought, but one I'm pleased with.

Auchterarder: 5th Day

Craig Rossie Quarry (Coloured Conte, sketchbook)

Mainly a solitary day today, up in the quarry. Tony was discernible some way off, only by his silver-white hair showing above the heather as he sat and painted the view from the slopes of Craig Rossie.

I opted for these rocks at the mouth of the quarry. I was taken by the light glittering through the fresh leaves on the shrub growing out of the leaves, but I should have known that I'd not really be able to capture the effect with coloured Conte. Nevertheless, I'm not entirely displeased with it - there's a chunky feel to the rocks that appeals to me more than the shrub did. I should have replaced the shrub with one of the spindly trees that grew nearby.

The Oak Citadel

Oak Citadel (Charcoal, charcoal and coloured Conte on A3 cartridge)

It's been my intention for some time to try to work on drawings outside which are bigger than sketchbook size. Oddly enough, although I've done it in the less agreeable surroundings of Newcastle, I've never really attempted it in the countryside.

This time I went prepared. I had with me a Mapac bag containing an A3 pad of Winsor & Newton Medium Surface cartridge paper and all manner of drawing stuff - charcoal, compressed charcoal, pencils, pastels and coloured Conte. And a new can of fixative. The fixative is really important to my working method. I spray as often as is necessary, rubbing down elements of the current drawing and spraying again, until there develops a crystalline tooth to the drawing.

Despite my preparedness, I still didn't achieve what I set out to do. Mainly because I hadn't prepared myself for something outside my control - the wind. The thing about little pieces of charcoal, Conte sticks and the packs they come in, is that they're very light. So a great deal of my time was taken up with rushing about retrieving materials and generally cursing the elements.

I know it's a poor workman who blames his tools, but I also found that my choice of medium surface cartridge was a mistake - I really don't like the rather mechanical tooth it's been prepared with. Maybe the other side would have been better for my purposes, but smooth would have been best of all.

Anyway, after a considerable time cursing and grunting, a black cloud came and threatened me and I was forced to give up. So the drawing as it stands lacks a certain definition in the trees. The trunks don't seem to have sufficient body and even the rocks are a little anaemic. I do like the way the shadows of the branches are cast over the rock face, however: something I would find difficult to invent because even standing in front of them, I couldn't figure out which branch was casting which shadow.

I may return to it in the studio when the time is right.