Beach Huts Progress

 

Day 1. Laying down the sky, sea, and sand

Day 2. Blocking in the huts.

Day 3. Starting to add details and foreground vegetation.

I'm still finding working in watercolour very challenging. It's extremely frustrating to find that adding details after the paint is dry is damaging the paper. The use of masking tape is also lifting the earlier layer of paint, and, in some cases, a layer of paper. I bought low adherent. I think I will resort to masking fluid from now on, even though that's quite difficult to control.

Original photo, using digital editor

Day 4 - Continuing to add details of vegetation, paving, and beach.

Day 5, - repairing the damage with Gesso, painting over the gesso, and adding the finishing details

Day 5 finishing and choosing frame.

New Frame

Gave this to a friend as a housewarming gift for her new home.

Future plans - Painting 2022

I have two paintings 'on the go'. One is a watercolour of Beach-huts at Gun Hill.

I started it last week, laying down the sky, sea, and sand. Despite the fact that I've used masking fluid on the huts and walkway, I haven't had the courage to continue working on it.

Today, I found an online watercolour class at 75% off normal price. I've signed up and hope it will provide the necessary motivation to continue the piece.

The second is The Beachcomber. I've laid the ground and am just about to start the marking out, using  an enlarged, black and white print of the original photo. All I need to mark is the horizon, the shore line, and the silhouette.

I've managed to resist the temptation to alter Alf's portrait. Instead, I have three more planned; two on A4 canvas, one on A3. I learned a lot from completing the first portrait and am certain I will improve over the series of 3. I plan to use the pop-art-type style I used on the Cat and Alf's portrait. 

Bon courage mon ami

 

The portrait of Alf has been in the sitting room, beside the Cat for a few days now. I've studied it to try and work out what is wrong. By comparing it with the original black and white photo, I finally worked it out. The nose ( righthand side when viewing the portrait) is too wide.

Using my free picture editing app, I corrected it and am very pleased with the result. 

The thing that concerns me is that if I attempt to correct the painting, I will totally wreck it. Mr Google to the rescue. If I am careful,and take it slowly, it can be done.

By using very fine sandpaper, you should gently sand the area that you want to paint over and correct it.

Sometimes you may find that some of the paint layers beneath the top one are still wet. Should this be the case, you can use a paint knife or any of the other tools mentioned for removing wet oil paint to remove the wet layers.

You should continue to remove the paint until you reach the surface that you have been painting on.

You can then use a damp cloth (damp with water for acrylics) to remove any paint or dust that has been left behind. This prevents any unwanted textures or tints from affecting the painting.

You should then allow the area that you have worked on to dry before attempting to do anything else. Due to you using acrylic paint, the area should dry relatively quickly.

Once the area has dried, apply two layers of titanium white. You should allow these layers to properly dry before attempting anything further.

Once the layers of titanium white have dried, you can resume with the painting. You can correct the mistake by painting over the area you have just worked on.

I hope that includes adjusting the background sufficiently well enough so that it looks as if it was painted first.

Starting both paintings

 

Today was a good day. I tested negative for Covid and decided to celebrate by starting both new projects. 

First, I laid the acrylic ground colour for Beachlarking. A change from burnt umber and white, this is burnt umber, aquamarine, and white. It's a pale grey/blue, painted onto a ground of three layers of gesso to wipe the failed sketch of Alf.

I was going to stop there but decided to start Day 1 of painting Beach Huts. It's been marked out and masked with masking fluid but I've been to scared to start. Watercolour needs painting quickly, before it dries. For this reason, I finished the sky (more or less) and painted the base colours for the sea and beach with the dribbles. I'm doing wet into wet which gives more scope for watching the colours take on their own patterns. 

Colours used: Ultramarine, white, yellow ochre, yellow, burnt umber. Also using dry brushes and sponges for effects. The masking fluid is still in place and will remain there until I finishes the skyline, seashore, and edges of the huts and paving.

New projects -

 Day 1 - watercolour

One of my favourite places is the beach huts at Gun Hill, Southwold. This photo was taken in 2013, then put through a digital editing app.

I've marked out the huts, skyline, seashore, and path, with masking solution. I will try to paint the picture in stages, starting with the sky.

Future - acrylic

I have hundreds of pictures of Eamonn. I have always wanted to paint a version of one that shows him in silhouette. 

I finally chose this one. It's of him looking for interesting pebbles on Denes Beach, Southwold.

I'm going to give it the same sort of treatment as Alf's portrait. Something along these colour lines.

Finished portrait.

 

I can't do any more. 

Where to hang it?

Is it  better here, in the garden room?

or here, in the sitting room, with the Cat?

Alf's portrait - Almost there

 

Today is Day 4 of seriously concentrating on Alf's portrait. The latest news about Omicrom has put everyone's Christmas plans at risk - as far as travelling to loved ones is concerned. I find concentrating on the painting a great help to keep my mind away from the 'what ifs'. I had a really bad night last night and slept until after noon. Even then, it was 2.30 before I persuaded myself to get out of bed and start work.

I think I may have got to the stage where I will have to stop tinkering. I've filled in the background again (burnt umbre and white) and started to work on the shoulders. 

For a first portrait, it's not at all bad. There's something about the eyes that says 'Alf'. I also think that the colourful pop-art style suits him well.

Day 3 Alf's portrait

 

I really am learning as I go along.  I've started to make adjustments to the shape of the face, by constantly refering to both the black and white and coloured photos. 

Different shades of colour enhance the contours on the cheeks.

It's still not right. The nose is twisted and a bit too long.

It's getting better but the jaw line needs adjusting.The background needs more gesso in order to shorten the jaw.

Just the right ear and left cheekbone to sort out before finalising the colours and filling in the shoulders.

Such a lot of concentration and looking needed, but I'm really enjoying the process.

Alf's Portrait - progress

 

I'm finding this portrait very hard; possibly because I'm keen to capture Alf in the finished product. Today I added some more colour and contour lines and, again, stopped before I'd done too much.

Looking at the photo (left) I see that I need to make the outline of the ear stand out more to emphasise the shape over the eyes.

It's ok at the moment. I have to sort out the nose and shoulders before it can be called complete. I'm not sure whether to add a background or not.

Portrait of Alf

 

There were two false starts on this portrait. I just couldn't get the sketch right. I  put gesso over the attempt twice before I was brave enough to have another go. I remembered that the instructions for painting the first Cat included 'start with the eyes'. I knew that once I'd got the eyes right, the rest would follow.

I made a sketch on A4 paper and worked out how to get the expression in the eyes right. Then I tried again on larger canvas.

Using a black and white printout, I added some shading on the eyes and nose on the canvas until I was satisfied with the expression in the eyes.

I then set out the colours I'd chosen for the portrait,  loaded a paintbrush with black acrylic and started with the eyes, adding spots of colour as I went along.

I stopped about 30 minutes later to review progress. It needs more facial contours adding before I decide on the finished colour scheme and background. Acrylics are very amenable to change and I am more optimistic than I was that this will be finished.

Long Shore Fishing Finished.

 

After working on the painting for a while this morning, I decided to call it quits. Any more tinkering will turn it into a mess.

It's amazing the difference that natural light makes to it. I'd worked in the conservatory, as the Studio was full of Gesso-wet canvases. This version was in receipt of full daylight through the main windows.

It's not bad for a first attempt from a photograph. 

Alf's portrait

 

I had it all worked out. First I turned a photo of Alf into a pop art painting using a photo editing app.

Then, I marked the canvas with the outlines I needed to create a convincing portrait. To do this on an A3 canvas, I had to divide the portrait in half and print each half on A4 paper.

I started adding colour to the outlines and realised that it wasn't going to work. I'd got the proportions all wrong. I worked lout that the printer was defaulting to letter size. I'm going to overpaint the canvas with Gesso and mark out again, using minimal lines and making sure it prints on A4 to get the proportions right.

I've printed it off in black and white so that I can see just where the light is falling on the contors of Alf's face.

I washed all the colour off the portrait and set the canvas to dry. In the meantime, I'm enjoying my new work-space. 

I have two desks, set up at right angles, to allow more space for paints, pallettes, brushes and water.

The other half of the room is a lovely, relaxing space, with a CD player for me to 'listen while I work'. Today, it was the Beatles Let it Be, followed by Side 1 of The White Album.

The room is divided by a screen, featuring a beach scene, very like the one at The Denes, Southwold.

It is both my Sanctuary and Studio, as well as a bedroom when the heat is too much or I'm not well enough to be upstairs.

I'm going to use the heart-shaped wreath as a Christmas wreath again this year, with holly and ivy from the garden.

Long Shore Fishing Progress

 

Week 1 

Laid down the sky, sea, and sand, and marked the figure and umbrella

Week 2

Started to adjust the colours before tackling the figure and umbrella

More colour work. Although acrylics are more forgiving, they are much more difficult to mix the tone I need.

Today's work. Filling out the sky and beginning the figure.

There's a lot more work to be done on the waves and the beach before I can call this finished.

I think my seascapes are more suited to watercolours than acrylics when there isn't much in the way of figures or architecture.

Portrait and Seascape

 

Alf overslept this morning and almost missed his pickup with his Pack. I made good use of his absence and changed the bed linen (long overdue), and emptied and filled the dishwasher. 

After lunch, I started some work on his portrait. First I painted a 'ground' to seal the canvas. I mixed burnt umber and titanium white which I applied on a wet canvas. On youtube, this shows as a blue/grey. Mine is definitely a pink/white.

It will take some time to dry before I can apply the outline I prepared using a photo of him.

I tinkered with the image using a photo editing app. I wanted a version of the 'pop art' style of the recent Cat.

The ground didn't take long to do, so I then turned to the Longshore Fishing seascape that I started months ago. 

It was at the stage where I'd started the sly, sea, and beach and had marked out the umbrella and fisherman.

I wasn't happy with the colours on the sky, sea, or beach, so mixed some different colours and began to change them. A few touches to the umbrella (though the colours are still not right) and I packed up for the day.

I'm learning as I work but still haven't got the routine of mixing colours and working on limited sections of the canvas quite worked out yet. Mixing is messy and I haven't enough room on the desk for colours, pallette and canvas. I need a second surface alongside the folding desk.