Playing with ideas to start the upcoming term, to get everyone back into painting following the Easter recess. Hopefully it won’t be long before we are able to sketch outside which will be good for us all. But not just yet. Today it has been trying to snow.
There is not much left of March this year, but at least it is ending on a mild note with warmer than average temperatures. Much more a lamb than a lion. It doesn’t seem five minutes since I was painting mince pies, and now it’s hot cross buns. The one thing they have in common this year is that both are home-made.
With April coming up fast, I’m hoping the mild weather will continue for at least some of it, and we will all be able to spend a bit more time outside with a suitable number of others.
The sketchbook I am nearing the end of at the moment has turned out to be much more of a floral affair than usual. I’ve painted daffodils in the garden before, plenty of times, but I haven’t often painted a hyacinth. This one is out the front of the house, and I think there are a few more on the way which look as if they are going to be much darker.
As we are now able to meet other people in our gardens, and there are signs that lockdown is to be lifted gradually over the next few weeks, this might be an appropriate moment to be ending one sketchbook and opening another.
The house has been full of bouquets recently, not from the garden, but delivered by post (some flat-packed!). All have been lovely and thankfully survived their various ordeals in reaching us. This rose in particular caught my eye today and I wanted to sketch it before the petals begin to drop. I used a Winsor yellow and an Indian yellow and a touch of Cadmium scarlet.
Another sketchbook entry from flowers which dominate the front garden at the moment and looking their best.
As an antidote to painting 100 people last week, I wanted to find something a little less demanding with no time frame looming over me. So now Spring is here, I decided to turn my attention to the garden, a subject without end as soon it will change every day once things start to grow. Also, although it may not happen for a while yet, the weather will become drier and warmer, and we will be able to sit outside without being battered by the wind.
At last the garden is beginning to come to life again, it is very blue and yellow at this time of the year- our favourite colours. We are short on Tulips however and last year we planted some bulbs in various pots to see if anything would happen, and I am pleased to say that some leaves are emerging. With any luck we may even have some flowers at some point and I will be able to paint them again.
98 – 99 – 100 !
Although I only had three people to find on the final day, I found it harder than coping with a cast of thousands. I spent quite a bit of time thinking of a composition which might work, but do you think anyone would arrange themselves into the positions I wanted? Of course not, so I had to improvise, which I should have known to begin with. Always go with what’s there – not with preconceived ideas.
Thank you to Marc Taro Holmes and Liz Steel for coming up with the idea in the first place. It’s been fun.
My people sketching was done a bit later in the day than the rest of the week, so a little busier. We had some interesting weather during the night, so not a lot of sleep, branches off trees, garden waste bins sent flying, that sort of thing. Still windy during the day. People’s hair flying every which way, and when it wasn’t raining the sun was so bright there was an outbreak of sun-glasses. Well, it is March..
I had a sort of idea how I wanted people spread across the pages today, but things never go quite as one hopes. On the other hand, I did the best I could as people came and went, and one doesn’t have a lot of time to think when people insist on moving so much . And at least I’ve nearly reached the magic number which I wasn’t sure if I would or not on Monday.
If I thought people were bustling on day one, they really stepped up a notch today as the wind and the rain swept in. There were one or two people who stayed still (almost) long enough to complete them, but mostly I had to remember their headgear and attach part of another body to it, which made for some rather lumpy people today. It didn’t help I had to keep cleaning the windscreen so I could actually see something.
There were one or two I would have liked to develop a bit more, and my original plan had been to try and group people a bit better, but it didn’t really happen. There is always tomorrow.
Everyone wears hoods or hats these days. Umbrellas are out of fashion.
The supermarkets must have special offers which appeal to the older generation on a Tuesday, as there was a noticeable difference in the age range of shoppers today – and more trollies being trundled. One good thing about the slightly slower pace was that I was able to do a few sketches and then add colour to a chunk of them while waiting for other people to come.
The only trouble was, I miscounted and had to squeeze two extra people in at the last minute…
Graham Findlay Watercolours 