THE…..

THE START

Well hello there, how are you? I hope my words find you peaceful today. 

Firstly I must correct my last post. I mentioned that I would do a painting every week and blog about it. I have now realised this was a very ambition promise, and in hind site I should have not said anything of the sort.

THE EXCUSE 

You see I started this blog on the tail end of an amazing creative streak that had me super jazzed to get “Stuff” done and out there. However at the moment I have found myself even struggleing to feel a flow of words which usully comes so easily for me.

The reason for this is simple, I feel this lock down situation we have been induring for nearly 2 years, has taken its toll on me, plagueing my creativity with distractions and ideas that have come and gone in such a lethargic washed out maner, that I could not even be bothered writting them down. Everything turned grey and napping seemed more attractive than anything else. 

But do not be afraid for me, I have slowly found myself back, concentrating on my family, my garden and walking with my beloved puppy Pinot. All these activities have drawn me back to my vision and have been beautiful inspirations as I quitely hum over what to do next. I have also really enjoyed going down to my studio looking at this painting you see with this post and just slowly layering this work, untill I felt my joy come back.  

THE WORK 

Title – The Path 

Size – A2 water colour paper

Medium – Faber Castel Water colour palete and gouache watercolour (generic)

Style – EnPlien Air and studio

THE SUBJECT

The subject of this painting is the path that runs out the front of my house to the compost bin. This is quite meaningful, as I built this path all on my own. I dug the trench filled it with gravel, sand and then layed the pavers. I started this path at the beginning of our very first lock down, March 2020. Why? Because, I thought it would be something fun to do, and also I was sick of getting muddy shoes everytime I walked to the compost bin. As in nearly every extemely difficult situation I have found myself, I initally thought this task would be easy, (simular to the lemon tree). However it was not; and to summerise, during this task, I fully explored the concpets of sore muscles,  exhaustion, bruised thumbs, tears, confrontations with partner and even a run away trailer that ran over the top of me. This is a perfect example of stupidity, stubborness and persistance, in short, I DONT GIVE UP. The funniest thing about this path is that even though it has been 19 months, and caused alot of trouble, I haven’t finished it yet. Hopefully the path will be done in the next coming months, but until then at least my shoes are mud free.

THE METHOD

This is my first attempt at EnPlein Air. I am pretty pleased with how this went, as I am just starting to gather the correct equipment and play with what I need before I head out into the big wide world. While I was outside I used my pre-made water colour pallete which turned out nicely, as  it had little wells so that I was able to put water in one to wet my brush and the other I could mix my colours. I also had my collapsable easel which was a cheap one from Office Works, it worked well, however I feel if I needed to apply any pressure to the page I think it would have toppled over. So I guess I will see how that goes later down the track when I want to explore drawing my landscapes with chalk and oil pastel. In the mean time I am just going to stick with the premade palate as it is easier to carry and not as messy. On a side note, I did think the palate colours were a bit washed out, and wasnt super pleased with how it looked at the end of the inital paint. But looking on the bight side, this ended up being a great base for when I got back to the studio and worked over it with the more subtantial gouach (a heavier water colour). 

Over all I am very please with how it worked out, the only thing I would do differently is to carry a better selection of brushes when out walking. As I have very fine brushes for my studio work and I feel a larger brush would give me better strokes, cover more surface area in less time and also express more energy. But that is all I have gleamed from this painting session, now on to the next one. Until then I hope you are all well and keeping safe in body and mind. 

THE END