My classes at the St Andrews Art Club have started back after the holidays. We have been doing some small colour studies, with the view to producing a larger studio painting. This is my study of a favourite beach in Montrose.
On Saturday we had lots of fresh snow on the ground. The weather was sunny but cold. I braved the outdoors armed with my sketching tools and warm coat and boots. There was little flurries of snow as I painted some landing on the sketch and others in my oil pastel box. This didn’t put me off as I was in awe of the scene before me.
This was the last day of the Christmas holiday and I sketched Andrew reading a book. I like to challenge myself to use ink, which doesn’t allow for many adjustments. Having a sketch book with me when I am out and about means that I can do quick studies when I see an interesting subject.
This is the image I painted for my 2010 Christmas card. While we were out walking we stumbled upon these delightful deer crossing the track. They stopped to check us out before heading back into the shelter of the forest. I thought I would post it now for the Winter Solstice.
Once my underpainting had dried I started laying in some oil pastel colours. They are nice to use for this subject. My underpainting I felt had captured the mood of the subject. I was now just reinforcing this with colour.
This is the first stage for a study painting. I used a warm brown acrylic ink and a cool light grey for a contrast. This was done on a pastel support that can take watermedia.
What appealed about this image was the bond between the man and the dog. Again another painting inspired from a visit to Dunkeld.
This painting was inspired by my trip to Canada this year. This is my little niece enjoying her time by the beach. Lost in her own world of wonder.
I enjoyed using a different approach to applying oil pastels. I started doing a loose painting of the little girl in acrylic on canvas. I finished off the painting using oil pastels on top of the acrylic paint allowing some of the undercoat to show through. This was fun to do.
I did this study of Crail Harbour as a mixed media. I started with inks then soft pastel on top.