I had to get on and complete my still life as we are having friends for dinner. This is a photo of my set up.
This is my sketch photographed from my large sketch pad. I plan to set up a similar still life in the studio and do a colour version. As you will see from the other photo, the colours are quite dramatic.
I am still thinking of Summer despite the zero degrees last night, it is warm in the studio. I stumbled across this lovely display of wild flowers just outside Balmullo, Fife. They have been in my mind since then and it is good to get my feeling of the scene on paper.
I enjoy doing paintings of people concentrating on their craft. Chefs are great subjects for this. The Chef was cooking at a market stall in Dundee city centre. This was one very large paella pan!
I was at the Gallery in Broughty Ferry getting some work framed. Afterwards I took a walk to see if there was anything interesting to sketch. There are often Swans down on the Tay and sure enough I saw at least ten of them enjoying some late morning sun. They were also rather keen to see if I had food for them in my bag. More than one of them wandered straight up to me to the point I had to back away a bit.
I have been away on a short break to Dunkeld. On the Sunday night “The Troot Tour Two” were playing in the lounge. The sketches are taken from my sketch book. It was really enjoyable sketching away to the music. The second sketch was done over an acrylic wash.
This small painting was done as preparation for a landscape demonstration at the St Andrews Art Club.
I did this small study yesterday. I started blocking in mid tones then worked on the dark tones and finished with the lights. This was done on Canson pastel paper on the textured side.
This was the last picture I captured before a wave hit me and destroyed my camera!! Incredible waves some of the guys nearly got swept away by the power of the waves. It was inspiration however I did walk away very wet with my camera dripping salt water.
This was my ninth year at the Pittenweem Arts Festival and we had our most extreme weather to date! As you will see from the ‘wet day image’ below there was a lot of rain, however, with the changing weather you also get stunning light.
The sun did shine for us and those days were very busy. It was great to meet new visitors and catch up with the regular visitors.
Here are a selection of Andrew’s photographs from the week. The sculptures on the harbour wall were spectacular and a wonderful addition to the Festival.
P.S. Apologies to all for the lack of recent posts. Between the studio and blog refurbishments I have had lots of distractions.
I am glad to not have carpet any more in the studio. What a difference the wood floor makes to the sense of space in the studio. The white walls were definitely the right choice!