Month: September 2025
-
Things Change
I was a bit discombobulated this morning because my lodger dog arrived. For some reason I thought he would be arriving in the afternoon, and was a bit surprised to get the message he and his humans were arriving the back of eleven. I had time to get a quick art session in before he…
-
Reflecting
Two versions of the same reference. For some reason I did the first one in my A4 sketchbook, even though there’s a hand, so it meets the criteria for my A3 sketchbook. The background was already there, from using up paint at some point, and it worked quite well. The second painting is in the…
-
Sponge and Painty
I started today’s practice with a colour mixing exercise, but I was not in the mood for swatching in grids, so I shelved the sketchbook and used the paint for some figure painting. This was painted using sponge brushes, which don’t give you much space for perfectionism, and are just lots of fun to use.…
-
Charcoal Pastel Gesso
Starting with some warm-up play in a sketchbook on a page that had some acrylic paint from a previous session as a ground, I played with this high-contrast reference and some charcoal powder. Having smudged in some basic shadow areas, I wanted a darker dark, so I mixed the charcoal powder with clear gesso, and…
-
Repeat Until Satisfied
I’m still obsessed with this hand and foot pose, and I’m really enjoying the process. Somewhere in between yesterday’s painting (r) and today’s is where I want to end up. I do like the black I mixed today, I’m going to play with that more tomorrow. Til the morn, Suzanne 587/600
-
Hand and Foot Combo
The hand and foot combination that was bugging me before my trip was given a full A3 page, and some large untidy brushes, to try and make sense of it. I definitely got closer to the shapes and placements, so I’m happy with that. Til the morn, Suzanne 586/600
-
Home Again
We spent almost all day on trains, and it’s been a surprisingly tiring few days, we are now back in the Kingdom, and as knackered as I am, I really missed painting, so this is a very quick portrait in my A4 book. Good to get a brush in my hand again. sleep tight, Til…
-
Ferry Nice Day
A ferry to Stromness, passing the Old Man of Hoy, and a bus to Kirkwall. And back again. I didn’t get in any street sketching, but I did give that hand and foot combo that’s bugging me a couple of gos in the sketchbook, still bugging me. Til the morn, Suzanne 584/600
-
Photos and Street Sketch
A wee collage of photos from my day. We left the house at 5:40am and four different trains took us all the way to Thurso, with a couple of hours in Inverness to visit Leakey’s. I’m absolutely knackered, and the only art I have managed to do was a very quick sketch of some lovely…
-
Comparison Sketchbook Spread
Yesterday (L) compared with today (R). Yesterday I used vermillion, cad yellow, and cobalt blue for my palette, and today I switched the cobalt for ultramarine, so it’s a nice spread for comparing the difference a single colour can make. I inadvertently tested out the difference between two similar brushes, but this was unintentional. I…
-
Introvert
I painted quite a bit today, and by the time I was trying to wrap this one up, whatever is going on with my painting arm was rebelling. There are a few bits where I finished up with my non-dominant hand, so that was fun. I was trying out a brush I’ve had sitting around…
-
Back Off
I sketched and painted back of the head views today, and then finished up with this one incorporating the back view and the hands theme. A real beezer of complexity, this one, which I made even more difficult for myself with my choice of brush. I used a Daler-Rowney XL Filbert brush, size 50. It’s…
Thrummie Bizzum 