Posted by Stephen on June 23, 2010 under Art, Drawing, en plein air, painting, portrait, watercolor, watercolour | 
Last week after hiking up to view the snow in the mountains above Franschoek we went down to the town for a coffee before driving home. I was frustrated at going up with palette and paper but no brushes so I sat and sketched the people at our table. In the end I only had time to paint fair Sinead before everyone jumped up and headed home:
At first I was not going to post it but have decided to put all work up – so
It is not too bad I suppose.
Here is a photo of our lunch spot. It was all too vast to capture on film:
Posted by Stephen on February 21, 2010 under Art, en plein air, landscape, painting, portrait, seascape, watercolor, watercolour |
We have just returned from a night-over in ‘Beddies’. Thats what the surfers call it “hey man I was in Beddies yesterday – and it was sick”. Betty’s Bay. We have friends with a cottage just below Luiperdskloof. We got there in the late afternoon yesterday and while the boys went off for a surf I sat and painted a watercolour. Actually it was from about the same spot where I had painted in the pouring rain last year and the watercolour had suffered the same treatment as I. W. Spider. Here is how it looked yesterday:
While I was painting the wisp of cloud over the mountain developed into a dense blanket obliterating any view above a few hundred feet.
The next morning I got up early and painted the from behind our friends cottage.
Their back-garden is a riot of fynbos and indigenous trees, with a small patch of Buffalo Grass – a broad-leafed lawn grass that is indigenous to the area. What a pleasant way to start the day. Later the wind picked up and though we went for a surf it was not very much. We went to Pringle bay, which is tucked away between the two peaks I paint on the far right in the mountains I paint from “The Pipe”. I wanted to do a quick sketch but was outvoted by the boys.
Later in the day I painted Rob, our host as he read the paper and chatted:
And then we went down to the break at Betty’s a last time to see if the break was working. There was a strong South Easter blowing on shore so no-one surfed but some of the group went for a walk down the beach which was quite wild in the wind. I found a vegetation covered dune and got my stuff ready to paint. I had to tape everything down but even so the wind kept lifting the paper from the sketch book to which it was taped. Julian took this shot of me painting:
Gives new meaning to “whatever blows your hair back” heh heh.
And here is the painting I did:
All quite rushed but there it is.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on November 24, 2009 under Art, figure, painting, portrait, watercolor, watercolour, wedding |
I am meeting with my wedding clients this afternoon to conclude our arrangement.
These are the paintings I am taking with me as part of the offer:
Rehearsal 1:
Rehearsal 2:
the wedding:
All of these are 560×380 mm on Arches 300gm watercolour paper.
I am enjoying working on this subject and may do one or two more.
What do you think?
Posted by Stephen Quirke on August 31, 2009 under Art, en plein air, figure, painting, portrait, watercolor, watercolour |
I am staying with family in Pietermaritzburg. My sister held an informal art class this evening with my nephew John posing ever so patiently. This was my version:
There is something going on with his left eye – but this is OK for now.
I am staying with Margie (my sister) and Tim (her husband who has written a book about expeditions on the Amazon). Okes are a bit backward up here and I am using this as a demo to show Tim how to blog – heh heh….
And here is the card I did for my sister this morning:
Guess where this came from?
Posted by Stephen Quirke on May 17, 2009 under Art, Drawing, figure, pencil sketch, portrait |
I am afraid I cannot resist the opportunity when people sit still for longer than a few minutes. This morning I did this sketch of the couple sitting in front of me in church. I would love to haul out my watercolour sketch kit but that would be too disruptive. Actually, maybe not – NO – desist!!! (o:
here are some of the sketches I have done in the past. This is Peter Makapela preaching:
and here is someone else:
and others:
here is a sketch I did of my son Calvin looking wild and wooly:
And here is a chap who sat in front of me the other day:
And finally, another sketch looking down from the gallery at the people sitting below:
Posted by Stephen Quirke on March 17, 2009 under Art, en plein air, figure, my work, painting, portrait, watercolor, watercolour |
I woke up this morning thinking about the figures I did on Sunday. I realised that I had not applied any of the lessons I had read over and over in Charles Reid’s watercolour books. He offers a set of steps for painting a face and a figure. And in the rush of it all I forgot them all. But that is the beauty of learning and time. For now we get to have another go at it. And we have the capacity to reflect on the last one.
And there is nothing like a good nights sleep for seeing the learnings. Although I must say we have had our first rains and the Clicking Stream Frogs (Strongylopus Greyii) have gathered at our pool and are chorussing as I write. They have such a sweet subdued clicking sound. But last night there was a strident little fellow who kept intruding into my dreams.
But I digress…
Here is a painting I did of my daughter Sinead last year, while she was sitting doing her homework:
It is almost completely ‘alla prima’. I was sitting across the table from her. So how do I account for the difference between this and the pictures in my last post? This is what I think:
- I know her well and we were both relaxed about the ‘sitting’. On Sunday I took my stuff out and started painting so felt about uncomfortable about what the sitters might think (for the first one anyway).
- I had contracted with her to sit. I felt relaxed about our agreement.
- She had agreed to try to sit still. My subjects on Sunday all moved around – a lot. Which is OK. I want to get better at contour drawing at speed and interpretting changed positions back to what I had drawn. Claudia the artmodel tells a story about a woman who started drawing her on a train after a long day of modelling for artists. She graciously held her pose up to the point where she jumped off the train at her station – an interesting vignette. But most of us move around a lot – even when we try to sit still.
- I had swotted up on the process I would use. On Sunday I threw all of my learning out the window. Well not all. I tried to mix the colours on the page, following Charles Reid’s approach. I remember my first ever teacher, Nicholas Galloway saying ”that isn’t how I taught you to do a wash…” And maybe that is what Charles would have said about my first two faces.
- I was OK with failure. I was relaxed about what I would produce. Well, on Sunday I was too.
- I had a little more time. Even for my last one on Sunday Neil leapt up towards the end because the sun had moved and he was getting frazzled.
I can’t wait to have another go at this.
