Kogelbaai rocks again

Posted by Stephen Quirke on October 2, 2010 under Art, en plein air, Kogelbaai, painting, seascape, watercolor, watercolour | 8 Comments to Read

Eventually I made it down to the beach this afternoon, after fixing a toilet flush mechanism and waiting for other people to arrive.  I took my son and his mates down to Kogelbaai.  They dissapeared round to Caves Beach and I sat on the rocks, in a chilly, blustering South-Easter, and did this painting.

This is on 300gm Arches Cold Pressed and is 380 x 560 mm.

I have been reading Charles Reid again who says “Keep it small.  Keep it simple.   Avoid over-washes.”  I therefore downscaled from a full sheet of paper to a half sheet.   A full sheet really does take a lot of colour.  Also the scale seems to demand more detail.  Anyway.  This painting still took a long time.  We were down there for about two hours in all.  So I may go down one more size again.  We will see…

Here is how it looked on my first break:

Charlie boy also says we should have our pallette, our water and our paper as close as possible.  So today I also decided to sort out the business of having my water box on the ground.  I bent two nails in my vice and folded the top of the box over for reinforcing and punched two (exactly the right size) holes.  And there it is.  It is so nice having the right tools for a job.  Don’t you love the logo on the box?  I bought two boxes of fruit juice on my last evening in Nairobi so that I could use them.  Pick n Peel – cool hey?  I had to drink two litres of fruit juice as I was capturing the document from the day.  Eventually I had had enough 0range and granadilla.  OK but here it is, in full use.  Cool hey?

Charles also says, once you lose concentration, take a break.  Here is how the painting looked the next time I stood up to stretch.

Maybe I should have stopped here.  mmmm.  I also had a visitor… who fortunately did not stop to chat.  Once before one of these guys tucked into my pack at the other beach, while I took a quick swim.

At my last break it looked like this:

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  • Barry Coombs said,

    Charlie’s right. Why fight your materials and tools? Nice bit of problem-solving with the water container and a successful result. That blue-handled brush looks like it’s seen some serious use.

  • Leslie White said,

    You at your best!!! You are capturing more color than ever before! The color choices in this are gorgeous! Now, I don’t feel so bad about the amt of time I take to paint and the fact that I take breaks! :)

  • Stephen Quirke said,

    Hey Leslie – ja man this took me ages in a chilly wind! Well these rocks each require attention – unlike the broad sweeps of colour at the pipe. Next time I am going to try this smaller. It was also a sunny and dry so the paint dried quickly so I could not dawdle. Heh heh – I was quite dopey yesterday afternoon and was yawning all the way on the road out to KBay – these up-country trips shatter me…

  • Stephen Quirke said,

    Hey Barry – nice to see you here – I have been lying reading Charles book on painting flowers. I like the way he uses saturated, unmixed colour which he allows to mix on the paper. (o: – you see the brush – that is my no 12 sable round I think – cheers man

  • Carol King said,

    Those Kogelbaai rocks are filled with color. They are delightful to look at.

    I can’t believe that monkey ran by. I would be jumping up and down had I seen that in person.

    Love your juice can/water holder. I think it was worth it to drink all that juice just for the cans.

  • Stephen Quirke said,

    Hi Carol – we are getting there slowly hey? The baboon ran up a path, around where we were and back down to the rocks. They feast on all the litter in the bins and have become a bit of a nuisance. Around the coast they have become are real danger, breaking into houses and even walking in when people are there. They have massive teeth and can be quite fearsome. I have a baboon skull on my shelf that I will draw again soon. Last night I drew up another version of the painting which I hope to get to some time this week. Cheers hey

  • Cecily said,

    Hi Stephen. I also like the colours in the rocks. Nice to see how you keep ‘memories’ of your travels in paintings. Don’t complain.. we drove back from Pretoria on Friday. Slept over in Bloemfontein.. That is a long trip.

  • Stephen Quirke said,

    Hi Cecily
    It is so good to see you around here. Isn’t it great to be back in Summer? I am coming to see how you are doing later. S

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