Winter 01: 11/03/2023

This week was dedicated to planning and prepping for Sellisternian's winter themed trio, mainly working on my big ink sketches. You can catch up on last week's work here, the overall idea for Sellisternian here and my practice for this process here.

As I type winter has decided to really extend it's hold here in Scotland. If this is due to me starting the winter portion of Sellisternian I do apologise. I didn't know my painting was so powerful! As a result I'm typing from bed with a hot water bottle as it snows outside so I'm going to get on with it.

I started the week with taking some reference photos, specifically for hand poses and with this old canvas stretcher. The theme for winter is going to be bare bones, literally, so thankfully I provide a natural gaunt spookiness! I've had all of summer and autumn to plan this so I knew just the poses required and was soon on to the sketching stage.

Well, it finally happened. I forgot to photograph the pencil sketch for the first autumn piece before I started inking. Despite all my PROGRESS PHOTOS signs. Maybe I've become too used to them and need to make some new ones, maybe more neon? But no neon right now as this is winter, the most Goth of months. Unsurprisingly another fave of mine. Anyway, here's the pencil sketches for winters two and three;

Lots of black ink later and the A1 sketches are done! I'm really looking forward to painting these compositions, they feel the most Illustration-y of Sellisternian so far and I think they're going to turn out pretty dramatic. They'll also be the heaviest with background pattern so I apologise to future Ailsa and also my RSI.

Here's the final digital sketches and that ribcage in the second piece is already making me cross-eyed. The first composition is nice and simple to start with though, as long as it's not too cold to grip a brush!

Meanwhile my landscape sketchbook is harking back to summer days. I especially like the second one where I just trying out different trees but they somehow work together in the end. I'm starting to look forward to finishing this sketchbook so I can start bigger landscapes, maybe on canvas?

Ha, and once again the landscapes had seeped over in to Doodlebook. I'm keen to do some patchwork field paintings inspired by these spreads. I'd miss the big blobby trees but need to remember that every painting does not need to have everything in it!

The Studio Club AGM was postponed until later in the month due to bad weather but we should just be grateful it took this long for the weather to stop us! On Tuesday I went to the event Arts, Communities and Place at MacArts here in Galashiels. It was very interesting and I got some vegan tray bake so it was a win.

I got this awesome former library book, it feels almost like a textbook and is absolutely packed with examples of Renaissance art. Sorted by theme, my preferred way, and with plenty juicy info alongside the images. The more you learn about Renaissance painting/painters the more you get from the images, picking up on the underlying themes, politics and techniques. No, I haven't read/watched the Da Vinci code, I know it would just annoy me.

Next week I'll be painting the first piece in Sellisternian's winter trio, if that's already up it'll be linked below. Otherwise, thanks for being early and have a great week!