A pilgrimage to family graves, a beach walk and an urban walk to a still standing great great grandparent’s house in Irvine, Ayrshire. Clouds rolled in from the Isle of Skye whilst we shared reminiscences of summer holidays spent here. A meloncholic, once was, walk.
An evening return to Loch Clatteringshaws for sunset in this “dark skies” forest park. An intention to star gaze but remnants of light still in the sky at midnight. Incredibly beautiful, slowly changing light, but cold, with air temperature falling to 4 degrees C.
Loch Clatteringshaws, Galloway forest park. A sunny, still day. An uncrossable dam with access down to its base. The brutality of the dam’s concrete and deafening blast of the outlet sat in hard contrast to the quiet, soft, stillness of the rest of the walk. Noticing flowers, water sounds, glinting water, bird song and profound stillness. Silvery grey pathways and an ever changing sky/loch.
A walk along the Water of Ken , New Galloway. A cloudy, dreamy, thistle-down filled walk. A graffiti free grey bridge, lichen encrusted trees, a cuckoo’s call, unfurling ferns and verdant grass.
A meander home through unfamiliar territory. Nondescript weather mirrors my mood. Noticing dragons, graffiti, urban shapes and patterns. A gift of a moment with a swan with eight sleeping cygnets. Inside this day.
Green is hardening and settling into its summer uniformity, sky a summer firm blue. Light hard, unforgiving. Shadows now conceal and disguise, creating geometries of absence. Slight breeze and hum of activity. Noticing diversity of flower type as I walk, a glorious abundance from an urban street walk.
A long cut home along the Wensum riverside. A warm sunny, shadow filled walk with rippling leaf shadows, contrasty geometric lines, ducks and a formation of builders.
Arrived late and missed the first 10 min pose, so straight into a set of 5, 4 min poses. Charlotte held a series of dynamic standing poses, with the help of a sheet.
I have drawn Charlotte before and this familiarity probably influenced my choice of media, neo-colours, crayons that melt with heat and are water soluble (great for washing out and re-working). I was working quite slowly and largely failed to get her legs and feet in – tried to adjust on final pose but ended up missing out an arm !!
Next pose was a 20 min one. I chose to continue with the neo-colour but also used some coloured charcoal to block in behind the figure. Concentrated on the jaw and hairline – which, in this drawing, I am pleased with. Failed to cope with the lower body though – a twist, which was difficult .
Final pose was 40 mins, I made a good start, working with chunky coloured charcoal on A1 paper, but moved to a point of having too much charcoal on the page. Removing it changed the mark making and created a different kind of drawing. The head was also too large and not quite right – at home I have reworked the piece – smoothing out the charcoal but I have yet to resolve the head. Still W.I.P. Having brought in some thick paper to work on I think it will stand my further reworking…
A walk eastwards along the beach from Overstrand with two friends. A sunny, but slightly bleached feel to the morning. Tide out, sky wholeheartedly blue and sea calm. Enjoyed catching up inside this beautiful morning.
Ginny Bain 