June Blog - One chapter ends and another begins...

June ..thought it would never come and now it's  nearly over! Such is the nature of time.
Many good days out bouldering and climbing. Remarkably the weather has been pretty good..especially in the first few days of the month.

The class of 2013 (2nd year group) A lovely bunch!

 All finished at college too, the students show went up and came down in what felt like a flash. It was  good this year with a wide variety of media and ideas all coming to fruition after what for many has been a rewarding journey. With the long summer break about to begin I have a few journeys both physical and otherwise to go on myself. Time to stop musing and start making!

What with college and climbing I've had a lull in the studio so it was good to get back in there this week and start this painting (below).I have been planning this in  my head for days now. It  seemed to take shape pretty rapidly, and with that some creeping feelings of doubt.... I always feel  a little anxious when a painting goes smoothly in the first session...that feeling of it's too good to be true and it's bound to turn messy soon echo in my head.
 Ridiculous thoughts that I would advise any artist to banish from their thoughts and just get on with it. I'm trying hard to be in the moment with this one, and be mindful, and just enjoy the process without being too self conscious and precious.

Work in progress 2@ 80x80 cm

That troublesome painting mentioned in my April blog  was still causing trouble up until a week ago. It now has been transformed into some quite different.Below are a couple of details....a change of palette and the abandonment of the track for the second time leaves me feeling that there is the  likely chance that it may be complete.

Funny how some paintings hang around for months seeking attention and demanding more time to be spent on them while others appear and happily seem to amuse themselves  and then vanish from your thoughts quietly like a well mannered child! Not sure which ones I get on better with ?

detail

Detail from 100x100cm

Beautifully scented gorse at Kyloe

Looking into the sun , Kyloe

My roller love from last month didn't go as smoothly as anticipated. Yes those lovely Japanese papers arrived but I haven't managed to do one successful mono print yet. The texture is different and I think an oil based ink would be more preferable then the  water based one I was using on the cheap tissue.

 Mono printing is such a fleeting and intense technique. Get it right and you almost don't even know it's happened get it wrong well it's laboured and stodgy. Must stop trying so hard!

Onward now with the hope that I will get some serious work done in the next few weeks. Stumbling on the double canvas idea has made me think about future paintings and I'm excited about the possibility of working on a landscape format without having to abandon the square. Nothing new here but I haven't worked like this for very long time and had forgotten the freedom and possibilities inherent in this format.
Whilst working I have been thinking of those familiar views in Northumberland.....  peaty low summits,  boulder strewn crags, wandering sheep and  all under a  huge brooding  sky...good thoughts.

The Lakes are a different prospect in terms of landscape. That's for later, it all needs time  to sink in and become etched in your  mind and to somehow become part of you .... a quiet and lengthily  familiarisation.

Always plenty to see whilst climbing

Coming down from Ravens Crag

'Wow' blossoms near Dungeon Gill, Lake District

As if they weren't tired enough after a days climbing ...just a little roadside bouldering before tea!!

Langdale Boulders, Lake District

May..speeding by

 This month feels like it has been passing by in a flash. Getting older and being busy....two things that make time feel like it's passing by at a quickening pace?!

 We've been out and about enjoying what dry weather there has been. Gouther crag in the Lakes was a great day out, our first visit, hopefully we'll get back again soon. It's always interesting to go somewhere new...fun times John's first E1 of the year so we left feeling good.

Gouther 

Gillean on Hernia, Gouther Crag

Spring has definitely sprung in the Lakes!

Leaving Gouther

Earlier this month we had a good reason for doing some early spring cleaning ...art@ancrum a long w/k of art and craft exhibits here in Ancrum. I had a really good response and a busy time of it chatting to visitors and friends.
It was really good to hang new paintings and see what I have been producing.Working away in what for me is a pretty solitary fashion it's often difficult to keep a positive outlook on what I'm producing.
 Showing your work publicly is so important. For me and I suppose like many visual artists it is a way of punctuating a creative period and also a way of moving on from a body of work. And of course feedback is essential ...good or bad!

After the w/k I found it really difficult to start painting again.So I did what I usually do and switched media.

 Watercolour is a really beautiful media. It has a magic all of it's own which only reveals it's secrets once you work with it for a while. Good quality paper, brushes and paint are essential if luminosity and freshness are important to you. I like to use it freely and love the accidental washes and all that they entail...bleeding, merging colours that take your images on unexpected pathways. I also love the control of glazing and dry brush techniques. All round it's a media that truly lets you work in the moment.

 

 


So having broken the ice I felt ready to get the wax pot on again and start a couple of small paintings. These are based on those studies I did last month after our visit to the snowy Cuillins.

work in progress

work in progress

Meanwhile   the country side is certainly looking a good deal greener.You can't but help notice the ferns unfurling and the bluebells appearing almost overnight. New growth is so fresh and tender with an intensity of colour that  soon fades as the weeks pass by. Catch it  while you can.

Sometimes it gets messy

Back into the studio with plans to get on with more new oil paintings and more mono printing........ this time on some lovely Japanese light weight papers and yesterday my new roller arrived ...so very excited to get on with the work !

Roller love

April ..thrills and spills in the mountains!

The Cullins from the road to Sligachan

The Easter holidays have come and gone and getting back into a routine hasn't felt so bad after all.

Work from last month is still ongoing. The large painting I had more or less given up on  kept nagging at me. After reinstating the track I finally now feel like it's getting close to working.

Oil on canvas 100x100cm

Our hopes of going to Skye over the holidays materialised and we spent a few very cold but enjoyable days,walking, climbing and lolling about.

Skye hasn't see any rain for many, many weeks and it was strange to see how dry and yellow the  grass and moorland was. Many of the burns were dried up as well. And all this un seasonally dry weather has resulted in numerous and troubling  wild fires. Not so good for the farmers I'm sure but any climbers who were fortunate enough to make it up to Skye over the holidays have been having a ball.

The conditions up top in the Cullins were truly alpine. Crampons and axes were the order of the day. Not having climbed in snow and ice like this for a very long time it certainly was something that felt new and ever so slightly scary!
The descent on the first day wasn't without incident ( balled up crampons and an  ill judged foot placement resulted in abit of a tumble!!) but safe to say I'm still here and keen to get back up to Skye when ever the opportunity presents itself again.

The views were amazingly beautiful.... snow covered mountains are so magical, intimidating and other worldly.

Bidein Drum nan Ramh

Looking towards Sgurr nan Gillean with Bla Bheinn in the distance

Gillean on the ridge of Bruach na Frithe

Summit photo

Looking towards south at the main Cuillin ridge from the summit of Bruach Na Frithe

More down climbing

Sgurr an Fheadain

Time for a loll about

Bouldering with views !

Cuillin ridge from Beinn na Callich

Beinn na Caillich ridge snakes away into the distance

 Back in the studio I started on a series of small oil studies which have ended up  implying a kind of rocky landscape....maybe they'll develop into some more substantial works...later.

Coming back home and spending an afternoon in the relative warmth of Northumberland and then a chillier days climbing in the Lakes, Skye and her mountains felt and still feel like another planet, or at least another country.
 This quote by Charles Pilkington in 1888 on the back of Gordon Stainforths' excellent book on the Cuillin sums up a visit to Skye and her mountains very well.

"We who have been have gone again,and advise you to go. You will not be disappointed"

Lastly, those collographs I mentioned in my March blog. Well I had a play around with inking them up. It's a start and I'm looking forward to making up some larger more experimental plates in the coming weeks.

Small Collograph