Paul Mc's blog

Nails and Tongs

2011-09-10T19:02:00.026+01:00

2011 has been good to me, I feel revitalised. I've been catching up on time mis-spent and searching out new ways of making stuff. I'd always been attracted to the elemental nature of blacksmithing; iron, fire and muscle. But how to begin? Well as it turned out, I work with the partner of Rebecca Clarke who is both a smith in her own right and the daughter of renowned metalworker Terrence Clark. Even better than that their forge is right on the path of my lunchtime run, about 10 mins form the office.

Bex is an excellent tutor and a pleasure to be with. She took me from complete novice to making items I'm genuinely proud of in a matter of hours. Call her, commission her, you won't regret it!!

She started off by teaching me to make tongs, a basic tool of the trade and then some nails which I need for another project of mine.

I had a thoroughly rewarding time doing this. It's probably the most engrossing thing I've done in a long, long time and something I intent to pick up again when time permits.

Sicily sketches

2011-04-25T13:14:00.008+01:00

Just back from two weeks in Sicily where we rented a house overlooking the sea near Scopello. Sicily is lovely, all you might want from an Italian experience; beautiful countryside, chaotic towns, turquoise water and great food. It's also got the unthreatening feral dogs and the most threatening drivers I've come across anywhere. The cafe/bar in Scopello is a great place to sit and be amazed by both. Outside their cars the people are lovely; relaxed, engaging and charming but once behind the wheel they're SCARY.

I Managed a couple of morning runs (not my best time :-) in the Zingaro national park which was amazing. It was more like fell-running as the paths are really rocky and uneven with quite demanding slopes. I made it even more challenging by sticking to a strict and beautiful diet of pecorino cheese, fresh bread on the hour, suino-nero salamy, oil soaked veg and cheap wine. I should really align my intrerests better.

More relevant to this blog, I found the time to do some watercolour sketching as well. It was fantastic being able to paint in such wonderful light. It really makes easier to be braver with the palette when everything is glowing. I think I learned quite a lot from the experience.

There are a few more pics here if you feel the need more sicily sketches

Semi Recovered Fail

2011-03-11T09:47:00.002Z

Oil No2

2011-03-06T00:23:00.019Z

Tomatoes and coffee bon't make a great snack but they serve well enough as a still life subject.
I took a bit more care over this one. I really want to be able to paint in the 'studio' and in the evenings so I sorted out some daylight lighting and used a box to reduce background interference.
I got some 20w (100w old skool) low-energy daylight bulbs from 'nulightuk' on eBay http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/nulightuk/. They work well for the subject using a desklamp but I really need another source to light the canvas. One light is just a bit constraining.
An old cardboard box with the front and top removed contains and controls the scene. It should probably be black but I figured I'd done enough prep at that stage and really wanted to start painting.
I also painfully re-learned that painting over graphite pencil with oils is not a good idea (it lifts).

It's so much more enjoyable when you can focus on painting without the time pressure of shifting light. I can see loads of ways to improve this pic but I'm still pretty happy with the result. Can't wait to do another.

Oil

2011-02-27T20:50:00.001Z

I fancied trying a more robust medium so I got myself some oils. I'd used them once before, years ago got frustrated and never stuck with them.

I know this is a horribly flawed image, I was just getting a feel for the paint again. To be honest it felt alright, I could do with being bolder and less faffy but it seemed managable.

The biggest shock was realising just HOW LONG it takes for the blasted stuff to dry.

The Moat at Elstead

2010-08-30T20:15:00.007+01:00

Not a terribly exciting image but it has some things going for it. It's of The Moat behind Elstead.

I took off for a couple of hours this morning to see if anything convinced me to paint it. After strolling around The Moat for a bit (remaining unconvinced) I decided I had to do something rather than pack it in so I sat myself at the far side of the pond, looking back on the little sandy beach.

It's not a bad representation the scene but it looks a lot better in the thumbnail than it does enlarged. Lacking crispness and a bit muddy again but I'm happy with it considering I wasn't that motivated.

It's a lovely spot, very relaxing, ducks paddling, ripples rippling, a couple of biplanes droning overhead on the way to the Dunsfold airshow. In the end, as always, it didn't really matter what I came up with, it was just nice to be out and about painting.

I might just treat this and another I did at the time as sketches and have a go at a studio image later.

Mackeral

2010-08-24T07:44:00.016+01:00

It's too easy to get used to good weather. This weekend we forgot we were in the U.K. followed a break in the clouds and went line fishing off a boat (Kraken) out of Lyme Regis. The sea was spectacular, a gently undulating glassy surface with a seamless blend between it and the pearly cloud backdrop. Quite a beautiful and surreal experience for an infrequent boater like me.

Of course the weather borked and everyone was soaked within 10 minutes despite coming equipped with perfectly good tee-shirts and even some socks. Anyway, once you're really wet you're probably as wet as you're going to get so we carried on.The company and the fishing was pretty good though; interesting chats and enough of a catch for dinner.

Mackeral are a beautiful fish to catch (easy), eat (tasty) and to look at (stripey). Unfortunately I haven't really done them service here, E.Mc has done much better in the past. To make amends I later headed off to Tesco to have a crack at an iced one but they only had Herring. Arguably as tasty but not such a looker if you ask me.

Cliffs at Burton Bradstock

2010-08-16T22:58:00.014+01:00

More of the crazy cliffs at Burton Bradstock near West Bay in West Dorset with the Isle of Portland in the background. This one on a really hot August day with the crowds out. Sun-cream and ice-cream as as as the eye could see.

I'm pretty pleased with this pic; It feels like the place and the paint is going down a lot cleaner than recently. I'm being more agressive with it which seems to be paying off. It's certainly a big improvement on last year's visit to West Bay a bit further west along the coast.

This one is about A5, watercolour with some gouache to help with the people (the dotty bits in the middle). Thanks to A.S. for suggesting adding more green in the summer sky, paradoxically it does feel warmer and helps remove the 'straight from the pan' quality from the F.U.Blue.

Last Year's images http://paulmcsblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/west-bay.html

Grey Day by Golden Cap

2010-08-11T08:17:00.006+01:00

A Bleak day and quite a bleak picture. Had an hour between downpours to rattle one off on the beach by Golden Cap (Lyme Regis in the background).

I had some problems with laying down the initial tonal values so it's a bit overworked but worth doing, any practice is good practice.

Beer Garden

2010-08-09T22:50:00.010+01:00

Some success (by my standards) though. It was a wet Sunday but later in the day the sun came out and we retied to the beer garden of the Manor Hotel in West Bexington.
Ordered cider for the first time since being a student, good choice, I suspect there's more to follow if the summer holds out.
Anyway, this pic has some annoying shortcomings but I'm happy enough considering I was 2 pints in.

The second image is a kitchen repainting I did later (for Maria and Si) which presumably relegates the first one to sketch status now. I suppose the repaint has lost a bit of spontaneity but I actually think it's a much nicer pic and captures the mood of the place more effectivly.

Coastguard

2010-07-12T14:53:00.012+01:00

If anyone needs an image to put on a souvenir tea-towel or box of fudge then I'm yer' man.

Here's a quickie of the fields behind the coastguard cottages at West Bexington.

Later in the day I tried to recreate the feel of the place from memory. I like the way it's become more stylised but there's not much in it really. That said, the process of reimagining the scene was an interesting exercise in itself, worth doing if you get the chance.

Behind Elstead

2010-07-04T12:48:00.002+01:00

Another empty landscape. This one is to the back of Elstead village. I 'm lucky enough to pass this way most mornings. It's pretty parched now in mid Summer but it's amazing how it changes through the seasons.

This pic' might not look much to you but I'm really happy with the way the paint is going down here and the fact that the image captures the colour/light pretty successfully. I'm going to try some other similar, simple compositions to keep paint options to a minimum and reduce the potential for messing up.

Tractor

2010-06-20T22:14:00.008+01:00

Got pulled behind a tractor at Loseley today. Exhaust, dust and rubber; I love it!
This is a digital colour-up of a pencil sketch I did at the time.

Tamarisk Farm

2010-06-14T21:32:00.009+01:00

There's a fantastic, ancient farm at the top of the hill in West Bexington. It's a ramshackle and eclectic collection of grey stone buildings enlivened by a lovely blue on the woodwork. Weather was problematic but a nice subject to work on regardless. These are pencils and (precision) felt-tip drawings given a colour treatment with watercolour.

It's sort of my fallback style I guess. A5 ish and about an hour or so to do each at the side of the road. The colour is pretty delicate and some has disappeared in the scanning, I'll have another go at them later.

The application of mechanics to the practice of Devotions

2010-05-29T20:10:00.050+01:00

A bit of a legacy from my Catholic upbringing this. I managed to lose god before it was too late but it's hard to get the memories of ceremony and sniff of incense out of your sysyem. If nothing else Catholicism is always good for a spot of bizarre and dark drama.

This thing is pretentiously but very accurately titled (there is even a label on it saying): “The application of mechanics to the practice of Devotions”.

I designed it as a foolproof aid to prayer and worship, practically guaranteed to help you gain favour with all the major God figures although tuned for the Catholic Christian one from my youth. It’s quite simple really:

Instructions for use:

1. Select your saint on the top roller from a choice of the 40 most useful and popular. Padre Pio is a new addition to the line-up and a pretty good all rounder. Don't worry, there will be a series of collector cards to follow.

2. Genuflect (optional) and light the, now electric, devotional candles using the switch provided.

3. Type your invocation using the keyset. It's a QWERTZ arrangement, Southern Europe being better attuned than the north for this purpose. Try to be brief and to the point. remember, it's a machine so there is no benefit in being overly wordy or poetic.

4. As you key, the bell chimes in time, creating a solemn and holy atmosphere. This focuses the mind and draws attention to your spiritual condition.

5. Prayers will then be answered in the normal way only up yo moreso.

It’s not fully complete yet but so far it has proven to be extraordinarily effective as well as decorative, far better than either unassisted prayer or simple secular wall adornments.

The wings are really only there to add some ambience of the angel. From what I can tell, they don’t affect the functionality in any way. They were found (along with the rest of the crow) by an my daughter's 11 year old friend while out cycling and left on the windowsill in case I had a need. Which I did :-)

2010-02-16T23:29:00.024Z

More attempts with watercolour. This time while on holiday in the Dolomites in the Autumn of 09. All of these are in the area of Ortisei in the Val Gardena and actually painted from balconies on the villa we were staying in! I'm getting marginally better (well, braver) with applying colour and am relatively happy with these but the reality is that I don't paint often enough to make significant improvements.

The night-time sketch was of moonlit clouds forming up in the Pitzberg mountains. This was incredibly dramatic at the time and even a bit creepy, just needed the cry of a werewolf to complete it. BTW the little bright dot to the right is Jupiter.

The others are looking up the valley towards the Sella Gruppe and are effectivly the view from the kitchen window!

2010-02-16T23:22:00.006Z

Went all went on a day trip to London last Sept. I had intentions of doing all sorts of scribbling and drawing but once I'd done this sketch of the pillbox at the end of Putney Bridge tube station the pad never came out again. I guess I was having too much of a good time or something.

Beer

2009-08-24T20:09:00.008+01:00

Beer is a lovely little seaside town in West Dorset. It's also a working harbour though, only without the harbour; all the fishing boats get hauled up onto the shingle beach by winches. The boats themselves are very characterful and an easy target for sketching. This started off as a drawing with my brushpen but I decided to colour it up once as it turned out OK.

I quite like watercolouring on this cheap cartridge paper. The paint stays fluid for quite a while and I'm not so precious about the paper so I get more done. Only problem is the paper buckles badly so I've got myself some heavier weight stuff to work with.

This pic is all very twee, make a good postcard, but there's still some good stuff going on with the paint which I was happy with.

West Bay

2009-08-18T23:32:00.048+01:00

Back in Dorset. Lovely place lovely weather. I promised myself I'd try to capture something of the crazy cliffs in West Bay and Burton Bradstock. All this area was a river delta millions of years ago and the ebb and flow of the water has resulted in really striking strata. Add some uplifting (?) and erosion and you get something very unique.

It feels like the setting for the closing

sequence of Planet Of The Apes

"You maniacs! You blew it up! God damn you! God damn you all to hell!"

As so well re-enacted by Alberto G' V' when we were there last year. I made a

few attempts with varying success. I quite like the graphicy one but either way you get the idea.

Holycombe

2009-07-05T18:19:00.011+01:00

We visited holycombe for my daughter's birthday http://www.hollycombe.co.uk/. It's an amazing collection of steam machines and engines going back 150 years or so. The centrepiece is a fully working steam powered fairground which looked fantastic in the sunshine and is surprising fun but I was really drawn to the rusty old industrial iron in the repair yard. This is, I'm told, the last steam crane used on british railways, oooh! fancy that.

Graveyards

2009-06-14T21:50:00.018+01:00

I spent some time in graveyards this weekend, another great place to put things in perspective:-) Anyway, once I was suitably humbled I got sketching. Graveyards are interesting places to paint, nice mixture of hard structers and organic stuff. However, despite the potential I didn't really come back with much to look at.
I did discover that painting without drawing first (at least less than I normally do) can be surprisingly rewarding and is something I will try more of. It could be a good way to being more free with the paint.

The Rec'

2009-06-01T23:25:00.010+01:00

The last effort for this weekend. A view of the old manor house over the beech hedge to the side of Elstead recreation ground. This sort of subject matter seems to suit me even if it doesn't especially excite me. I would like to be looser and more expressive with paint but I still incline towards drawing and 'colouring in'. I'm working on it though, so watch this space.

Chindhurst Hill

2009-06-01T23:16:00.013+01:00

We went for a trek up Chindhurst hill to take in the glorious May sunshine. I tried a few times to pin down what was happening with the trees across from me. I found it hard to identify the hues and this was the third and best attempt. I think the image is nice enough but I would have done better after couple of trys. You'll have to take my word that the green of the backlit ferns really was that vivid, amazing. BTW, all of these recent watercolours are A5.

Hens

2009-05-30T23:06:00.005+01:00

We keep three hens in the garden. They're pretty dim but are nice to have around and begging to be sketched. Unfortunately they spent most of their time with their arse in the air and head in the ground and the rest of the time were too quick for me.

Monmouth Beach

2009-05-26T20:42:00.018+01:00

Ahh, that's better.

Amazing fossil beach to the west of Lyme Regis. This is a beautiful and extraordinary place where there are Ammonite (some massive) fossils under almost every footstep. If you didn't feel insignificant beforehand then standing on a 200 million year old fish will do it.
The picture would have been much better either closer to Lyme (the Cobb at Lyme is in the distance), looking the other way or even moving to the side but I was lazy and I didn't want the sun in my eyes. Consequentially it's a pretty ropey composition so I might well crop it before you come back.

Feet

2009-05-26T20:20:00.011+01:00

I spent hours in West Bay searching for something to sketch but for whatever reason it wasn't happening. I'll be back for the crazy cliffs another day though. Sitting on the deck with I decided to pass the time painting what was close to hand. If you imagine the heat of the day, the sound of the gulls and a chilled Speckled Hen just off frame it helps completethe picture.
This is pencil and watercolours on on cheap cartridge paper again. I'm quite happy to have got some denser and more vibrant colours in this one so no Photoshop apart from cropping the lower edge where my pad lay (yes, it is deliberate ;-/) .

Portland from Chesil Beach

2009-05-19T20:34:00.019+01:00

A few colour sketches of Portland island from West Bexington on Chesil beach. The island was actually about 15km away so these are really just thumbnails. Quite nice to sit in the sun with a beer and doodle though.

I like the middle one best as it has a kind of watercoloury feel to it. I'd warmed up by then and was trying harder. Leaving the blank foreground works for me as well. I like the way it crops the image, even though there is nothing there, there is something there.

Wey Footbridge

2009-05-19T20:24:00.019+01:00

A pretty staid watercolour of the footbridge over the river (canal) wey just outside Godalming. I got distracted by the surface detail in this one and literally lost the big picture. I quite like the feeling of the brickwork but not the feeling of the bridge. Shame, it really deserves better.

Self Portrait Finish

2009-05-18T20:53:00.000+01:00

The only way to get something like I saw in the mirror was to resort to more familiar tools and fire up Photoshop. I smoothed out some of the marks, darkened the shadows and enhanced the colours. To recover some of the original success of the drawing (things were getting a bit overworked now) I layered the pencil lines back on again.

It's my first go at a proper self portrait and, all in all, I'm happy with the outcome for a couple of hours work. It looks a bit like me, perhaps me 10 years from now wondering where I left my wallet. If I can stoke up the enthusiasm I'll have a more considered crack at it sometime.

Self Portrait Colour

2009-05-18T20:25:00.002+01:00

Rather than leave well enough alone I decided to add some colour. I'm not a confident painter so all I could really bring myself to do was a light watercolour wash. I don't really have a technique other than putting down something approximating the colours I see before me. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

Nervousness, impatience and really cheap paper meant that I ended up with a pretty feeble and lightweight result.

Self Portrait Sketch

2009-05-18T19:49:00.001+01:00

I thought I'd do a self portrait to kick the blog off. There's a wardrobe with a big mirrored door right beside my bed so this is the face that greets me every morning when I sit up. It looks more spooked than I do generally though, It's hard not to stare madly when you're doing a self-portrait.

It really just started off as a quick drawing exercise. I did a couple of rubbish attempts but as this one had some sort of likeness I ran with it.