Aber in the sun

Friday 24th  14:00 After a pleasant morning at uni, doing some prints, my self and a few friends took the opportunity to bask in the unusual occurrence of the sun.  As well as enjoying a BBQ, music and drinks, i jumped at the opportunity to paint outside in the sun for once. Taking a few sketches of things happening around me, noting temperature, light, movement, noise to help when i would come to do a larger or more finished painting, as often when i go to the studio to paint more finished pieces, it is much harder to get the sense of space and atmosphere in to the painting than is from painting in the moment.  As well as a few sketches, i took what i call painting sketches, (anything between 2-10 minute paintings) which i painted on different coloured grounds,  not focusing on detail but rather, space, colour, composition and tone. These paintings help me a lot when it comes to do more finished pieces, as they provide inspiration for further paintings, and help me learn a lot. Painting on different colour grounds especially helps, as forever painting on plain white doesn't give colour the full potential it could have, for instance i did to small quick paintings one on a warm ocre, and the other on a cool lilac. Both of these colours worked really nicely as an under colour, the ocre especially helped bringing out the warmth in to the greens in the hills, and generally warming up the painting much like it was that day. The lilac gave a different feeling to the painting, the colours looked a lot cooler, and calmer. Now was the idea of working out what ground worked best for its intention, and how i could use the ground in a further more completed painting.

Tuesday 09.00 -Weather was lovely for the most part, headed out to do some more quick paintings sketches for a composition i wanted to complete that day. There's so much beautiful out doors to experience in Aberystwyth and a lot of us do not notice the true beauty that it is and tend not to pay attention to our surroundings. Most of the time i spend painting some of the streets, or the typical lighthouse or constitution, but today i decided to go back to south beach, and have a tackle at the view towards the castle. What interested me most about this view was the war memorial monument, its in such a beautiful location right on the seafront and i felt that from this angle it would make a nice composition, One thing that's different working from life and landscapes rather than portrait photographs is that i tend to think more about the composition, less about the detail. For instance, there was so much happening, cars driving past, crying babies, police sirens, But my main intent was to capture the tranquility that is of Aberystwyth compared to other places in the country, focusing on the  solid structure of the monument, against  the moving sky/sea , i didn't want to just capture a single moment that we see in a photograph but rather show that things are still happening, its a living constant image, unlike a still life. After battling against painting landscapes, i am slowly starting to see what i achieve from landscapes which isn't there in my portraiture, and i always find it interesting to see what comes out of when i paint landscapes- usually a lot more work! I like the puzzle of a landscape, as it gives me a new way of painting, often in my portraiture i draw out the whole image first and slowly build up the painting in stages, which i eventually lose interest in as, i guess, i'ts almost like painting by numbers.  I still see a long journey ahead of me with painting, but as of now, I'm pleased with my improvement. 

Sundays Sunset, unfiltered image from i-phone.
The colours in the sky were so beautiful, i hope to paint an image from the sunset through the clouds soon,  a challenge i want to tackle, in the limited time of the sun setting.  trying to show the reflection of colour from the sky on to the sea is something that proves difficult throughout the day , whilst the light is constantly changing, which further changes the colours. I do often complain to myself about how much work i should be doing, but i really am so lucky to be studying the one thing i love so much, in such a beautiful place. It can get stressful at times, but i'm just enjoying my time here, and i really don't want it to end, as we're now fast approaching third year, the time i have left before i have to enter the "real" world is disappearing quickly, so i feel i must have to make the most of my degree.