In the Black: Bamburgh Castle monotype paintings
If you've read my previous post, Back to Black, you'll know that I've been using a very limited colour palette to simplify my seascapes and give a more Romantic look to these original - Northumberland themed - monotypes.
My Lindisfarne pieces used straightforward reflections of the sea and castle, but with the iconic Bamburgh Castle, I wanted to introduce some new elements: the edge of the sea, the sand, the dunes. I also wanted to try something new with the sky.
I made a series of black and white experimental prints to try out a few new ideas around mark-making with the medium. I've been working in monotype for 30 years, but I often still need to re-invent my approach to suit new challenges.
With this one (above) I tried using a lot more solvent to allow the ink to move around unpredictably. It's very hit and miss! I also have to be careful to keep the studio well-ventilated when using white spirit. I normally follow a non-toxic method, but sometimes special effects call for the traditional solvent!
In this print, you can see how I used the solvent with ink in the sky and reflection. The clouds have gone a little darker than I intended, but I will darken the spaces in the sky to make it look more integrated. I've enjoyed "lighting" these pieces with transparent layers of colour. It feels like a theatrical performance, where light and colour directs the audience's attention.
These next few are mark-making experiments where I was trying to figure out different ways of portraying the sand, dunes and waves. The medium is difficult to control so really, I'm looking to suggest elements with a few broad strokes. There isn't much scope for detailed work but on each iteration, I find more confidence and deftness of mark.
Not everything I've tried has been used in the Bamburgh castle paintings - they needed more calm simplicity, but there's lots of useful material here for stormy seas and waves crashing on the rocks - next stop is the ultimate Romantic Castle: Dunstanburgh, where I hope to use some of these effects.
These experiments connect to a drawing course I did on the Scottish coast last summer. I learned then that drawing and re-drawing the same place over and over in different ways, really moves you forward in your understanding of the composition and how to portray the different elements within it.
Each of these three Bamburgh pieces has good points and issues that need resolving. If I can take the best bits from each one and combine them all in one, I think I'll be getting close to what I want. This way of working with several iterations is new to me - in the past I would've thought it was a terrible waste of time to spend so long on a single composition! But now, I'm at a time in my artistic journey where I want to take things further, learn new things and make the very best art of which I'm capable, and I'm afraid that takes time - lots of time.
I enjoy Cal Newport's Deep Life podcast and recently read his book "Slow Productivity - The Lost Art of Accomplishment without Burnout". In that, he presents creative people from the past (such as Jane Austen, Marie Curie and Georgia O'Keefe) and how their great achievements were accomplished very slowly over a long period of time, often with quite long breaks when they did something else entirely.
It's anathema to us these days to think, ponder, experiment and slowly work towards a creative goal. Most of us live busy lives, constantly interrupted and under pressure to meet deadlines. It's not really conducive to deep thinking.
Cal makes a case that even in full-time work, we can still carve out time for meaningful projects, whether that's part of our paid work or something we work on outside of the workplace. His basic premise is that we have to be very careful with what we focus our attention on and how we handle the busy detritus of our lives, especially distracting technology!
I feel very fortunate to earn a living as an artist and spend three days a week in my studio (although not all of it is spent actually making), but I have been very focused and intentional about how I spend my time to protect those precious hours of creativity. It means saying "No" to a lot of interesting possibilities. To do one's very best, sometimes you have to turn down good opportunities. More than that, I just don't like living under pressure with scary deadlines and too many obligations - it just doesn't feel good. It can put you on the path to exhaustion and burn out.
Anyway, I didn't mean to have a rant about that and my heart goes out to you if you would love to be more creative but, for whatever reason, it isn't possible for you now. I recently followed Cal's tip of taking all the attention-grabbing apps off my phone so that it's much more boring! It's opened up time in the evenings to read, draw and plan. I can still keep up with friends and family and my social media followers on desktop.
These last three images are prints on crinkled tissue paper, which I made with a view to collaging rock textures. I'm still thinking about how I can incorporate these into my monotypes. I'm loving the cross-pollination between my printmaking and mixed-media work. I think the day will come when the two combine and I make mixed-media monotypes!
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Fabulous mark making, so expressive of the sea shore.
I use a Smartair Sqair purifier in my studio with Hepa and carbon filters. It very quietly (on the low setting) sits there doing its thing against solvents. Worth every penny. (Bonus: it also protects against any studio visitors carrying an airborne bug.)
When I was playing piano ages ago, I found that I somehow got better after long breaks. I found it interesting. I love how you have worked with texture to capture different aspects of a scene.
I've really enjoyed this post and looking at your new work and test prints. I'm working on waterscapes myself and have been trying tissue paper to print monotypes without a press using oil paints. The experiments continue...I love the 'slow but steady' approach.