Studio Days 1

In the studio on Saturday to do some painting - it's been a while since I've worked with oils!

The scariest moment for an artist - a blank canvas!

Set about making the space more user friendly with some 'inspiration' - drawings and watercolours made in the mountains, photos, some related monotypes with interesting atmospheric qualities.

And to get me started, I pin up a reject monotype. I can play about with this - get the feel of the oils again, and in the process sidestep the 'blank canvas' challenge!

Palette ready!

Enjoying the feel of the paint, the smell of the oil and the turps. Prussian blue, cobalt blue, ultramarine - touches of madder and alizarin crimson, raw umber, yellow ochre - zinc white for luminosity, titanium white for emphasis.

Seems to be building to an intensity of blueness.

Decide to leave it to dry off for a couple of days before I work it some more.

Great to be using oils again, but have to keep reminding myself it's not going to behave the same way as the watercolours I've been using lately!