Thursday 9 June 2011

Dhanakosa Day 2

Another wet day. Dark clouds depositing everything they have on top of us - wouldn't be Scotland otherwise.

Beginning to get the idea that I am better off out on my own even if frequent showers catch me without warning. Not exactly ideal weather for painting watercolours - the paint refuses to dry with so much moisture in the air., but I start with a small pastel sketch to capture one moment:

 Neocolours in Sketchbook, A6 x2.
I quite enjoy working at this scale, but of course I always try to put too much into it.

Further on I come across this stand of tall pines with just the merest glimpse of the loch:

 Neocolours in Sketchbook, A5 x2.
Another sudden shower catches me unaware and splatters the page disolving some of the Neocolour pastel. I like it.

I dive under a beech tree humming a happy tune and wait while the rain batters down. Now this is the perfect moment for meditating on the impermanence of life.

After a while I venture out and the sun is shining once again so I wander along my merry way and down closer to the loch I am attracted to these trees on the shoreline:

 Felt pen and watercolour in Sketchbook, A4.
What a beautiful place to sit sheltered from passing showers and a fresh breeze blowing through to keep them pesky flies from my fevered brow. Blue is, of course, my natural response, but what if...?

What if I let myself go for a moment and paint how I FEEL about it?

Orange felt pen and watercolour in Sketchbook, A5 x2.

 This small double sketch is much more satisfying...I am getting out of my head and down into my gut.

A happy day but hark, I hear the bell summoning me to Metta Bhavana meditation when I shall engender some loving kindness towards my fellow human beans. But not the one I am sharing a room with who snores and farts!

4 comments:

my croft said...

ooh, cool use of those hot colors.

Actually it was Sartre who said "Hell is other people" or, rather, put it in the mouth of one of the characters (I forget which one) in his play No Exit.

Pay me no mind, I have a great deal of anxietry for myself about trite or valid subject matter, and I really really do love your flooers.

Melinda said...

You are too funny!

I absolutely loved this post. I felt as though I traveled along with you as you made choices and captured the landscape. Those raindrops will be priceless as you remember the day years from now.

Loved the trees at the loch.
And, your interpretation--brilliant!

Happy meditations.

Lisa Le Quelenec said...

I love looking at your sketches and I agree with Melinda I felt like I was taking a walk with you. The last one felt like the sunshine after the rain.

daviddrawsandpaints said...

Many thanks to each of you for commenting and thanks also for the continued support for my attempts at painting. I hope to be back before too long with more once I've got my studio sorted out and I can see my feet again.

Ciao a tutti! xxx