Mother's group revisited

As my friends will attest I'm a prolific painter with a huge output. When I reach a quota of paintings that can fit on my walls I look at the ones that can be improved. Sometimes they can't be made better and I gesso it and paint over.

One that caught my eye was the one of the mother's group at Wylie's. This is what it looked like:

I thought the colours were a bit off and I decided to introduce violet, yellow and blue to the orange green scheme. The result is less abstract and I think the effect of shadows from the stairs is better rendered.

Mother's Group

This mother's group meeting was at Wylie's Bath, which is an exotic location in my experience of mother's group (at coffee shops, parks but not the beach). I guess that's what Eastern suburb mums do. I loved the way the stair was casting these slat patterns on the ground. After the lesson on using a palette I admire, I used the green, ochre and orange from a Bonnard painting 'Regatta'.


So while the colours are not realistic, these complementary colours make quite an impact. I've had several people comment on it's immediate appeal.

By the way I'm away overseas for most of Apr so faithful blog followers, I apologise in advance. Hopefully I will be inspired on my travels to paint and draw. Till then!

Study of colours

Last week I joined a women's art group which meets at Marrickville. It starts at 6:30pm on Friday nights and the others were mainly potters. The convenor Lisa used to run workshops but this term she was too busy and opted for a looser arrangement. I was the only painter last week.


This small painting was chosen as a starting point to see how the group went. I spotted this bather as she emerged from the rockpool at Wylies. The contrast between the sea water and the rockpool caught my eye. As the group is all about coiling and pinching pots, I thought that I should try this as well. But rather than making pots I think I'll try to make a torso of a big breasted woman next week.

Before The Race

Came across this trio at my favourite people watching spot Wylies Bath; who were going to have a swimming race. The one on the left is an off duty lifeguard and all three look like they are very physically fit.


I snapped a photo of them and only recently dug into the archives because I needed to replace a painting sold from my Coogee series (a blank spot on the wall; recently a common occurrence that I'm enjoying).

Sunbathers

By far my favourite setting is the beach, water and rocks. These inspire paintings much more than other subjects. What is more, I seem to paint them from the heart and picture myself once more enjoying summer.

This painting was done from a series of photos I took of Wylies Bath. These sunbathers are languidly warming themselves before plunging into the inviting baths. I believe that these are the first figures I've painted for quite a while. I really enjoy drawing and painting figures but stopped because my sister-in-law the art teacher said my landscapes were better.

She is probably right. I have a tendency to paint like I draw, which means lines and detail. Painting is of course, based on getting tones right. Here I've deliberately ignored details and focussed on tones and it has worked out well.


The Australian sun is very bright which means that there is high key: great contrasts between light and shadows.

Final painting term 1

Having purchased a water proof camera, I have enjoyed photographing favourite places under water. Some viewpoints above water can only be taken with an underwater camera because it is necessary to get wet! Like this painting I did from a photo of Wylies.


For the final class this term, at Tim's insistence I brought a larger canvas. This one is probably 60x75. And due to it's size and despite starting it at home, I failed to complete it in class. Here it is, several days late. Does it give the viewer a feeling of a sunny day swimming in lovely turquoise waters?

Rocks at Coogee

This week I was teased about not finishing a painting.... just wasn't in the zone, you know.  Anyway, I did what I could.  The waterways was tricky because there were so many colours in reality and you can also see the vegetation underneath.  Unfortunately, I glazed it with the wrong blue colour (!) and then had to do a repair job.  This is not complete, as there are figures I want to work in but overall, I'm happy with the colours of the rocks and their texture. 

Rough seas

This week I chose another aspect of the ocean to attempt: rough sea with lots of movement and foam. Roger and I had been for a walk from Coogee to Clovelly and walked through the baths at North Coogee. I hadn't been there before and was amazed to see these brave or fool hardy souls diving in and swimming to the rocks. That is Roger on the left with his hat on.


There was another girl who was too terrified to join her friends. Wedding cake island is in the distance. Tim says that I'm doing the right thing by exploring one subject. However next week I will get into country landscape. What I'm amazed by is the speed that I've been painting. Every Tuesday I emerge with a painting after 4 hours effort. I often feel drained but exulted that I managed to get so far. When I'm home I tend to potter around, spend lots of time thinking about composition, stop often for breaks, etc. Rarely was I able to complete anything in a day! I believe that speed is probably good as if it is doomed to fail it would be evident after 4 hours.

Sandstone cliffs again

I was not going to finish the sandstone painting I begun but one of our friends Jo said she really liked it and persuaded me to complete it. I think the houses I originally perched on clifftop were too much hard work. It is far easier to remove them but then where is the interest in the composition? This was a dilemma I pondered and finally decided to modify the cliff so that there is another in the back. I also added a grey threatening sky and here it is complete.



Unfortunately it cannot really be Sydney .... Well maybe Sydney around 150 years ago when we hadn't built our shores up like today. However it reminds me of the walks we Sydneysiders have the privilege to do along the coast. How beautiful is this city?

Lifeguard at Wylies

On the weekends, the Coogee surf and life savings club actually mans Wylies. Life guards wear their characteristic red and yellow uniform and have a great job. Most of the time nobody gets into trouble, they get to sit in scenic locations and enjoy the view. The public gets the assurance that somebody is looking out for them and everybody is happy.


I spoke to this guard who is a Pom and told me that Coogee has changed greatly in the 10 years he has been in Sydney. It was more family oriented then but with the growing number of backpackers there is more drinking and anti social behaviour. I tend to agree. The beach is still lovely : you just don't want to live on it!

Sandstone cliffs

Another aspect distinguishing Sydney is our magnificent sandstone. Walks along our coast is along cliffs where we glimpse the exposed sandstone face. This painting is of the cliff at Gordon's Bay between Coogee and Clovelly.


This is a cropped view as it is incomplete. There are a number of dark brick Art Deco apartments perched precariously on the cliff I wanted to include but made the mistake of painting them in that purply colour which contrasted badly with the rest of the picture. To harmonise with the hues of the sandstone, they need to be shades of ochre and brown. Of course if all fails I can do a vast sky and cover everything up. Artists do not have to paint reality!

Wylie bath 2

This painting was also completed just before Christmas. It is the second in my Wylie series.


I like the composition; how the figures are arranged to focus on the ladder to the rocks. I also like the way the rocks turned out. There are a few problems with the figures but what I've noticed is they are a lot less obvious when the figure is not the sole subject in the painting.

Wylies bath completed

In a spurt of pre-Christmas energy I completed the painting of Wylies Bath. Hooray! I accomplished what I set out to do more than a year ago.


And here is a close up of the people.


This picture reminds me of lazy summer days at Wylies where I'd do a few laps in the cool water and then reward myself with a massage! Bliss. Wylies is not usually busy on weekdays when I escape work and domestic life.

Ocean pools

I originally took up life drawing to learn how to draw figures for a beach scene. Ocean pools are my favourite spots in the whole world and they evoke summer and a lovely cool dip in salty water. Anyway, I got diverted along the way but finally inspired by a few exhibitions where ocean pools and beaches were the subject. Started on a canvas of Wylie Bath in Coogee one of my favourite hang outs.


This is the background which is now ready for me to paint sun bathers in the foreground. I may have to rope in my family and friends to model for me! My daughter has obligingly posed as a diver and expects to see herself in a picture soon.