Passing impasse

Rather than pulling together the various bits and pieces from London and Berlin, let's start with a bit of seascape studies. Well: I've been studying marks, lines, palettes over the past few weeks, wanted to get somewhere in oil, didn't get anywhere in oil and decide to take a few steps sideways today.

So, rather than attacking more cartridge paper in search for the perfect marks of waves, shorelines etc., I took my pastels along. They are the ultimate comfort blanket. I KNOW them, know what they do and trust them to take me somewhere good. If the lines and marks weren't forthcoming, I figured I could go via colour - not mixed colour but straight pigment in stick form. Pick and choose and feel my way along to the stuff that doesn't know, keeps nagging and teasing and still remains elusive.

I know too that patience and hesitation is part of it all - and despite claims to the contrary I do have plenty of those. So, in many ways I didn't mind the experiments that don't seem to make anything clearer - I am sure that they get rembered somewhere, maybe not somewhere obvious but those lines and marks and textures can find some use.

Anyway: enough talking. Here are some studies. Guess what: I call them seascapes. It's kind of the intention if not the outcome. So, currently, I am in favour of the earth-coloured ones. I've begun to upscale them too. That's the next post.

Seascape study 1
pastel on board, 15x10cm


Seascape study 2
pastel on board, 15x10cm


Seascape study 3
pastel on board, 15x10cm


Seascape study 5
pastel on board, 15x10cm