I had about 45 minutes until I had to pick up my little one from school. I really wanted to get out of the studio a few minutes too, so decided to head on down to my safe space on Radio Island, a boat yard. At the corner of the dirt road I usually go down to find subject matter, I came across a mad jumble of objects, signs, prints and furniture surrounding a shrimp stand. It was too good to pass up!
I took 15 minutes to draw out the ‘composition’ - there was nor real plan other than to start at a spot and creep out from there. I decided on ballpoint pen, just to keep it loose and I wanted to trace out as much of the stuff as I could. I pretty much started getting my bearings at the Sale banner and worked away from there. You can see my initial start didn’t work, so I re stated. Some of the troubles throughout were: 1) I was sitting in the back seat of my Elelment, with the side doors open, sketching from my lap while turned to the side. 2) The good old sea breezes were beginning to come around, and the flags were constantly fluttering, hiding part of the trailer and generally making it hard to find an edge... I should have probably thought more of the shapes here, but file it away for next time! 3) I was in full sun, glaring off of the paper most of the time. Still, nothing beats getting out for a few and capturing what’s there in front of you, as honestly and investedly (Not a word, but you know what I mean!) as you can.
That’s part of doing these for me, they are also just fun training for my eye and hand to work in unison. I’m looking more at the subject than the paper, which is why things can get ‘off’ a little! But, no worries, it’s just a sketch and you can turn the page at the end!
The final 10 minutes were used to try and add some sort of color to the madness. There was fish netting festooned around the trailer and hand painted and sprayed signs all around. My watercolor palette didn’t have the range needed for all of the neon, but I‘ll definitely be back for more of this view with a different set of colors. I wrapped it up in 25 minutes total, got 5 pounds of shrimp and headed to pick up my boy! A nice finale after most of the day working on pieces in the studio! And dinner was already planned... a rarity at the Womble house!
Have a great weekend!
