drawing

the matterhorn again, from the meadow side. grey marker for the rock, a dry brush for the snow, one line of cyan where the sky touches the ridge. it took forty minutes and most of that was looking.

noticed

the peak looks taller when i leave the bottom of the page empty. the mountain does not need to be big. the paper needs to be quiet.

learned

do the snow last. if the white goes down first the grey bleeds into it and the ridge goes soft. (found out the hard way, see smudges)

sitting with

whether to add a tiny hut in the foreground. it would give the scale. it might also steal the view. leaving it for tomorrow.

drawing

a café front with a red awning and four chairs outside. ink pen for the window frames, orange marker for the awning, pink for the flowers in the box. the chairs were the hardest part. chairs are always the hardest part.

noticed

people walked past the whole time and nobody minded. a woman with a dog said it looked nice. i said thank you!! and then i drew the dog in the corner.

learned

a shop front is mostly rectangles. if the rectangles are honest the rest can be loose. the awning can wobble. the door cannot.

sitting with

i want to draw it again at night with the lights on. i do not have a good yellow yet.

drawing

no view today. just a page of squares, trying to get the colour of an old stone wall in the sun. yellow ochre from the tube is too loud. a touch of the black paint calms it. too much and it goes to mud.

noticed

the same ochre looks different next to cyan than next to orange. i knew that. i did not know it this much.

learned

mix more than you think you need and write the recipe on the page next to the swatch. i have lost three good ochres by not doing this.

sitting with

the square in the middle of the second row is the one. i am going to paint a whole wall with it tomorrow. (still wet)