Small scale paintings and drawings are beautiful and freeing.

I was lost as to know where to start with a little blog - is it for me, or is it for others? I don't want to bore - but i would like to share what i do, what inspires, and what i love about drawing and painting. 

So i said i would start at where i am at... now... these days.

And that is drawing. 

Its a funny thing, sometimes when painting and creating a few pieces together I am dying to go bigger - paint bigger.

and then..

When like so many, things go wrong - i find great comfort in going back to sketching and drawing.

There is great beauty in small!! and great comfort when you don't fear you are wasting expensive materials.

 

Because like it or not - good materials show up in your artwork - and good materials invariably, like all good things - cost a lot. 

With small you are under less pressure of making a mistake - because you haven't spent hours and hours doing a huge drawing only to realise too late that something is very wrong. 

The fear of making a mistake can be paralysing. With smaller sketches, there is no worry about wasting precious pastels or good sanded paper. 

And you get to try out new ideas, and the more you do the more you develope these ideas, try new materials, explore what you are trying to say!

That happened for me in a small series of paintings i did this summer, which all revolved around the seaweed at low tide, and the link to seaweed harvesting. By doing a few sketches i realised how much i wanted to have humans in the picture. And i didn't want twee - i wanted to show the grit and hardwork. 

 

I'd like to do more like this, exploring us - at work. 

Some of these little sketches are available for sale.