Edinburgh Drill Hall

Yesterday was the final day of the project to paint the impressions of the Edinburgh Drill Hall off Leith Walk.



We started three Fridays ago with spending the day sketching and making notes on how to tackle the next two Fridays painting.

What struck me most about the venue was the enormous space everywhere. The floor space was vast and the roof, made of girders with large areas of light coming in, was almost too overwhelming to take in.
The cafe, was a totally different feel. Lots of brightly coloured tablecloths and red chairs, lots of people and bunched up together by the entrance.
The other thing that struck me was the light coming in from the door, compared to the darkness immediately between the entrance and the cafe.

Jane and Ginny having coffee. It was cold and so they were wrapped up and huddled around their hot drinks.

Getting the light on the balcony area was important and the yellow ochre of the doors compared to the underneath area. The lighting was quite extreme, from the light from above to the the dark at the entrance.

What struck me was the idea of the sky being very important as part of the building as well as the amount of floor space. The roof and the sky were one. Without the roof, the sky would not be seen so intently.

This led to the idea of doing three paintings as a triptych. Heaven, Earth and Humanity.

These were the first attempts the following week. 

I wanted to get down the main structure and see how they would fit together.

 Third Friday. Final paintings..


This was about bringing the paintings to a conclusion and I decided to make the space of the floor the feature but instead of space, I concentrated on the reflections and made the lower area more structured. A hint of the metal work of the roof and sky to show the light coming in.

 What impressed me most was the feeling of the metal structure towering over my head.The enormity of space and light was the reason to show the metal work darker at the top of the painting and melting into the building.

The idea of heaven became more about the structure of the roof.

 The two figures of our tutors having coffee, Ginny's striped skirt and the difference between Jane's complexion ( she is Greek) and Ginny's fairness, the splotches of red and acid green of tablecloths, all seemed to sum up the effect of people between the two vast spaces.

All three paintings have in common the door which is the brightest yet smallest part of the paintings. The entrance and connection which makes the whole experience possible. 

Leith.. Ink and Bleach

Today at Leith School of Art was a new experience. We were handed some blue ink, brown ink, a one inch brush, a stick and some bleach. There were two models. One in Japanese costume and one nude and they alternated betwen the main studio and the sculpture room.
First was a series of 3 minute sketches with ink, brush and stick on A4 paper. Then came some more 3 minute poses but this time using bleach to take away from the drawing in order to put back more correct lines.

I found this extremely difficult as I was not sure what I was doing and then the bleach made everything run so much that there was a real mess on the paper. I could not draw into the bleach because the lines went fuzzy, also the stick was unwieldy. The blue ink turned green and trying to do a life drawing with the tools getting in the way so much seemed impossible.

The afternoon was spent in doing a pose for an hour. Point of despair came quickly and I had to ask for help from the tutor, Jane. She suggested covering the paper with ink and drawing with the stick using bleach to take away rather than using the ink on white paper. This helped.

First of the life drawings using ink, brush and stick.


 My drawing suffered as a result of trying to use the stick, which seemed to have a mind of it's own. It was two feet long and slightly bent.

I was also experimenting on putting the figure to one side of the paper instead of in the middle. Trying to work on composition as well as the form.
The left drawing did not work so well but I am more pleased with the ones on the right.

This was more successful as I got used to the materials.











However, when using the bleach, my drawing went completely off track. Shoulder problems! Tired to use bleach to get rid of bad drawing but made a great mess instead.

 This one was a nightmare as the model was practically in silhouette and I did not know how to start so left out the bleach!
Told by tutor, Jane, to persevere.. ( Leith School of Art motto)

Result was another mess.












After lunch was the hour long drawing. I chose the Japanese girl thinking it might be easier. Wrong!


A1 paper and too much to think about. Her Kimono was highly patterned and she was sitting on a chair on a patterned rug.
The angle of her knee made it look as if she were standing and as I was drawing the ink and bleach was running everywhere.

Hopefully, it was beginning to get somewhere after half an hour. Detail was out of the question and so was any attempt at pattern. Feet turned into a blur and despair took over once again.

However, at the end of the day, I was very glad to have had such an interesting experience and might even try it again..