Crail, East Neuk of Fife – Inktense Pencils in a small Watercolour Moleskine
This is meant to complement my last “post” which was a sketch of the area, known as the “Shoregate”, at Crail Harbour. This view is from the “West Braes” area of the town. Many artists invade this part of the world and this is the iconic view of Crail with it’s harbour. Everyone wants to paint it and I am having nightmares as I have a “commission” to produce a large panorama of this scene. Each attempt gets worse. I really don’t know how some of you “Professional Artists” keep your sanity. This is meant to be a hobby for me!!!!!!
Crail is one of many small fishing villages along this part of the Fife coast. In days past, fishing was the major source of income and trading, with the continent of Europe, was brisk as far back as the 9th century. Up until the middle of the 20th century thousands of herring drifters were based at Crail, Cellardyke, Anstruther (pronounced “Ainster”), Pittenweem and St Monans, just some of the many small communities along this beautiful coastline. Today, the herring industry has gone and the main source of revenue is tourism. Many of these old buildings are either for rent or have been taken over as second homes. This area is well worth visiting if the weather is good. When the wind blows it can be wild. Life must have been hard in the old days.
roseindigo 2:37 pm on July 16, 2009 | #
I think this is a lovely little sketch, and obviously you have mastered the use of those Inktense pencils.
trebor61 5:00 am on July 17, 2009 | #
Thanks for these kind words although I still think I have a long way to go before I am “Inktense Experienced”. Incidentaly, my final painting will be nothing like this. By “brief” is to imagine Crail in days gone by with the fishing fleet setting sail. Could be as interesting as the Monthly Challenge. Bob
Margie 9:36 pm on July 20, 2009 | #
Good luck on the painting, Bob! This is a charming sketch.
trebor61 1:19 pm on July 21, 2009 | #
Good to hear from you again, Margie and thanks for these kind words. Do you know that you still have time to get something in for the monthly challenge – its “desserts” this month. With your superb “colourful” background you could surprise us all.
Margie 1:29 pm on July 21, 2009 | #
I had not realized that.. thanks for telling me… is the deadline the end of the month? I do love a great dessert.
How does one find out past month challenges and then look for them? So I search for keywords?
trebor61 1:53 am on July 22, 2009 | #
Hi Margie,
The deadline IS the end of this month but a new challenge, for August, will be advertised a couple of days before then.We decided that the best way to make use of the “forums” section of the site was to continue the idea of a challenge. Details of this can be found in the threads, “July Challenge” and “MONTHLY THEME CHALLENGE”. One way to access past submissions is to find someone’s post which will have tags such as “desserts, July09, Theme Challenge”. Click on “Theme Challenge” and all of the past posts will be displayed (assuming the folk submitting them tagged them in this way). Now click on the desired month to see all posts for that period or the title to see likewise. Its great fun and gets the creative juices flowing. We need lots more “themes” so I can draw them from the “Jar” so, if you have any ideas, please send them in.