2026: back to analogue

I had quite a long spell off over the Christmas break, and I enjoyed spending some of that time reacquainting myself with physical art supplies instead of an iPad and Apple pencil. This was in deliberate contrast to my art practice of the last couple of years, where the smallest mistake could be erased with a tap of the fingers. I had trained myself into a myopic view of the artwork and agonised over colour choices and mark-making, undoing and redoing until I was satisfied. This, as you can imagine, is a remarkably poor habit to get into as an artist.

Digital tools have their place, and they were my first and only port of call for the last few years, almost solely because Procreate is fun and you can bring an iPad pretty much anywhere, unlike paper, brushes and jam jars of dirty water.

So, in order to go full 'cold turkey', I forced myself into small watercolour studies, using a relatively large brush on smaller pieces of paper. This technique has the advantage of not allowing the painter to create or obsess over small details, simply because they're not possible to create. Watercolours are also quite unpredictable and tend to move and diffuse as they wish, which is perturbing to someone more accustomed to digital art.

I then graduated to larger pieces of paper but still trying to keep as loose and expressive as possible. I concentrated on landscapes of the local area; seascapes, coastal views and some hilly landscapes. We're very lucky in Larne to be so close to such diverse geographies, and I loved going out to take reference photos for later paintings.

I find plain old ultramarine blue a tad dull as a sky colour in watercolour paintings, so gravitated more to skies with pink sunrise/sunset colours. or early morning skies with watery lemon horizons transitioning to blue. My colour schemes in general were in complementary shades of green and pink and avoided looking too realistic, aiming more towards a mood of dreamy stillness. Working with a relatively limited palette is another muscle that I badly needed to exercise.

After a couple of weeks of concentration on watercolours, I mustered up the courage to bring out the acrylic paints. I produced some small landscapes, mainly paintings of the Antrim hills with cloudy skies. I have always been inspired by our fragile peat bog ecosystems, and love nothing more than a moody impressionist landscape, so bringing these two together was rewarding.

I used small hog hair brushes to create visible paint strokes for a more energetic feel. Using a retarding medium brought the acrylic experience a little closer to painting with oils, without the disadvantages of solvents and potential muddiness of colour.

I recently read some articles on the topic of art and AI, and it's honestly depressing. Aside from the unethical and disastrous environmental aspects of AI, it saddens me that the concept of art can now be cheapened to "chatgpt made it". I think we will soon see a renewed appreciation for original physical artworks, pottery and sculpture as they still require the human hand and cannot be easily replaced by an algorithm.

With that in mind, and wanting to also reduce my screentime in 2026, I've decided to concentrate on original paintings for the time being. This move to a more 'analogue' art practice will force me to work at a slower pace, intentionally taking time to sit in the studio and not half watching the tv while drawing on the iPad. This is no bad thing, I think. I look forward to seeing how my art practice develops by doing this, and I hope you'll join me on my journey!