Another ink and gouache resist

Taking a break from bookmarks and Christmas card production, I have started another small ink and gouache resist painting.

This little sketch was done after a wander round the forest paths on the Longleat estate in Wiltshire some 5 years ago.  I call it The Gamekeeper's Cottage - I am not sure if that is correct, but there seemed to be dozens of pheasants strutting around in the vicinity.

Pen and wash - approx 4" x 3"

Pencil and watercolour under-wash - 10" x 6.5"

Part way through adding white gouache

I can already see that I will have to reinforce some areas of gouache to ensure the subsequent Indian ink wash doesn't dirty the areas I need to keep the lightest.

(See the final image here.)

Northern Lights

Our local art group challenge this month was the create a travel poster illustration in the style of those of the 1930s or 1940s.

My effort was inspired by a winter trip to Norway some years ago - my reference was a photo taken on our visit to North Cape on the Norwegian island of Mageroya.  Later, on our journey south, we witnessed the Aurora Borealis, so I was keen to include that phenomenon to highlight the sculpture on the headland.

The effect of the Northern Lights was achieved by dry-brushing iridescent green and blue acrylic through a mask, then adding touches of metallic wax crayon once it had dried.  Obviously, the appearance changes according to the surrounding light conditions, so it is not easy to photograph.

North Cape - Acrylic and mixed media - 6.5" x 8"

North Cape (detail) photographed in artificial light

Some time ago I attempted to capture a similar scene in watercolour.

Northern Lights - watercolour

Lino prints

The bookmark project is progressing well - I have been painting backgrounds, printing, cutting and collaging.  To date, I am a third of the way to the target of 100.  As these will not be released until September 2017, I suppose further progress pictures will have to wait until then!

Meanwhile, I have been trialling a couple of prints for my personal Christmas cards this year.  I will probably try out different printing or background colours before I decide on the final format. The Christmas rose on the black paper has already had some hand-colouring added.

Sketch outing

For our November sketch outing we met in the comfort and warmth of the Central Library cafe.  We had been asked not to sketch individual library visitors so we dispersed to the upper floors and made the most of the internal architecture of the building or views from the windows.  My effort was of the Town Hall clock tower - a bit wonky as I was straining to look up from my viewpoint (that's my excuse, anyway!).

Sanguine Pitt artist pen and W&N Burnt Sienna watercolour marker

Handmade books and cards

I really enjoy spending an evening randomly painting and printing sheets of paper to use for folded books and special occasion cards.  Things can get quite messy and sometimes an unpromising start can turn out to be really effective.  These are some of the results of my past efforts.

Outside front - folded size 3.5" x 5.5"

Inside

This is made from one sheet of paper - no glue or stitching needed - but both sides of the paper are painted differently to highlight the folded nature of the book.  (The greetings and floral motif on cream paper were printed on the computer and added separately.)

Handmade card and envelope - approx. 4.5" square

Origami box with paper band (approx. 4" square)

This was difficult to fold neatly, I should have used a much thinner paper.  Again, the paper was painted on both sides in toning colours.  It opens up like a little box to reveal a separate folded message inside (unfortunately I forgot to photograph that bit before I put it in the post!).

Folded card with paper buttons (outside)

Similar to the blue one above, but with paper flower insert