More mini doodles

Not all my efforts in this series have been successful or pleasing.  The first two below are rather dull.  I used a base coat of gold acrylic ink for the fuchsia, thinking it would gleam through the subsequent washes of watercolour, but rather it seemed to dull them down.  Adding gouache to try and brighten things up didn't work either.  The hollyhocks were painted in gouache over a watercolour base, with added watercolour pencil, gel pens and Neopastel - definitely lacking the delicacy of the actual flowers. (All in a Moleskine sketchbook)

Gold ink base, with watercolour, gouache
and gel pen (3" x 3")

Watercolour, gouache, watercolour pencil,
gel pens and Neopastel (3" x 3")

Watercolour and fine liner pen (3" x 3")

Another sketch outing

Another sketching trip with a couple of friends to a farm cafe in the Cotswolds, complete with adjacent alpaca herd.  We had booked a table for lunch in the delightful courtyard garden and spent a pleasant few hours chatting and sketching.  

The original drawing and initial watercolour washes were done in situ, but I planned to add a bit more detail when I got home. I made a complete hash when I tried to add a background sky, then added more gouache which made it even worse!  The solution - use a strip of the same colour paper from a blank page, cut round the shapes of the umbrella and background foliage and stick it over the offending area.  Total disaster averted.

Pen, watercolour, gouache, wax pastel in
Hahnemuehle cappuccino sketchbook

Lockdown embroidery

Having tried my hand at a number of small, randomly sized embroidery pieces, I thought it was time I went forward with some plan in mind.   

In July 2019 I made a paper fabric slipcase for my mini iPad.  Needless to say, it is in constant daily use and is now beginning to show signs of wear on the outside edges.  So, my next effort will be an embroidered patchwork concoction.  I had some leftover black cotton material which I have cut into 4" squares, planning my sewn designs to fit approximately into a 2.5" square area.  I'm using a pale pastel pencil to draw on the fabric, although this does tend to rub off easily before the sewing is finished.

I will need 12 individual squares in total.  Here is progress so far:

Sketches on black paper continued

Three more sketches in the Hahnemuehle black book.  I had intended to complete the clematis in just the Caran d'Ache Neopastel, but my sketch was a bit small for their broad textured marks.  I attempted to blend the colours in the top two petals with a Colour Shaper, but preferred the rougher application on the rest of the image.  However, it needed something to add more definition so I resorted to overlays of watercolour tinted gouache - I like the resist effect over the waxy pastels.

I like to keep a white gel pen in my sketching kit, but cannot find a make that doesn't let me down after a few uses.  A while ago I picked up a set of three "marbled", multi-colour gel pens - the colours are very muted and they look more like silver on the black paper, but they've certainly been more reliable than the white.  Unfortunately, they are no substitute for an opaque white when adding highlights to a pen and wash sketch on white or light-toned paper.

Different media on black paper

Another page in the Hahnemuhle Black Book.

The small knapweed sketch made with metallic gel pens certainly stands out on the black background.  Colour choices are limited, but I did add a bit of coloured pencil for the brown base of the flower.

I was going to use watercolour crayons for the cape primrose, but they weren't opaque enough against the dark background, so I reverted to gouache plus some watercolour to get the colours needed.

I have only a small selection of pastels and pastel pencils and must admit don't use them often as I can't get to grips with their fragility as a sketching medium. However I do admire the work of artists who use them well, particularly if not over-blended.  In the rose image, I also used Derwent Drawing pencils which are a soft, wax-based product, available in very muted colours.  To me they feel very similar to pastels.  I did use a fixative on this sketch which appeared to dull the colours slightly.

Re-worked ink resist painting

Earlier this year I attempted a gouache and ink resist painting using one of my urban sketches as reference.

Radnor Street Chapel - approx. 10" x 7"
- gouache, Indian ink, watercolour

It was relegated to the unresolved pile as the trees looked stilted and the background messy.  A couple of months later I decided to use my limited supply of pastels to see if I could make any improvement.

The sky, trees and the background were the main areas altered, with some final flicks of pastel in the foreground.  It still doesn't make the grade, but it gave me a chance to try out my neglected pastels without being too worried about the final outcome.

Sketches on tan paper

Having finished my Grey Book, I wanted to try out another toned paper.  I chose an A5 Paperchase tan sketchbook and I am still experimenting with the best materials to use in it.  Ordinary graphite pencil doesn't show up at all well - a much bolder approach is needed.  The paper wouldn't be suitable for very wet applications of paint, it does wrinkle slightly with light washes but that is something I can live with.

Inktense pencils, Neocolour II white and white gel pen

Brown watercolour pencil, white Luminance pencil

Pen, gouache and Neopastels

Expressive Textured Winter Landscapes in Mixed Media

I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday's workshop with Soraya French.  With some careful packing, I managed to fit all the suggested materials into a rucksack and a shopping bag so my journey on the bus was not too fraught (apart from delays with rush hour traffic and road works).

Soraya's teaching style was relaxed and easy to follow and she was able to advise and encourage each student individually.  Her first demonstration painting was split into two parts so that we could prepare our paper or canvas surface with various textures (gels, gesso, pastes, collage etc.) and a base wash, before we forgot that part of the process.  This also allowed our work to dry before following up with painting, over-painting, glazing and refining with heavy body acrylic, ink, pastel and wax crayon.

I changed my mind about the sketches I was going to use as my reference.  The first was from a small study of the Neolithic stones at Avebury.

Avebury Stones - pen and watercolour 3" x 5"

I find it quite difficult to relinquish my "watercolour" mindset when using other mediums, so these workshop efforts are quite rough, but I did feel I managed to overcome that to some extent.

Ink, collage, texture paste, gesso, pumice gel, acrylic
and some final touches of pastel and wax crayon

This was my next reference sketch:

On the Polar Road from Narvik - pen and watercolour  5" x 5"

This interpretation was definitely a bit messy!
Ink, texture paste, gesso, acrylic, wax crayon

For my final attempt I decided I might have more success if I followed Soraya's second demonstration piece more closely.

Ink, texture paste, acrylic, with some wax crayon and pastel

I used Hahnemuhle Britannia watercolour paper (approx. 9" x 12") for these acrylic paintings and it certainly stood up well to the battering it got.  The only downside was that the low-tack masking tape I used to attach it to my painting board pulled away some of the paper surface when I tried to remove it.

Life Drawing

My local art society held a 2 hour life drawing workshop this weekend.  The first half was with the model clothed, the second half unclothed.  Despite quite a short time span, those attending managed to produce quite a few very good sketches.  It's definitely something I could do with more practice at.

We started off each session with a couple of 5 minute warm-ups, followed by two longer poses of 20/25 minutes.

Three of my 5 minute warm-ups:

Charcoal pencil

Charcoal pencil

Conte pencil

A couple of the longer poses:

Charcoal and pastel pencil

Charcoal and pastel pencil over
acrylic sponged background

Abstract

The challenge at our monthly art workshop yesterday was to make an abstract composition.  Quite a few of us were unfamiliar with this concept, but we were given a brief explanation and shown some examples of other artists' work to get us started.  It certainly made a change from our usual subject matter and, judging from the quiet concentration for a couple of hours, we all entered into the spirit of exploration.

My effort was on black paper, using Caran d'Ache Neo-pastels, gouache and some coloured pencil.  I quite liked the effect of the gouache over the waxy pastels - another technique which could come in useful in mixed media paintings.

11" x 16"

Indian ink and gouache resist step-by-step

This scene was sketched while on holiday in Suffolk (UK), sitting on the village green overlooking these wonderful wonky houses and the general store with its very low lintel (hence its name “Duck or Grouse Village Store”).  The sun was shining, we had just finished the ice creams we had treated ourselves to at the village shop - a perfect opportunity for a quick pen and wash sketch before exploring the rest of the village.

Pen and wash sketch -  approx 7” x 4”

A couple of years later, an art club challenge to paint a shop front, had me choosing this subject from my travel journals.  I decided to crop out the far left of the pink building and, with reference to my sketch and a photo, I adjusted the Village Store for a head-on view, but left the cottages as they were. I enlarged and combined both sections on the computer for my final layout (10” x 6”).

Layout sketch - 10” x 6”

I have used this Indian ink and gouache resist technique on a number of occasions over the past few years and find it particularly suitable for depicting old buildings. So that was my choice of medium for this subject.

The layout was traced onto stretched watercolour paper and a variegated base watercolour wash laid down and allowed to dry – this wash enabled me to see more clearly where I was applying the white gouache which followed.. The gouache was carefully painted over this base, leaving proposed dark areas and outlines untouched for the subsequent Indian ink to sink into the paper. For areas I wanted to keep very light I made sure I applied a couple of layers of gouache; thinner applications will result in shaded or grey areas in the final piece.

Starting to apply white gouache over watercolour base (see tiles on lefthand roof)

The gouache needed to be thoroughly dry before using a wide flat brush to wash Indian ink quickly and with a light touch over the whole image – too much scrubbing and overlapping of brush strokes at this stage would disturb the gouache layer too soon. After another period of drying, it was time to put the painting under the tap, still taped to its backing board - with the aid of a stiff brush the gouache dissolved, removing most of the ink over it, but leaving the areas untouched by the gouache clearly defined.

Under the tap and washing off the ink

Another patient wait for the work to dry and assess the outcome. After this drastic process most of the watercolour base had also been washed off so more saturated watercolour washes were added. Normally I would consider the painting finished now, but on this occasion I obviously hadn’t applied the gouache thickly enough in places and this left me with some areas which I considered were far too dark. Rather than abandon the painting after all that effort I opted to try and make the necessary adjustments with some white acrylic and pastel. Fortunately, my alterations blended in well.

It is a rather convoluted process and the reveal after washing off the ink is often a surprise (not always welcome), but I quite like the “woodcut” appearance of the final painting.

Final image "Duck or Grouse Village Store" – 10” x 6” - Mixed Media

More paintings using this technique can be viewed in the Ink Resist Gallery page.