paintings prints and stuff

Vivien Blackburn's work in the Urban/Rural show We've just hung a group show at the The Eye Project, Urban/Rural show.  If you want to come and see it it's on for a month - well worth seeing, 11 lovely artists and some fabulous work. Those large canvasses are 40 inches square. There are rural landscapes, flowerscapes, intriguing textile work including a large knitted building, abstracts .... something for everyone. It's in the gallery below the cafe in the Adult Education Centre at the top of Wellington street, Leicester, opposite Fenwicks.  Meet the Arttists day is Saturday 1st April 10-2.  Come and have a chat with us?

St Ives from Gwithian Towans. sketch in S&B Delta sketchbook, watercolour, mixed media Another plein air sketch from the recent trip down to Cornwall.   Moody days are so much more interesting to paint sometimes than blue skies. Done in the S&B sketchbook with watercolours and Derwent tinted charcoal pencil, which is water soluble. I wish I was there now!  There is a grass that grows on the clifftops that goes the most beautiful scarlet at this time of year, I'd so like to be sketching there. More to follow ......

The tip of the headland with St Ives, from Gwithian Towans, watercolour and mixed media in S&B Delta sketchbook A cloudy day, looking across the estuary. That's the tip of St Ives just showing across the bay. Done mainly in watercolour with a touch of white gouache and some Derwent tinted charcoal pencils. Sometimes not-such-good-weather is more interesting to paint.

Bosworlas farm from the valley.  Watercolour and mixed media. Just a quick post to prove that I have been working!   Life has been a bit hectic. The Cornish farmhouse where we stayed one year, on the edge of the moor, above a rushing stream that tumbles down to the sea a little further down at Porth Nanven, below, one of my favourite places.  This painting of the farm  is currently on show at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery on New Walk. Porth Nanven, the Brisons and Cot Valley Now to finish a painting I need done  urgently ......

A sketch done looking across at the Farne Islands from the far end of the beach at Bamburgh, mixed media Another from the Norhumbria sketchbook.   A blue windy day.

Rocks and surf near Bamburgh and Howick, ink and charcoal in an A4 S&B Delta sketchbook There were lovely long stretches of sandy beach but the rocks here were so interesting to sketch.   You can read about the geology here , so different from the rocks I'm used to sketching in Cornwall . This was done in a cold cold wind with willow charcoal and grey ink, plus some white FW acrylic ink from Daler Rowney.  I love that white ink.   I like the Herbin Gris Nuage ink to draw with twigs as I was here - but it ruins fountain pens : >(.  It was sold as suitable for them too.    Ah well, a fountain pen wouldn't have given me the expressive lines that the twigs did : >) You can see a drawing done with the grey ink using twigs here . I've now got several projects to juggle.  One for an exhibition and others for Christmas .... more to comel

What are your favourite sketchbooks?  Obviously this will vary enormously depending on what you want from your sketchbooks and the media used. For me the quality of the paper is crucial.   I really dislike working on flimsy paper or paper that buckles with water media.  Sketchbooks are an important part of my work, for research, plein air work, thinking around ideas and keeping notes, jotting down interesting information and simply observing and practising.  They need to cope with anything from simple pencil to watercolours, oils, charcoal, pen, pastel, collage, eyeshadow .... anything !  Some sketchbooks are 'general' and can contain a mix of subjects.  Others are themed, like books I take on trips or that work around an idea.  On the whole I prefer larger sketchbooks. A4+, but do also find smaller ones handy for keeping in the car, taking to hospital appointments etc So these are ones that I have chosen to comment on - favourites - ...

Across the bay, approaching rain, graphite stick and watercolour in Stillman and Birn Beta hardback sketchbook. The weather has been what the Scots call dreich - grey. rain, sleet, cold wind, grim - and it seems to have crept into this work! It's done from memory of watching the rain approaching across the bay, making the sea and headland almost disappear.   The foreground will soon disappear as well as the rain arrives but for the moment shows more clearly. I put a few pale washes of watercolour down and then worked over it with a graphite stick from Derwent, something I haven't used in ages.   I really enjoyed the veils of tone and drawing back into it with an eraser.   I don't know if you can read the elements in it?  (Sky, headland, sea, waves, beach) The new XL tinted graphite sticks would be great for this, I can't wait to get them .  Has anyone tried them yet?

This is somewhere I've sketched before as part of the waterways/Leicestershire project. It's an old packhorse bridge over flood meadows where the river Biam meets the river Soar. It used to be 200 yards long but only 50 survive. A lot was demolished when the canal and railway were built through the site. The buttresses sticking out are cut waters, protecting the bridge from the pressure of floods, keeping it standing for 600 years. Nearby is a field still showing the ridges of medieval strip farming, the canal and a railway track that is now a path for strollers and cyclists. It makes a route that cuts right across the city, joining with the canal towpath, through these meadows, industrial areas, through parks, the backs of houses, by my old university, finally reaching water meadows on the other side of town. This started with watercolour and continued with ballpoint pen, art bars, graphitints and gouache ... The kitchen sink may be in there somewhere.  Watercolour a...

Trying out Derwent's inktense, watercolour pencils, Graphitint, Graphitone, Artbars and more on their new watercolour paper pads Derwent Watercolour Paper Derwent have brought out some new watercolour paper pads , perfect for their water soluble pencils and crayons.   It's 140lb which is heavy enough for the amount of water I'd normally use with these - I wouldn't normally have huge wet washes. I tried out sketches of items from my sketching roll and various coloured pencils and crayons.  All worked really well, the surface was a delight to work on with colour flowing freely, with the potential to lose or keep marks as I wanted. Products used here were  Derwent watercolour pencils Derwent Inktense Derwent Graphitint Derwent Graphitone Derwent Artbars Derwent Aquatone Derwent Charcoal Pencil Rotring Art Pen ....  with sketches of their electric eraser, sharpener for pastels and waterbrush, just some of the things from my pencil roll ...

Across the Fields near Great Bowden A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook, willow charcoal and Derwent charcoal pencil A charcoal sketch on a hazy but sunny morning with layers of spring growth.   First the long grass and cow parsley of the verge, some light against dark, some dark against light.  Then the hawthorn hedge - a complex mix of light and dark and gaps between twigs where the field could be seen through.  Then a field of growing wheat, a further hawthorn hedge, a bright yellow field of rape, a further hedge beyond which the land falls away to a valley -  and then the far hills, blue and hazy with a few distant fields outlined by more hedges and more yellow rape.  On the right a distant wood looking deeper blue.  Patern and tone. I had actually gone to sketch more sheep but they'd been moved to another field. Every year I mean to sketch the fields when these vivid areas of bright yellow are there and usually don't make it in time....

Waiting outside the surgery, Pentel Brush Pen, A4 quick sketch Waiting for my mother to have her blood test done - a regular trip - I sketched the view from the car again.   Music on and a sketchpad and I don't mind the wait :>) This one was done with a Pentel Brush Pen - unforgiving but lovely to use.   I decided to use the brush pen as I knew it would be fast - last visit I only got this far and she back out and ready for home ........ sketch done in biro A4 From a different parking space, obviously. It isn't easy to keep lines straight when leaning on the steering wheel is it?

My well used, watercolour box - the hinge is broken on one side and the lid is held on by gaffer tape and it needs a bit of a clean up! When I did the post on my oil painting plein air kit, I said I'd do a follow up on what I take if I'm going to work plein air with watercolour and mixed media.   You really don't need to buy special kits and they will never be quite 'right' for what you want to take. Here it is  .............. The Paintbox : I hesitate to show this grubby specimen!   but this is the true state of it so I'll be honest!    :>)   I bought this at an art materials fair years and years ago. I don 't use a small travel size watercolour box because I like a wider variety of colours to choose from  - and quite honestly the size/weight difference isn't huge - the weight comes from the bottle of water not the paints.  It's a White Nights set of full pans in a box that held 24, see above.   The central s...

Wells next the Sea, blue blue day. oil on paper , (old painting ) What do you call your sketchbooks - journals? or sketchbooks? For me they are definitely sketch books, gathering and recording information and working through ideas. Some rough and quick, some much more 'finished'. Even though I do often write in them about the day, the light, the history or interesting facts that add to the feel of the place and the memories for me. (not to mention shopping lists of art materials, artists quotes, information on exhibitions, things stuck in and lots more) They are a resource to draw on in the future. Sometimes I take work out and frame it - that happened to the one above. If I remove it, then I do a scan and put a print in its place so the information and link to the work before and after isn't lost. Usually it remains in the sketchbook though. Some make journals with text and image beautifully balanced - it's an ongoing diary, a stream of consciousness. So w...

Sam playing football on the beach with his Dad and Grandad I'm working on the illustrations that feature Sam. In this one I've re-used a sketch I did of Sam playing football in the summer. I scanned, cropped and printed it, coloured it, removed the grass, substitued sand and added the legs to suggest his father or grandfather. Yet to tackle are cows, Farmer Tommy on his tractor and Sam jumping down a flight of steps ..... mmm ....

Dawn at Sennen Cove, coloured pencil in Moleskine sketchbook, Vivien Blackburn Quick sketch of the sun burning through the dawn clouds in coloured pencil in a moleskine sketchbook. The colours used are on the left hand page. As promised - Links to the participants in my skies challenge. The challenge was to paint skies at different times and in different weathers - from observation not photographs. No particular order here, just added as they arrived :>) There is some lovely work so do take a look Dinah Mow sky studies and more here Laura sky studies Jeanette sky studies Sydney sky studies Doug sky studies and Katherine Tyrrell gave me these links: Canary Wharf Sky 31st January 2007 - Canary Wharf Sky from Greenwich 31st January 2007 two - Canary Wharf Sky - 4.51pm, 8th February 2006 and Canary Wharf Sky - 7.55am, 2nd January 2007 in Advice for Artists Canary Wharf Sky - 3.47pm, 6th December 2006 Canary Wharf Sky - 8.24am, 13th January 2006 Canary Wharf Sky - 4.52pm 18th Novem...

Linoprints with coloured pencil in sketchbook. Vivien Blackburn I've been experimenting with those linoprints, The first one done on tracing paper glued to the left hand page, coloured on the reverse side (so the image is reversed and the print paler). The image was then continued on the other page of the sketchbook with the cp's. The paper is hand made with quite a rough texture and ragged edges, The second one was printed on white tissue paper and continued across the book in the same way, again with coloured pencils. The last one isn't a good photo - it looks better IRL, the oil pastel is shining in the light a bit and not showing the colours well. It's the monoprint roll up with the overprinted tree, worked into with coloured pencils and a little oil pastel. straight linoprint and sketch - a reminder of the source of these images I'm playing with digital versions as well -you are going to be sick of this willow!

Liquid , collage, hand made sketchbook experiment. Vivien Blackburn I've been talking to friends and students about visual language a lot just lately. Playing a Suzanne Vega CD in the car coming home, some of her lyrics echoed the conversations - so visual and expressive: If language were liquid It would be rushing in Instead here we are In a silence more eloquent Than any word could ever be These words are too solid They don't move fast enough To catch the blur in the brain That flies by and is gone Gone Gone Gone ........... and Find the line, find the shape Through the grain Find the outline, things will Tell you their name Suzanne Vega, from Language and Night Vision 'too solid' - 'don't move fast enough to catch the blur in the brain' before it's gone - yes that's sketching in the landscape with our changing English light. Fleeting flashes of sunlight or passing clouds on the sea or a hillside, pure drama . This is why so often I like to sk...

Aylestone Meadows, pollarded willow, detail I did this mixed media sketch in the leather sketchbook, it's smaller than the one on Watermarks (link at end of post) It didn't photograph or scan very well on the hand made paper so I've shown a detail above which shows the glowing colours. The late afternoon sun glowed amber on the pollarded willows but the surrounding landscape was all cold pale blue greys and dried reeds and grasses. It was a very cold day. Pollarded Willow, Aylestone Meadows, Vivien Blackburn I'm planning to revisit this area over the course of the year, looking at it as the seasons and light change. I was sketching near these willows once when I saw a grass snake come swimming down towards me and come out just next to me through the reeds - he just slithered leisurely on his way, totally ignoring me. There is a larger painting of the same trees on the Watermarks blog. Do you revisit a place, studying it in different lights? Tina has written ...

Sennen Cove, Cornwall, sketch in oil paint, Vivien Blackburn I really like sketching directly in oil paints, it allows alterations and changes, layering, scratching through ..... so adjustable :>) This is an oil sketch in my sketchbook. I rather like working on paper - I know it isn't archivally sound but it's a sketch - and Toulouse Lautrec and Degas did it - so it'll do for me! I can close the page when I've finished and get a slight print on the facing page but the pages don't stick and it doesn't harm the painting at all - I can then work on the next page and the next ....... I use Griffin Alkyd quick drying oil paints for this and they are dry by the next day. Done with a palette knife for ease and speed. This is a view of a section of the bay shown in the previous watercolour but this time on a sunny day with vividly blue sea - I do love the way it changes colour.