paintings prints and stuff

Ogwen Valley, Low cloud on the mountains, A3 mixed media After the charcoal sketch done in the morning my friends walked up to a higher lake, I painted quietly on my own.  So peaceful with the clouds drifting by, the steep hills cut with tumbling waterfalls and the single track road winding up and down throught the rocks.  I love the drama of the contours of the land and the rocks, barely covered by soil. We really didn't only have rainy days!  though the mixed weather meant beautiful skies and challenges. Big black Welsh cattle with their huge hooves lumbered by, followed by calves scrambling uncertainly down those steep hillsides.  I'd always assumed that this was the old, original road (main road is across the valley) but a lovely friendly lady told me it was built by a lord of the manor so that his guests had a scenic carriage ride when they came to stay. Just as I finished this, the friends phoned to say they were back down the mountain and we join...

Sketch in acrylic ink, tinted graphite and a touch of coloured pencil I currently have all my classes looking at trees at the moment - considering the individuality of them, looking at various artists past and contemporary.  Contemporary includes some friends and also artists I don't know but admire , these include Bridget Hunter. Glen Heath, David Parfitt, David Prentice, David Tress, Kurt Jackson, Shirley Trevena, Cheryl Culver and lots more. I don't have time to add links, sorry,  but google them if you are interested?  Past includes Mondrian, Klimt, Van Gogh, Monet etc etc etc  I really like Mondrian's trees and Klimt too. There was a page in a sketchbook where I had experimented with tinted graphite, doing a moody image of rain approaching across the bay.  It was just a tester and was quite boring.  I decided to work over it, keeping it as background and working in grey and white acrylic ink (plus a little more tinted graphite and a touch of co...

A new project, working around ideas with ink I'm revisiting an old idea and developing it.   Some time ago I did a couple of abstract paintings based on the idea of the Harlequin costume from the Comedia del Arte.   One shown below is a 30x40 inch canvas. The one above was also trying out my new Sailor Flude pen - which I really like.  It's odd curved tip allows me to draw with the pen quite upright or tip it to make broad marks- the thickness of the lines in the sketch above were all done with the one pen, just angled differently. Harlequin.   Mixed media on canvas 30x40inches This time I'm looking at Columbine as well - her costume sometimes echoed the pattern of Harlequin's.   Costumes - the Comedia company were travelling players - costumes were often ragged and patched, which was the origin of the diamond pattern now seen as traditionally Harlequin.   I have got hooked on the raggedness as well as the patterns of...

sunglasses and eye drops, backlit,  ink drawing in A4 S&B Zeta sketchbook I've been neglecting my blog lately.   A mixture of a Mount Everest of marking and paperwork to do : >( and having had laser eye surgery.............. and being able to see without glasses (except for reading small print).  : >)    Yay!!!!!! I liked the backlit arrangement of clutter relevant to the surgery on my desk after I'd used the eye drops and decided to draw it.  It started off with some Herbin Gris Nuage but it didn't go dark enough for the shadows so I added FW acrylic Paynes grey ink and touch of their white ink to regain some highlights ,,,, then a small touch of Tombow pen.  The stick I used was a handle from a broken paintbrush, sharpened with a pencil sharpener.   I think I prefer the freer marks of twigs but it worked very well.  There was of course also water and a paintbrush for creating washes of paler ink. There were ...

Experimenting with still life - jazz in paint.  Watercolour and oil pastel I meet up with a group of friends, fellow painters, once a month and we critique each others work, talk about art, exhibitions. artists etc and put on exhibitions ourselves.  We all work very differently.   We decided to challenge ourselves to tackle a subject we rarely do - still life - and each find an angle on it that makes it interesting to us.  We've talked about doing a project on it for some time and decided to stop talking and start doing : >).  We all have to take an A3 painting to the next meeting.  This is mine so far. As usual, the photograph doesn't bring out some of the subtle colour changes : >( This is based on sketches I did a year or two ago- you can see some of them here , here , here and here . This one was done with watercolour on Khadi rag paper (A3) with some gold, copper,  orange and irridescent pale blue Sennelier oil pastel scri...

Sketches with a variety of pens, Rotring and Lamy fountain pens, a Tombow double ended brush pen, a Sharpie and a Parker ballpoint pen. In S&B Zeta A4 sketchbook, ideal for ink as it's smooth, heavy paper lets the pen flow. Examples are for a forthcoming class, showing some of the marks each pen can make, alone or with a water brush to create washes of tone with the water soluble inks.  I simply drew items from my pencil case. The last sketch, of scissors, uses a mix of fountain pen, Sharpie and Tombow. The grey Tombow giving varied washes of tone, the fountain pen with black ink for fine lines and the Sharpie for flat, even, intense black. These are the pens I keep in my pencil case.  The Rotring pen I bought many years ago nd I've never had any problems with it.  I'm giving the Lamy a second chance, the first one started off ok but the the ink just refused to flow no matter how much I cleaned it.  It did not impress me.  Friends l...

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.

 Detail of the drawing It's a long time since I did any drawing with ink and twigs.  They make such a lovely range of marks with different tones and textures, I should do it more often. The drawing below was done mainly with twigs from the garden (image at end of post)  but also a bamboo pen , a shaped wooden stirrer from a cafe, a Tombo pen , a Sharpie and a very little black coloured penci l.  The Sharpie was a little too hard edged and doesn't gel enough with the fluid inks I feel but it was a fun experiment.   Using J Herbin Gris Nuage ink, I couldn't get the darks quite dark enough, which is why I tried the Sharpie.   There is also a little Daler Rowny FW white acrylic ink in there. It was done in the Derwent Panoramic book, 16.54 x 7.08 inches, 110lb paper.   I tried using watercolour in this book without success, the paper was too thin and buckled.  It worked well with the ink though. Edge of the Wood, ink sket...

Little courtyard off the waiting room, people waiting to be seen by the doctor; Rotring pen, water soluble felt pen with waterbrush and Parker jotter in Stillman and Birn Gamma Sketchbook I'm seeing rather too much of hospital waiting rooms at the moment - but the weather was nice so we waited in a little courtyard garden, just off the waiting room, for our appointment - which of course was running late.   Sketching people out in the fresh air relieved the boredom considerably :>) Not great sketches - my excuse is that the models kept twitching and moving and crocheting and suchlike, making it impossible to do the woman's hands for instance  - for me anyway. I just can't enjoy sketching like this with my Rotring pen - I find nibs too scratchy.  :>(    (man on the top right).   I binned my Lamy pen because no matter what I did or how I cleaned it,  it refused to let the ink flow freely - not one I'd ever buy again - unless Lamy...

It's flowing faster at the moment - I'm actually up to K in colour and M sketched out and ready to paint ......

Another page almost done.

Charcoal sketch with digital colour 1, A5 I did a charcoal sketch of this view down to the harbour at Sennen and then played with adding colour in Photoshop to make it moodier. And moodier ...... The original sketch in willow charcoal, carbon pencil, brush pen and biro It would be interesting to do a large charcoal sketch over watercolour washes to get the same moody feel but work more on the light contrasts.  I have to do some work for an upcoming pastel exhibition - could be one to do?   (charcoal and cp and some use of other media are acceptable for this - they aren't narrow minded),

With tonight's life drawing group in mind I did these very quick sketches of some of my class with the Pentel brush pen. I like the variety of marks it makes but of course, being ink, it's very unforgiving of mistakes! I've added a few unflattering years to the poor student below! Of course they moved constantly - so inconsiderate ; >D

Random objects with peacock feather, Vivien Blackburn Sometimes there is time for a quick sketch but not time for concentrating on more finished works - and sometimes it's relaxing to just practice observation in sketchbooks for no particular reason :>) These are recent doodles. Random objects with leaky tube of glue, Vivien Blackburn I'm not usually interested in traditional still life set ups. I find them a bit static and just not interesting enough. I do like them when they have a twist that makes them exciting though - like the red shoes or glowing paper bags of Nicole Caulfield or the dynamic watercolour still lifes of Shirley Trevena . It's something I keep meaning to experiment with - maybe this winter? you can see other still life sketches here I have to get some stuff ready for an exhibition I'm taking part in with a small group of friends - more on that and planning for exhibitions coming soon ...............

doodles Does anyone else have problems with mechanical pencils? Mine seem to have such a short life :>( One of them is at the top of this doodle. I love them because you don't have to sharpen them and the eraser is part of the pencil and so they are ideal for minimal equipment sketching. They always always seem to eventually get clogged or the mechanism fails. How to unclog them? a really fine needle isn't fine enough or strong enough it seems. Is there something I could soak them in ? like oil or something? These doodle were done with a Kuretake pen - which I find a bit scratchy somehow. I'm not sure how much I like the feel of it in use.

Imaginary seascape from twisted tree root, watercolour, gouache, ink, oil pastel, coloured pencil This is the seascape I did from the previous tree root sketch. The curves of it suggested one of those arches of rock carved out by the sea. I started out with free lines in ink, using a piece of thin wood as a pen. Then I just kept working into it, trying to keep some of the lines of the sketch. It's about 14x10 inches. I could certainly work further from it but it's staying as an experiment rather than a finished piece I think. I'd swirl the lines a bit more in doing it again to regain the dynamic shapes of the wood, which have got a little lost here? Later a small sketch that made a landscape from a flint stone .... click here to see original post on the source drawing