Fun with Pen and Wash

Winter Heather and Statue, 32 x 24cms
Edding permanent pen and watercolour
on Fabriano 5 HP watercolour paper. 

I think the most popular media this Autumn Term, in the Mixed Media Class, was using pen and wash.  I planned two sessions - one either side of the half term break.  The first was using a permanent pen, which leaves a fairly uniform line even when using a 0.7mm.  The second session I introduced a dip pen and Indian ink which enables flowing calligraphic lines, and a more hit-and-miss approach.  I find the loss of precise control can lead to bolder, fresher work.  Whichever method, many people like to start with a simple pencil drawing to establish the composition, it gives confidence when starting with the pen as it cannot be erased - so any mistakes have to be incorporated and lived with! I suggest setting off with a bit of urgency when first going over the pencil lines in pen, working too slowly and deliberately can produce a very static line.  People are often surprised at how they unconsciously go on to embroider more details once they get going, and with surprising confidence. At any point the pencil lines can be erased to leave a clean pen image before introducing passages of watercolour.

The subject was quite open in that I suggested 'holiday' as a theme for exploration.  This could range from the broad holiday view of a scene captured on camera as a memory, to a close up detail of something of interest.  The example I worked up for the session (I usually photograph the stages and print off to show the progression) shows a weathered stone statue from a winter walk last year, the heather framed it so beautifully.  The cropped close up view below shows how I had to think about what sort of marks could be used to portray the various textures.

View close up - variety of marks to describe various textures.

For the session using the dip pens and Indian ink I chose to incorporate working from still life.  As an added interest I suggested looking at the illustrations used to advertise Worzals, a local garden centre/farm shop/cafe.

Adverts for Worzals Farm Shop.

Studying these illustrations closely showed not only the beautiful quality of line but also that some printing had been done using actual leaves etc.  A marvellous opportunity to have a go at another approach...

Calligraphic lines using a dip pen and Indian ink,
plus some leaves of the purple sprouting broccoli painted with ink
and used to print on Fabriano 5 HP watercolour paper. 

Ink painted onto head of purple sprouting broccoli
before used to print texture on the paper.

All very hit-and-miss,
loose lines added to enhance leaf prints, ink blots welcomed!

Watercolour washes added - free approach kept going
with paint not restricted by line and more spatter.

I also had fun with a second offering,  I couldn't resist these beetroot when I went shopping.  I think my enjoyment of the subject matter and treatment shows in the work itself!

No pencil drawing this time - straight in with the dip pen.
Beetroot cut in half to make print bottom left.  Brush also used to add ink as shadows. 

Watercolour washes added.

The feedback from the sessions was very encouraging and in the final session of term, when members can work on something of their own choice (or finish off work from previous weeks), many opted to have another go using one of these methods.

I also had another stint using the dip pen recently, this time with Quink Ink.  When diluted with water this ink tends to separate out into blues, greys and ochre - all by itself!  It is perfect for using in sketchbooks, but be aware that it is not very lightfast.

Studies of natural objects with dip pen and Quink Ink. 

Watercolour in Sketchbooks

Light sketch in pencil with watercolour

Last weekend I was visiting family in Hertfordshire and usually like to take a bunch of flowers as a small token of appreciation.  These irises were all tightly closed but once in a vase, and with the continuing heatwave, they quickly unfurled.  This double page spread was the start of a new sketchbook - always a bit nerve wracking!  The desire for a 'good' start is very strong.  I had to push the thought aside and just concentrate on an observational drawing in pencil.  I focused on clean lines and a few areas of hatching to suggest shading.  Plans were afoot to think about going out for the day so I had time constraints on the watercolour stage - always a help to stop the dreaded 'fiddling'.  I first washed some diluted lemon yellow selectively across the page with the intention of linking the yellow irises to the background.  Once dry I added stronger lemon to petals.  The study continued with blues and violet for the purple iris and bud.  The greens were made with pools of colour from the yellows and blues already used.  The flashes of cadmium yellow were added last.  Look closely and you might be able to detect where I scratched with a fingernail into damp washes to hint at some of the crinkle texture that I could see on some petals.  Doing this invites the pigment to settle darker into the indentations made on the paper. 

Nasturtium - pencil and watercolour in sketchbook

Early evening - sitting outside in the shade - Pimm's in one hand and a pencil in the other!  A long tendril from a nasturtium plant was starting to snake out along the paving slabs and begged to be captured in a sketch with vibrant colour to make it sing.  Careful observation and the complexity of the plant became apparent.  I had to simplify the leaf shapes and almost trust my hand to transcribe what my eye was seeing as it travelled along the stem.  I actually started with the little cluster of pale buds and new baby leaves on the far left and let the composition grow organically as I sketched my way across the pages.  The lighting was flat and even as I sat in the shade, so it left me free to study the local colour of the flowers rather than the colour as it was affected by light and shadow.  Made my task easier anyway.  Again I wanted to get rid of the white of the page so started with loose passages of diluted watercolour, some lemon yellow and some cadmium red.  The greens were a combination of lemon yellow and cerulean blue and on the main stem cadmium red was added to this mix to tone it down a bit.  The petals were also of the 'crinkly' variety so some more scratching with a fingernail created dark linear marks into the damp washes of cadmium red and lemon yellow.  The paints I use are all Winsor and Newton Artists Watercolour - with tube colour squeezed into the wells of a small circular folding palette that I have had for years.

Pen and wash

  
Well, the caption beneath this final sketchbook spread is pen and wash but actually it started out as purely watercolour.  My mum and I had strolled around the ruins of Verulamium in St. Albans and sat on a rustic bench to admire the view.  My eye was actually drawn across the ruins and the valley to the hillside beyond as we had quite a high viewpoint.  I didn't want to be long but so decided to use watercolour for a loose impression of the fields, trees and hedge lines.  However once I stopped to assess what was happening on the page I felt I was getting a bit lost and muddled.  So out came the Edding profipen 0.7 to the rescue... as the saying goes "where there's a will, there's a way".

This new sketchbook is a black hardcover Goldline with a spine,  15 x 21cms (approx. 6" x 8").  The pages are not designed for watercolour but are heavyweight enough to cope with it.  Like my last sketchbook (Seawhite of Brighton) I shall probably prime some pages with a layer of gesso, tinting some of the gesso coloured with acrylic.  This makes an attractive matt surface with hint of multidirectional brushstroke texture - again a ploy to remind me not to be too precious about any drawing or painting, to just enjoy the process and being 'in the moment'.

I encourage you to get together a few supplies and try to make the most of those moments where you can pause and spend time looking.  Recording these between the pages of a sketchbook is so satisfying and can only be of benefit when returning to make more considered work in the studio.