Experimenting with Colours and Techniques

A new enthusiasm and energy has taken hold recently with regards art making. There seems to have been a shift in my vision and a freer approach is emerging... I have been experimenting with new colours and foregoing detail in completed work in favour of expressive mark making. This is exciting!

I spent one afternoon playing with some new watercolour paints...

Winsor & Newton watercolours - Transparent Orange
and Sapphire Blue

Daniel Smith watercolours and W&N Cerulean Blue plus Sapphire Blue again.
Bottom half of painting had some cellophane draped over while paint was still wet,
and then left to dry. 

Winsor & Newton Gold calligraphy ink
(fortunately lightfast - beware, not all calligraphy colours are) with
Daniel Smith Undersea Green and Violet gouache.

Tricky to photograph so the gold shimmer
is apparent!

The potential of the new Daniel Smith colours is very inspiring as they granulate readily and the colours separate out into their component parts.

I have also been studying a new book by Debora Stewart and her techniques for abstracted art echo what I have been moving towards. The untitled (as yet) work shown in the stages below is a step in the right direction with a loose beginning, and I tried to keep the drawing spontaneous rather than laboured and exact.

1.  Compressed charcoal was stroked energetically
across mid grey Canson Mi-Teintes pastel paper.
Water was swished over this with a large flat brush
in multi-directions. As the work was upright on an easel
drips were encouraged to flow down the paper. You can see where I then
started the line drawing in white pastel pencil. 

2.  Once the basic composition was in place I began to
introduce some of the lightest / darkest tones and established
the insect as the focal point.   

3.  More light areas are built up with white pastel pencil and
a few more hints of ochre placed.

 

4.  The stamens of the top bloom are now in place.

5. Finally the stamens on the primary bloom are suggested
and the brightest sunlit areas are strengthened with touches of
a white Unison pastel stick. 

This drawing was very enjoyable to do and three elements helped to keep it fresh and loose. First, I stood at an easel to work which aids larger arm movements; the initial layer of large sweeping marks contained an innate liveliness and lastly I held the pastel pencils well away from the point, so relinquishing some control. Also, the limited palette works to keep the focus on the insect and small touches of ochre elsewhere lead the eye around the composition.   

Today has surely been one of the hottest so far... and I spent most of the afternoon and early evening in the studio. I would normally wear an apron when working with pastels as they are one of the messier mediums but couldn't bear the thought of an additional layer and didn't bother. Using a photo I took in Holme-next-the-Sea of pink Mallow as a starting point, I worked on a painting that focused on mark making and layering to try and capture the essence. 

A loose wet-on-dry application of watercolour

was the starting point for this painting. The base colours were encouraged to fuse and again drips were integral as I was stood at the easel.

Although the support looks white in the photo it is a warm cream Art Spectrum Colourfix paper. The slightly gritty surface happily accepts watermedia and there is plenty of tooth for soft pastel in subsequent layers. 

                 

Once the initial paint was dry a very loose drawing in charcoal pencil was 

established. Again holding the pencil nearer the end furthest from the point helped prevent 

a tight rendition. Also pushing up, rather than pulling in a downward motion, and gently rolling the 

pencil between the fingers as drawing enabled more random marks to be made.

The next step seems counter productive, but I did it anyway, and 'lost' the drawing

by dragging a flat brush with diluted gesso across the surface in multi-directional strokes. 

This is a technique favoured by Debora Stewart but with hindsight I realised she uses 

compressed charcoal so a little more of the drawing remains intact! 

The drawing is then re-established with charcoal pencil and even if more of the first drawing 

had been present this second one would have been superimposed, and slightly offset, to 

enhance the feeling of layered media. My eyes are really enjoying what is beginning to happen in this work and I'm almost tempted to stop at this stage.

I push on however and introduce more colour using soft pastel sticks. 

I limit the colours and tonal range to try and avoid confusion. 

When I pause to assess how the work is going I feel a little disappointed. Close up there is plenty to engage the eye but move a short distance away and it blurs into a generalised mid tone.

Something must be done to redeem it...

 Taking yet another risk, I lightly block in the negative spaces in the top two thirds of the painting. 

I use a white pastel pencil and hold it low so that the side of the point catches across the gritty surface and allows the under layer to still play a part. 

I finally stop and take stock again. After a few extra dark punctuations 

with the charcoal pencil I feel it is finished. 

Did I make the right choice?

Too early to tell. I need a bit of time to pass to assess it as a whole again.

What do you think?  

 

Photo Essay - Catching Up News...

Aaagghhh... busy, busy, and trip to France is imminent, but I want to quickly catch up with the news of recent activities! So, here is an edited photo essay...

Tried some more nature printing. This one shows the ferns laid on acrylic inks,
which should have resulted in a lovely print. You can also see the rock salt particles
sprinkled on, intended to leave interesting textures when dry and brushed off.
However, the ferns just stuck fast in the acrylic and broke as I tried to prize away from the
dried inks - although a failure I learnt something at least!  

At the same time I was repeating the exercise with ferns and rock salt with watercolour.
This approach worked much better. The feather at the top was created with black printing ink
and the work felt very unbalanced as this dominated the image. After the addition of some black
coloured pencil in select areas around the ferns it seemed to come together.  

I also cut up some heavyweight cartridge paper to print on and made them into cards.

Social Sketchbook event in June at Castle Rising. Well attended and finally some
reasonable weather. An area worth visiting again as there is much inspiration. 

This double page spread is pure watercolour, no pencil drawing first, and was
also completed at Castle Rising. It took about 40 minutes, is very sketchy but a memory of
looking across to Babbingley.  

Selected sketchbooks by the group at castle rising. We all completed several
sketches each so going with the intention of drawing is certainly productive.

My five paintings at Welborne Arts Festival with other members of
West Norfolk Artists Association. A well organised and supported festival but weather
was sunshine and showers. Lots of families, interested in our artwork but not looking to
buy art on a fun day out... Difficult to see the work in this photo due to reflections
on the glass, apologies.

I was treated to a marvellous day out at Mundesley on the North Norfolk coast
by two friends and we sketched on the beach. This is watersoluble pencil over a
pre-prepared gesso base tinted with acrylic. Lovely company, great scenery and
fantastic food - once again "thank you" Kay and Sue!

Social Sketchbook event in Old Hunstanton earlier this month.
Hottest day of the year so far! 

Pen and wash sketch looking towards the famous Hunstanton cliffs.

Looking out to sea. Watercolour washes then dip pen and walnut ink to capture some
of the figures.  

An amazing hollyhock that has grown outside my studio this year. It must have
been a amongst the wildflower seeds I sprinkle each year (usually in vain).

Charcoal drawing from the hollyhock.

Loose variegated sweeps of neocolour crayon and
charcoal pencil line drawing on top. Yes, the hollyhock again. 

I'm feeling happier now, we are all up to date. Note to self: try posting shorter entries but more often!

Please feel free to comment on anything in this blog, I would love to know your views or if you have any questions. In the meantime, France awaits so - Au Revoir!

  

Nature Print Experiments

Earlier this week I spent a very happy and productive few hours in the studio trying my hand at some nature prints. This year our little paddock is almost shoulder height in places with cow parsley and I had a fancy to try some experiments and see what I could do with some specimens of this and some grasses using black water-based printing ink. After gathering some plant material I headed back to the studio and spied a pigeon feather on the ground by the step, another possible inspiration.

Preparing a surface with acrylic paint and roller prior to printing.

I decided to prepare a coloured surface which could be set aside to dry, and that I would have a practise with the printing technique on cheaper cartridge paper before using it. I opted for a piece of Fabriano 5, a hot pressed watercolour paper, as I felt the smooth surface would help keep any definition crisp and cleaner looking. I didn't want the paint to become too dense or complicated so I opted for just two colours of acrylic paint and applied it lightly using a rubber roller, allowing plenty of white paper to remain visible. This was then set aside to dry.   

First attempt - printing from the feather
onto white cartridge paper.

I felt the potential of the feather could be more successful than the finer plant material so opted to try using this first.  I utilised an A4 sheet of laminated plastic to lay the feather on and a roller to transfer the black water-based printing ink across the feather itself. This was then gently placed on some plain white cartridge paper and a piece of cheap photocopy paper on top of this, a bit like a sandwich. I used my hand to carefully apply pressure and rub across all the areas of the feather in the hope of a good ink transfer... As you can see in the photo above I hadn't quite got enough ink across the barbs of the feather so the print is very linear. I tried a few more and then felt ready to have a go printing on the prepared coloured paper.  

This feather print was placed at the bottom of the prepared page
and I was delighted with the amount of detail.

Here is the same print but shown alongside the feather itself
plus the ink transferred onto the photocopy paper
- the ink has naturally worked itself through the barbs
leaving an additional mirror image!

A few more feather prints were made on the
Fabriano 5 prepared surface. 

After a practise on cartridge paper I finally had
a go at printing from the cow parsley.

I felt encouraged by the results of the nature printing so far. The process itself seems very straight forward with quite basic skills involved, but I can see that the design element is more difficult and necessary to make a piece of artwork that goes beyond this rudimentary level. Most important of all though - I was certainly having fun experimenting!

It was at this point, when I was taking a few more photos, that I glanced at the now messy plastic inking 'plate' and was intrigued by the impression the feather had left in the wet surface.

The imprint left by the feather in the built up
inking surface on the plastic (it looks brown here
but must just be the light catching as the ink is black in reality).

One of the grasses I had plucked in the paddock had fantastic spidery roots so I prepared another painted surface to print onto using heavyweight cartridge paper this time. I also printed some textural effects from an offcut of bubblewrap. Unfortunately the resulting print didn't really work, possibly as the root was quite fleshy and round so not much could make contact with the paper, and also the spindly bits were a bit too thin and fragile maybe?

The grass roots and the (unfortunately poor) printed result...

However undeterred I moved on to try another tactic...

Two types of grasses printed onto Bockingford 'Not' watercolour paper.

I added watercolour washes and some spatter to the print,
and found the effect quite pleasing.

By this time I was beginning to feel my energy getting low and decided it was time for a break and that I wanted to reflect on the experiment so far. Once again, as I took a few more photos, the inking 'plate' revealed an interesting array of marks and textures.

A section of the plastic inking 'plate'
showing interesting textures - an abstract image in itself.

I really enjoyed this experiment in nature printing and if you get the opportunity have a try yourself. Even if you don't have printing ink and a roller, why not see what effects are possible using acrylic, gouache or watercolour applied to your subject matter with a brush?

Focus on Flowers Workshop at Dobbies

The Focus on Flowers Workshop at Dobbies Garden Centre, King's Lynn, was a great success and based on the feedback from participants it would seem everyone went away armed with some nuggets of new information and enthusiasm for tackling more flower drawings and paintings.

The four photos here show some of the preparatory work in a sketchbook for discussing how the basic structure of most flowers fall into one of eight categories.

This was the subject I introduced at the beginning before we moved out into the garden centre and had a go at some structure drawings from live plants.

This led into focusing on how tone adds information about the light source, form of the subject and where things are in space, even if it is very a shallow space rather than the foreground / middleground / background of an expansive landscape. There was time to settle and work on one longer tonal study or several shorter ones.



Light and shade visually allows areas to come forward and others to recede - even though it is just a flat piece of paper!

               
                 

We had a break for lunch in the restaurant area and enjoyed a delicious meal of jacket potatoes with a variety of fillings and a  salad garnish. As we sipped tea and coffee there was reflection on experiences so far, and a few people mentioned how interested some customers had been in what was going on and how different it was for them to see flowers being drawn in sketchbooks.









The afternoon was devoted to using watercolour and working from a flower specimen individually chosen from the garden centre. Strategies practised in the morning helped with getting a basic drawing in place; and one participant, feeling bold, decided to go straight in with paint and use soft fusions of colour as her starting point. I had demonstrated briefly some of the main useful watercolour techniques and also how coloured or water soluble pencils can be successfully incorporated to enhance passages in the work.

Working from chosen flower specimens.

Focused on their flowers, observation and creativity...

There was a break mid afternoon and Dobbies supplied us with more refreshments and plates of wonderful cakes and traybakes. Then it was back to work...

Light and airy in Dobbies restaurant, and plenty of room to work.

It was a great day - lovely company, delicious food and plenty of teas, coffees and iced juice to keep the brain cells alert. I thank all the staff at Dobbies for their welcome and generosity in accomodating us. As the weather warms up, your garden comes to fruition and the local parks show off colourful flower displays, try capturing some of that beauty in a sketchbook or painting as a memory of time spent observing nature closely.