Steps at Robin Hoods Bay

 

 

Robin Hoods Bay is the most delightful coastal village I think I've ever been to. It is set into the Yorkshire cliffs and in the 18th century was reputed to be the busiest smuggling community on the Yorkshire coast. Hiding places, bolt holes and secret passages abound and wandering through the narrow alleyways between the houses it's easy to feel the presence of smugglers passed.

When there a few years ago I took many photographs and this one looking up a pathway of cobbled steps was one of my favourites. To make the centre area around the steps the main focus of the scene I knew I would need to lay in plenty of darks tones, keeping the pathway light but working with ink, that's not so easy. My original plan for this ink work was to produce a vignette-style drawing, but that didn't work out as I'd planned, though I'm not displeased with the result.

For anyone interested, I have a full Work In Progress page on my main web site that shows my progress and my changing thoughts as the drawing progressed. I hope you have a look at it.

More views from Robin Hoods Bay

King Street
(Pencil)

Haberdashery
(Pen and Wash)

New Road
(Pen and Wash)

Steps to Front Door
(Pen and Ink)

Coastal View
(Pen and Ink)

Irish Church

 

Many years ago, we went on holiday to Ireland and stayed in the south in County Kerry. One day we were driving along a quiet country lane and unexpectedly came across this semi-ruined church. It was intriguing because the back wall, where I imagine there was once a stained-glass window, was caved in and yet the graveyard looked recently used. To add to the intrigue, there was a good degree of rubble just inside the caved in window yet all the pews appeared to be present and intact. 

I first drew this church in pencil back in 2010. More recently I was looking through my photo's for a suitable subject to set as the Monthly Painting and Drawing Project in my forum, and this one jumped out at me as we hadn't had a building as a subject for a while. As usual, the members tackled this in a variety of media, but my choice was to try Pen & Ink this time. 

Other Pen & Ink drawings on my web site

Midhope Castle

Boat in Torbay

Scarborough Toll House

More Wood Burning

 

For my third attempt at Pyrography (wood burning) I thought I'd try a more complete scene, with greater detail and tonal values than my first two experimental efforts. I chose this view of a cottage beside the Grand Union Canal because its a scene I've drawn and painted several times before, and because it offers a wide range of textures ... water, brick, foliage.

I knew I wouldn't be able to burn this freehand so used Carbon paper to trace out some rough outlines as a guide. Again I found the nib of the burner 'snagging' on the wooden surface. Most of the time this was quite annoying but it actually helped when it came to drawing the water. Most of the drawing was approached in much the same way as drawing with a pen, the main difference being the speed of movement .... slow moves producing thicker, deeper lines and fast moves producing thinner, shallower marks.

Wood burning is quite an enjoyable process so now I need to buy myself some better wood so I can tackle something proper.

Previous posts on Pyrography

Pyrography
First attempt

Pyrography
Second attempt

The same scene drawn
with Pen & Ink

Artistic Licence

 As many of you know, my favourite medium after Graphite Pencil is Pen and Ink. Now there's a thing .... why do we call it "Pen and Ink" ..... what use is a pen without ink? LOL. 

Anyway, I was taken to draw a snow scene using just my Pigma Micron Fineliners and chose this Old Oast House as a subject. The reference photo contained no snow so all the "white stuff" is a figment of my imagination. Isn't Artistic Licence wonderful?

More Pen and Ink Drawings

Boat at Craster

Canal Cottages

Paddle Steamer

Nothing ventured....

I did this Pen and Ink Wash drawing some years ago. Although it hangs on the wall in my study, it has been largely forgotten, which is a shame because it was one of those special, 'first attempt' revelations, like we've all had at various stages along our art journey. Rather than write about it again, the experience for me can be summed up by the opening and closing comments I made at the time on my Work-In-Progress page.

I begin:-

I've never tried using ink washes but it's something that appeals, probably because of my love of Pen and Ink. I haven't done any research nor watched anything on YouTube so I'm very much making this up as I go along. What I've decided to do is draw a building using Fineliner pens and then add shadows and shading using diluted ink applied by brush. I have no idea how it's going to turn out ... could be a disaster.

and I close:-

Well, what a learning experience that was. Like every 'new' medium we try, the unexpected can be a pain or a joy. Overall, though there are many things I've learned about working with ink, this experience was more joy than pain. The way the neat ink bled into wet pale washes was superb. A few areas are darker than I wanted but learning to control the ink was half the fun, and I love the way some patches have purple hues in them. This is certainly something I will do again and I'm keen to try different inks .... Sepia might give some interesting results.

Here are some more Pen and Ink Drawings

Arches at Knaresborough

Bungalow

The Old Water Mill

Pyrography - Second attempt.

I was so pleased with my first wood-burning attempt that I decided to jump straight in and have another go, this time at something a little more ambitious.

Not knowing which is the best wood for burning I thought I'd try anything and found an offcut of feather-edged fencing board. The wood was a bit rough so I sanded it to smooth up the surface. For a subject I chose the Clumber Park Boat house from one of my forums old Monthly Painting Projects. I've drawn this subject a few times in pencil and pen, and it felt like the sort of thing that might work well with a wodd burner. I'm very pleased with the way the 'drawing' turned out and, as usual, learned a great deal from the process. In particular, I was surprised by how much the burner 'caught' in the grain of the wood despite being smooth to the touch. I also found areas of the wood that burned easily and others that didn't. I think wood selection is going to be very important if I decide to a serious drawing.

Pyrography is certainly something I'm enjoying. 

Midhope Castle

A long time ago I purchased a book by Clive Holmes called "Northamptonshire: A portrait in Pen & Ink". The book is Clive's 'view' of the buildings in Northamptonshire as seen through his Pen & Ink drawings. I was a little interested in the local architecture and history of the county but much more interested in Clive's drawings. As a keen Pen & Ink fan I wanted to examine his technique and skills at my leisure.

Though most of his technique seemed fairly standard I noticed he rarely used hatching, as I do, so I was particularly interested in how he achieved his tonal values. One of the things that jumped out at me was his occasional use of 'dots' to achieve some of the mid-tones, especially where there was little texture to be drawn. I decided this was something I'd like to try some time.

The latest Monthly Painting & Drawing Project in my art forum is of Midhope Castle, commonly called 'Lallybroch', which is used in the 'Outlander' series. This gave me the perfect opportunity to 'go dotty' and play with this new technique. I have to say it is a very time consuming method of shading but varying dot density to achieve different tones was relatively simple. I'm not convinced yet that this approach is something I'll try again, but if I do it will be restricted to certain small area's within a drawing rather than the whole study. I'd love to hear what you think. ;-)

Radiating Fog

First of all, just a brief update on why I haven't posted for over 6 months..... we've moved home. After 18-months of braving the roadwork-ridden motorway to travel 120 miles each way to see our granddaughter, we decided to move into the area. So the last 6 months have been crazy as we first threw everything we possessed into a few hundred (so it seemed) cardboard boxes, moving to our new home just 1 week before Xmas, and then unpacking and getting ourselves settled into a new way of life. We now live on the edge of the Pennines just north of Sheffield and it is hugely different from where we've come from.

Now to the drawing. From time to time I see an image or scene that I just know I have to try and draw regardless of how difficult or unappealing (hang-ability) it may be. I feel almost compelled to tackle it no matter how doubtful I may feel about the outcome. It happened to me again a while ago when I saw some online footage of Radiating Fog swirling around a church. Initially I dismissed the notion to try and draw the scene and didn't really have the time, but recently time has been easier to find and the urge to do the drawing was still as strong. It was good to finally have my pencils out again.

For anyone interested I have put a Work In Progress page on my main web site showing the various phases this drawing went through.

Wray Castle, Cumbria

Not an exciting picture and certainly not one of my best, but I had the urge to have another go at painting with Ink washes. I just love the way the ink separates on the paper and I find trying to 'control' that in a meaningful way quite interesting. I chose the subject primarily because of it's mixture of straight hard edges, curvy mid-tones and light fluffy shapes, all of which combine to put the "ink applicator" (me!!) through it's paces.

The object of the session was to 'play with ink' and I'm annoyed that I didn't pay more attention to the initial drawing stage. The straight edges to the hexagonal towers could have been more intelligently handled and some of my verticals are far from it .... vertical. And that lack of care initially has spoiled what might otherwise have been an acceptable painting. Still, the 'play with ink' part of the session worked and I really enjoyed the process even though I don't think I had quite as much 'control' over the ink as I would have liked.

Boathouse

In my art forum I run a Monthly Painting & Drawing Project where a reference photo is provided for all the members to have a go at. It's fascinating looking at the end results and seeing the same scene depicted in different media and styles. We also find it a useful learning tool as we will often see another member doing something we hadn't thought of.

This months project is a reference photo provided by one of the members of a small Boathouse she discovered at Rode Hall in Cheshire and I decided to tackle it with Pen & Ink. I chose to leave out all of the trees and shrubs growing behind and around the building in order to avoid losing the main subject in amongst a mass of unnecessary 'clutter' and included just enough of the leaf-strewn ground and lakeside water to show the buildings purpose.

Boat at Craster

A couple of years ago I was on holiday in Northumberland, a most magnificent part of the country. As well as visiting the more famous locations such as Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, and the wealth of stunning castles in the area such as Bamburgh Castle, I searched out some of the small fishing villages on the coast. One of them was this jewel in the crown called Craster.

Craster has a very small harbour and I found only a handful of small boats, mostly beached on the overgrown pebble and shale beach. I spent the most wonderful couple of hours strolling out onto the harbour wall with my camera snapping shots of the boats and seagulls (I just have to take photo's of seagulls in flight - lol) and then sitting on an old wooden bench where my wife and I enjoyed a cold drink and a sandwich. This pen and ink drawing is of the view we had from that bench. I would add that drawing it now has brought it all back much more vividly than simply looking at the photo's again.

My main web site has a step-by-step Work-In-Progress explanation of this drawing coming together, from reference photo through to final drawing. I hope you take a look.

Pen with Ink washes

LOL. I started this post with the words "It's been a long time since I last posted....." but then noticed my previous post which started the exact same way. Thing is, while non-arty matters initially got in the way of my art, over time I totally lost my mo-jo. Even when I did find myself with time for art, I was totally devoid of the slightest inclination. Those of you who've experienced it will know just how it feels. 

For some odd reason, a few weeks ago I started thinking about how ink might be diluted in water to create an ink wash. After a while I decided I just had to have a go to see what the effect would be. I haven't done any research or looked things up online, I thought I'd just jump in and discover things for myself. Having found a suitable subject I spent time doing a pen drawing which would provide the framework and detail to which the ink washes could then be added. 

The pen work was fairly routine for me as it's my favourite medium anyway but I found the excitement mounting as I neared the final stage of adding the washes. I obviously didn't make too many pen marks where I knew the washes would be. Estimating the ratio of ink to water involved a lot of guess work but that was half the fun. Where I got a real buzz was when I dropped neat ink into still wet paler washes. Watching the ink bleed and teasing it into the right places with my brush was amazing and I absolutely love the purple tints that magically appeared in some places. I imagine that different inks will cause different colour separation so I'm keen to try various inks. If any of you have experience with inks in this way I'd love to hear from you.

Smoke

Ever since I did the drawing of the steam locomotives a year ago I've been itching to do something else involving steam or smoke. I recently came across a photograph of an urban landscape that ticked my boxes ... and tickled my fancy. It's a dark scene and isn't the sort of 'art' that people would want to hang on their wall, but technically the challenge was just what I'd hoped it would be and I really enjoyed it. ;-)

Lychgate

In an attempt to further reduce the tightness in my work I set myself a limited time to attempt this pen drawing of a Lychgate. Though I'm pleased with much of the pen work, especially the shadows and textures, my hasty sketching has resulted in some poor perspectives. It's clear that even a relaxed and loose style still needs attention to detail at the outline stage. Relaxed and loose must never mean careless .... another lesson learned.

For those interested, the word 'lych' is an old English word meaning 'corpse'. In the middle ages, when bodies were often only wrapped in shrouds, the corpse would be placed on a bier (a flat-framed stand) under the lychgate from where the priest would conduct the first part of the funeral ceremony. It's interesting that these small structures with such a unhappy function should these days often prove to be a popular backdrop for wedding photo's. This particular lychgate stands at the entrance to the church I was married in some 43 years ago and most of our wedding photo's were taken in front of it.

Like many of you, when I'm out and about I take photo's of scenes and objects that I would like to paint or draw one day. I took this photo in 2004 for that very reason, which just goes to prove that I get there eventually. ;-)

Snowy Cottage

As I've mentioned in previous posts, when working with pen & ink I'm currently experimenting at achieving a good tonal range and shading without using too much cross-hatching, if any. In addition, a couple of posts ago, in a comment about one of my drawings,  Keith referred to 'lost and found lines' and this has also been on my mind as I'm not sure I've ever understood exactly what is meant by 'lost and found lines', though common sense sort of suggests what the term means.

Yesterday I came across a photograph of a small snow-covered cottage and, while thinking about how it might be drawn using pen & ink, realised that it was a great subject to work with both zero-hatching and 'lost and found' lines. Of course, the secret to drawing snow is more about what you don't draw than what you do.

Canal Cottages

Back in 2007, to mark my 60th birthday, my family treated me to a day on the canal. Fortunately it was "on" and not "in". The canal is the Grand Union and they hired a barge for the day and I was in my element navigating the calm waters. This stretch of the canal includes the famous mile-long tunnel near Blisworth which, in days gone by, were navigated by the bargee's laying on top of the barges and "walking" their feet along the roof of the tunnel. Fortunately for us our barge had an engine but the tunnel is only just wide enough for two barges to pass, so steering for a novice was exhilarating to say the least.

In my last post I mentioned how I was concerned over my use of hatching, in particular that it looks unnatural .... rigid, clinical diagonal lines ... and this is probably down to my inexperience. To explore this further I decided I ought to try a pen drawing with no hatching, achieving tones in a different, more natural way. I've painted this scene before and it struck me as being ideal for my purpose. I'm not displeased with the result and am happy that there's not one area of regular hatching. Now I'm keen to try another. ;-)

Tempus fugit and all that.

It's been over 4-months since I last posted. In my last post I mentioned that summer was almost here, and as I write this I can't help but notice that it's now over. I also note that my last post said I was determined to do some urban sketching this summer but I've failed miserably and haven't ventured out with my sketchbook once. What happened to the summer? 

That said, I am recently back from a wonderful holiday in Northumberland during which I succeeded in sketching en plein air on several occasions. I sketched Bamburgh Castle in the rain, the Millenium Bridge in Newcastle in the sunshine and Lindisfarne Castle on a dry but cold and windy day. Yep, British weather at it's best. The sketch of Warkworth Castle was a bit of a cheat as I used a tourist leaflet as a source of reference. 

Keen to pursue my interest in Pen and Ink work I recently tackled this picture of Willy Lott's Cottage. I'm sure you're all familiar with it but for anyone who isn't, Willy Lott's Cottage was made famous by John Constable in his painting "The Hay Wain", and he included it in a number of his other works too. It is in Flatford, Suffolk, which was an area Constable painted frequently.

Pen and Ink seems to be my preferred medium at this time and I'm keen to progress it. Although I'm feeling much more competent with the medium than I ever did with watercolour I still feel that my marks, especially hatching, have a 'novice' look to them. Hopefully, the more I do, the more 'natural' the marks will look. With fingers crossed I shall march onwards and upwards as this is a medium I'm really feeling at home with. ;-)

Eilean Donan Castle

You may recall from my last post that I did a practice piece of this castle a few weeks ago. Since then I've been working on the drawing proper. This is much larger than I usually work (on 16" x 12" Daler-Rowney Heavyweight paper) and it's surprised me as to how much longer a large drawing takes compared to a smaller one. I suppose it should have been obvious but there's a lot of little pen marks in this drawing. A picture twice the size seems to have taken 8 times longer to do.

Another 'first' for me was that I used several reference photo's. With shadows, lack of colour and a flat grainy photograph I found some of the details difficult to put into perspective, but having several photo's taken at different times of day and from different viewpoints enabled me to get a better understanding of how the various walls and buildings fit together.

As I stated in my previous post, this particular view of the castle isn't quite balanced as the bridge runs out too far to the right leaving a large empty space to the right of the castle. I had intended to use artistic licence to insert a tree into that space to balance things up but I've changed my mind and cropped the picture to exclude one of the bridge spans. A few birds in the empty space adds some balance.

I'm really pleased that I did the practice piece (something else I don't usually bother with) as it helped me understand which hatching/shading worked and which didn't. I didn't want to make the hatching obvious and believe that if done right it should blend seamlessly into the whole.

For anyone interested I've put a Work In Progress page on my main website showing the various steps.

Practice makes perfect?

Following my recent small Pen & Ink drawings I wanted to try something more ambitious and decided to attempt this Mill which sits on the River Avon at Tewkesbury. The Mill is mainly brick built but the centre structure on legs, the small attic rooms and the small building to the right (also on legs) are made of white painted timber. The roofs are tiled and the water is wet. Regrettably I messed it up within the first couple of pen strokes but I'd spent so long drawing it out in pencil I hadn't got the heart to scrap it and start again so decided to use it as a practice piece. I wanted to better understand how to using hatching to depict brickwork, timber, tiles, water and so on, so a few wonky roof lines and wobbly windows weren't going to make a lot of difference to my learning process. Apart from the bad bits I'm not displeased with it and it was certainly a fabulous piece to practice on. The hatching and shading disguised a multitude of sins and I learned a great deal from doing it.

My next piece was specifically done as a practice piece. One of my all time favourite places even though I haven't been there yet (it's on my bucket list) is Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland. I've decided that I'd like to draw it in Pen & Ink but to do justice to it, I think it needs to be a large drawing so as to allow for plenty of detail. To enable me to appreciate how best to hatch in the darks and shadows and to aid in the overall composition of the drawing, I decided to do a smaller (10" x  8") practice piece.

As usual, some of my verticals aren't vertical but that doesn't stop the practice piece from serving it's purpose very well. This particular composition is too wide. I don't like the way the bridge hangs out on it's own to the right, yet I feel the bridge is an important feature. I'll look at other options but I'm thinking artistic licence could bless me with a large Oak tree to the right of the castle. I'm pleased with the shading of the end gable of the building on the left but many other areas don't work as well as I'd hoped. I didn't want to overdo the diagonal hatching and I've achieved that, and I've also achieved a 'stone' appearance to the castle, however I think I need to have another practice run to try out some other effects.

They say "Practice makes perfect". It doesn't always ..... but it sure as heck helps. ;-)

Pen & Ink

I love Pen & Ink studies but have never been very good at them myself. I think the main problem is the hatching. I'm never sure which way to hatch, when to cross-hatch, and which direction to hatch in. Some of my early attempts looked like camouflaged zebra's playing twister. Anyway, since my last 4 or 5 drawings have been detailed pencil work taking quite a long time I decided to let my hair down (what bit I have left) and have another go at Pen & Ink.

This first drawing is of a small building I came across in a farmers field in Wales. I have no idea what it is used for. The pallet leaning against it gives an idea of scale and there's barely enough headroom to stand up inside. I used a set of 5 Pilot DR drawing pens for this one.

Having heard good reports about Pigma Micron Fineliners I ordered a set of 6 in different sizes. They dropped onto my doormat with this mornings mail and I was keen to try them out. The subject I chose was this small dry-stone wall that I saw in the Snowdonia National Park in Wales. I can't say I noticed a great deal of difference between these pens and the ones I used for the previous drawing ... they seem equally as good.

I feel as if I'm beginning to make a little more sense of the hatching now and I guess it's like everything else .... practice makes perfect. I really need a lot more practice but these are so quick and enjoyable that shouldn't be a problem. lol.