Ink & Coloured Pencils

As I sat watching television a few evenings ago I drew this Robin in my sketchbook using Pen & Ink. I wanted to see if I could demonstrate it was a Robin just by tonal values alone. There is hardly any difference between the tonal values of his red breast and his brown feathers when viewed in greyscale so I tried to exaggerate the tones in my drawing but it didn't work too well.

Dissatisfied with the result and thinking he didn't really look like a Robin I decided to add some colour using coloured pencils. I liked this effect very much and I think that is probably because the ink drawing was a finished piece in it's own right, rather than just the preliminary stage of something more. This became more apparent when I drew the Chaffinch and Blue Tit. They don't work as well, in my opinion, because they have much less ink detail which is probably because I was well aware at the ink stage that colour was too follow.

I liked the effect of the Ink with Coloured Pencil so much that I went back to a couple of previous pen drawings and added colour to them in the same way. Though I always like them in their original ink form (yes, I actually said "I liked them" lol) I have to say that I like them even more with the added colour. Oh, I didn't risk ruining the original pen drawings as I printed them out and worked on the copies. This is definitely a mixed media that I will work with again.

"Bear"

No, not a big brown grizzly from the deep, dark, dangerous recesses of Whipsnade Zoo but my sisters Long-Haired Collie dog called "Bear".

Though I've tried using coloured pencils before I really haven't managed very well with them. My main problem has been blending and I suspect that is because I expected colours to mix as they do with watercolours, and the pencil strokes to smooth out as they do with graphite. Of course, neither is true. A short while ago I decided to have another go with coloured pencils and chose an old photo of "Bear" as my subject. This time I feel the penny dropped with regards to the blending and mixing and I achieved a result I'm not displeased with.

The picture is now framed and has been handed over to my sister who seems to be delighted with it. A good result all round. ;-)

Dipping my toe in

After a long period of having no time for my art or blogs, I now find myself slowly returning back to my normal way of life ... whatever that was. My elderly parents have now been safely moved 150 miles away to live with my sister, and they are settling in well. And so, after a few weeks of trying to catch up with a lot of outstanding matters of my own, I find myself with the time to start thinking about art again. Actually, it's not totally accurate to blame my recent lack of art only on a lack of time. There have been odd occasions when I DID have some time, but then I found that I had no real interest .... my heart just wasn't in it. So it was a combination of time and emotion that kept me from my brushes.

As normality gradually returns and I find myself beginning to think more about art again, I find myself wanting to paint yet strangely lack enthusiasm. I think it's just a case of taking the first steps and easing myself back into things gradually, so to that end I have decided to dip my toes back in the water and spend a while just sketching.

I have always found sketching with pen, without pencil guidelines, most challenging. Those first few defining lines require a brave and confident start and forcing myself to sketch this way will do more for my confidence than anything else I can think of. Whether the ink is then supplemented by colourful watercolour washes or fairly pale coloured pencil work doesn't matter at this stage. The objective is to re-learn the art of making useful marks on the paper, to re-discover some degree of confidence, and to once again enjoy picture making.

And I will of course be visiting all your blogs, which have always been such a wonderful source of inspiration for me. See you there. ;-)

Excited about this one.

I haven't enjoyed any art or posted to my blog for quite a while because I simply haven't had time. I had a long-overdue garden project to deal with that involved moving a concrete slabbed path, and I also got roped in for changing my daughter and son-in-law's bathroom suite. Throw on top of that my usual day-job and planning and arranging a special weekend for my wife's 60th birthday, and important matters like art just get pushed onto the back-burner. Whatever online time I've been able to find has been directed into trying to maintain some sort of presence in my art forum.

One piece of bad news is that my wife developed a rather nasty mouth infection leading to a massive absess just days before her special weekend. As a result we've had to postpone our trip, but it will still go ahead in due course. It won't be the same, not being on her birthday, but at least she will still get her treat.

While all this has been going on, a friend of my wife's has approached me to do a drawing of her brothers dog. I popped down to her house the other day to take some reference photo's and fell instantly in love. What an animal this is. A white German Shepherd, with hints of gold here and there, a fine brown nose and the bushiest bushy tail you could ever imagine. I have never painted an animal portrait before though have done reasonably well with graphite. Consequently I'd not thought of using anything other than graphite ... until I saw the dog. I took 66 reference photo's and have no idea which pose to use, but as soon as I saw the colouring I realised that graphite was never going to do justice to such a fine animal. I'm always happy to hear suggestions and advice so feel free to give me your views. In the meantime I'm in 'think' mode. I've often wondered about buying some Bristol Board and having a go with coloured pencils ... maybe now is the time.