Exploring is Fun!!

After my first couple of efforts with pen & ink 'hatching' I was determined to find out more about types of hatch and how to hatch. It quickly became apparent that it's not just a case of laying down lots of parallel lines. The direction of hatch, the tightness of the hatch, whether or not the lines are straight or curved, and a score of other factors all contribute to whether the shaded area looks natural or not. So, to that end, I'm exploring 'hatching' in particular and pen and ink work in general.


I'd taken a photograph of this Castle Door when visiting York Castle many years ago and gave me a chance to show the different textures between the wooden door and the old worn stonework.

 






This is the Town Hall (and Museum) in Royal Wootton Basset. Built in 1690 it is in a mock Tudor style and stands on 15 stone pillars. No rough stone in this one but the roof provided a different texture for me to try.











For something completely different I attempted a flower. I don't think the delicacy of the Tulip shows through but I'm pleased with it's overall shape and form.











This old Yorkshire Lime Kiln provided an opportunity to just run riot with the hatching and was great fun. Back in 2011 I attempted this same drawing also in pen and ink but the results were very poor. My effort back then made it look as if the kiln had been painted with camouflage stripes. I'm much happier this time and very pleased that I've made some progress.




Exploring any new medium/method/technique is all about trying things out and taking note of what does work and what doesn't. There's no doubt that I'm really enjoying pen and ink right now, even the things that didn't work quite as I'd hoped.

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.

Famous Pair.

A couple of weeks ago I posted that I'd been working on something special as a gift and that I wouldn't post it online until it had been finished and delivered. Well I'm just back home from doing just that so now I can safely display the piece.

My brother-in-law is a keen model railway enthusiast and I decided I'd like to draw a train engine for him. I searched the net for railway engines that I know he's fond of and found two of his favourites. I happened to have a wide, narrow frame that I thought lent itself perfectly to a train, however, when I came to compare various pictures with the frame I couldn't find anything that I felt happy with. After a lot of hunting around and head scratching I had the idea of using BOTH trains in the same picture.

Since the picture is about the engines I chose not to include any background or foreground and, in my opinion, the wide, narrow format makes the images look more dramatic than they would have done individually and the backward sweeping smoke provides a sense of movement.

For any rail enthusiasts, the engine on the left is "6100 Royal Scot", the first of the 4-6-0 Royal Scot Class express passenger locomotives. Introduced in 1927, like many engines it has experienced many upgrades and rebuilds, and this is how it looked in the mid-1950's. The class was withdrawn from service in the early 1960's. The engine on the right is "4468 Mallard", a Class A4 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive. Built in 1938, Mallard holds the world speed record for steam locomotives of 125.88 mph. It was withdrawn in 1963 after almost 1.5 million miles of service. Mallard went through several redesigns and liveries which saw it with streamlined 'skirts' over it's wheels, twin tenders and double funnels. It is currently on display at the National Railway Museum in York.

Snowdrops

Since my last dogs portrait I've been working on something much more difficult and, surprisingly, demanding much closer attention to detail. It's taken a couple of weeks to do but I can't say any more about it because it's something I've drawn as a gift for someone. I doubt that they would ever visit my blog but I'm going to err on the side of caution and not post the piece here yet. I'm excited about what I've done and am bursting to show you all ..... but it'll have to keep for another couple of weeks.

In the meantime I thought I'd show you my Snowdrops. I am blessed with a garden that oozes Snowdrops at this time of the year and they grow just about everywhere ... in the lawn, in the flower borders, in the gravel driveway and even in crevices between rocks. As a keen photographer I'm always trying to get that perfect shot of them and I must have hundreds of photos. Here is just a small selection together with my latest attempts at both painting and drawing them.

Oh, if any of you want Snowdrop reference photo's for your artwork just let me know and I'll look at the high-resolution originals for you. ;-)

Flamborough Lifeboat 1971

In my last post I mentioned that I was excited about a new drawing I was working on, well this is it.
A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a black and white photograph of the Flamborough Lifeboat leaving Bridlington Harbour in 1971. I had recently picked up my pencils and was working on a drawing of a pair of dogs and was enjoying being back at my drawing board. Something about this picture sparked an enthusiasm in me that I don't think I've experienced before and I just knew I had to draw it. I sent an email to the photographer, Paul Berriff and sought his permissions for me to use his photograph, which he gladly gave.

I used artistic licence to remove a harbour wall that occupied the left quarter of the original photo as I wanted to emphasise the isolation and peril that these brave men find themselves in whenever they go out in stormy weather. Somehow the harbour wall gave the impression they were still in a safe haven. As a result of this decision the waves on the left are somewhat invented, but I think they add to the overall mood of the scene and increase the drama.

I can't remember a time when I've been so excited about doing a drawing and to say I was buzzing is an understatement. I think I may do another of these in the not too distant future .... I just have so many other things I'm anxious to try.

For anyone interested I have put a Work In Progress page on my main website showing the various stages.

New year, new beginnings

Happy New Year to all my blogging friends. ;-)

For me, 2014 wasn't a great year. It started with me packing up my parents belongings and selling their home of nearly 50 years, helping them to move away from the town they've lived in for almost all of their 68 years of marriage. They now live 130 miles away with my sister, and whilst that has been the best result for them, it has been difficult for all concerned .... and I miss having them nearby. They have both had periods of illness that involved many journeys up and down the motorway visiting them and providing support to my sister. Sadly Dad passed away in October. He was 96 and suffering with Alzheimers, so in many ways it was a blessing I think. Mum has had more than her fair share of problems but, at this time, she is doing very well.

My art will never be more important to me than family and so it has been on the back burner. There have been periods during the year where I've found myself with the time to pick up my brushes or pencils, but I just haven't been able to get excited about painting or drawing anything. Sure, I've tried, and there have been times when I've made a determined effort to get back into my art, back into blogging, and back into following what the rest of you are doing. But those times have been very short-lived.

Just before Christmas my aunt, during a brief pre-Christmas visit, saw the pencil portrait of my two dogs hanging on the wall of my lounge and asked if I'd drawn it. When I said I had she wasted no time in asking me if I'd do a similar drawing of her daughter-in-law's two dogs. Though she wanted to give the drawing as a Christmas gift, she wasn't concerned if it wasn't ready in time. With some trepidation, I agreed.

My cousin, a co-conspirator, sent me a number of reference photo's and I set to work just before Christmas, finishing the drawing around the New Year. On Sunday we all went out for a family meal and the drawing was handed over. The reaction was out of this world and I couldn't be more pleased with the way the portrait was received.

As I drew the dogs I felt myself buzzing .... enjoying every moment .... and thinking about what to draw next. Many times I've been asked if I have made any New Years resolutions and I always say "No", because I don't do that. However, something inside me is telling me that 2014 has finished and that 2015 is going to be a much better year. And so it is that as soon as the dog portrait was finished I put a clean sheet of paper on my drawing board and started the next one. It's my most ambitious yet ... I'm buzzing with excitement .... loving every minute of it .... and it's almost finished.

I think 2015 might bring me renewed enthusiasm for my art and I hope it brings you whatever you're wishing for too. 

Paynes Grey

A long time ago, an extremely accomplished artist I know told me not to use Paynes Grey but to make my greys using other colours, especially if needing it for shadow work. As time went on I found I was seeing this advice more and more but I couldn't stop using Payne's Grey as I found it such a useful addition to my palette.

One day I discovered the work of James Fletcher-Watson and just had to buy one of his books. With interest I read about his usual palette and was thrilled to find that it always included Paynes Grey. From that point on I stopped worrying about having it in my palette on the basis that if it was good enough for James Fletcher-Watson then it was more than good enough for me.

A couple of months ago, while catching up with my old issues of "Paint" I was taken by an article in the March 2013 edition by artist Alan Goodall. The article is actually about the All Weather Wonderpad, but my interest was more with his subject and technique. His featured painting was a Pen & Wash but he only used one colour ... Paynes Grey. His washes were built up by adding multiple layers of varying strengths and I felt compelled to attempt this myself.

So here is my version of the scene at Watendlath in the Lake District. This was a really useful tonal exercise and I thoroughly enjoyed building up the values layer by layer. I don't know whether it's my love of pencil work that makes me biased towards graphite shades but I'm really pleased with the way this grey monochrome painting has turned out. And yes, Paynes Grey will always have a place in my palette. ;-)

Forth Rail Bridge

I've often thought of drawing the Forth Rail Bridge but never seemed to get round to it. When I saw a photograph taken by my good friend Ingrid Ormestad on a misty, murky day I was intrigued at the way the bridge gradually faded away into the distance and appreciated the challenge in trying to capture that with pencil. This was drawn on Smooth Bristol Board. I know a lot of artists swear by it but I wasn't that impressed. I prefer more of a tooth but I felt the smooth surface was essential given the amount of detail. I think I need to try a few other smooth-surface papers.

I actually finished this drawing about three weeks ago but, just at that time, my 96-year old father became poorly. A week later, on October 12th, he passed away. Apart from the last couple of years as Alzheimers slowly started to take him from us, he has had a good life, being married to my mother for 68-years.

Now that my easel is empty and things are slowly returning back to normal, whatever that is, I'm thinking that my next serious drawing should be a portrait of Dad. Watch this space!!

Pen and wash ... again

I read recently that the best paper for Pen & Wash is Hot pressed, because of it's smoothness. I don't have any Hot pressed, but I was reliably informed that Bristol Board makes a good substitute, and that I do have. So I decided to do a painting on Bristol Board and chose this scene of Crail Harbour from a photograph taken by my good friend Ingrid Ormestad. I found it very interesting how the water stayed on the surface and was slow to soak into the paper, and I was able to draw much darker tones out of the ink than I usually do.

By way of comparison I then did this scene of New Road, Robin Hoods Bay using regular Cold pressed NOT. The darkest tones were harder to produce, but the water soaked in quicker making it easier to control.

Both were sketched using a Rotring Art Pen (nibbed) which I find a joy to work with, and the water was applied using Pentel Aquabrushes, which are as good in the studio as they are in the field. I found the drawing easier on the smooth Bristol, but the water application more controllable on the watercolour paper. I think I'll just have to get myself some Hot pressed paper and see how it compares. I'd like to think it will give me the best of both worlds. Watch this space!!!

I so enjoy this medium. I often think to myself that it's not 'real' painting and it doesn't produce 'hangable' work, but it's such fun ..... and surely that's what it's all about!!!

Contre jours

Thumbing through a back issue of the SAA's magazine "Paint" I came across an article by Paul Apps in which he explained how he did a contre-jour painting in oils of Venice. Contre jours simply means "into the light" and although this is something I've done in photography, it is something I've never attempted with my art.  I was very interested in the article and the evocative descriptions of the intense light on the water but tossed it to one side as I don't do oils.

However, the image stayed in my mind especially the bright highlights on the water and the muted, almost non-existent colours of the city behind, and eventually I mused "why does it have to be in oils .... why not graphite?". In my opinion, graphite is underrated and underused for landscape and seascape work so I decided I'd have-a-go and see what I could make of it.

I used artistic licence to darken the sky considerably from the light, twilit sky in the reference photo, and it's been necessary to darken the water too, in order to make those highlights sing. The end result gives a much darker picture but I'd like to think it's captured the atmosphere of a day drawing to its close.

This probably sounds like a very silly thing to say, but while making this picture I felt less as if I was drawing and more as if I was 'painting with pencil'. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment.

For anyone interested I have put a Work In Progress page on my main website showing the various stages.