I'm off on my travels again tomorrow, this time slightly further from home. I'm going to be in Philadelphia and New York City until 15th August. Unfortunately, this is mostly a working trip, but I should get a few days of down time to roam around with my sketch book. See you all when I get back!
This is the small lighthouse at the entrance to Ardrishaig harbour, which is at the eastern end of the Crinan Canal. This was done with a Rotring Art Pen in my small W&N sketchbook.
technorati tags: pen+and+ink, Rotring+Art+Pen, Ardrishaig, Argyll, , Scotland, sketches
This is a very quick sketch, done at Castle Dounie, which overlooks the Sound of Jura. I didn't have long because my rather impatient family weren't keen on hanging around in the cold wind, despite the stunning views. You can see the entrance to the Gulf of Corryvreckan, which lies between the islands of Jura and Scarba. It is famous for its whirlpool (at the other end of the Gulf), which is created by strong tidal flows and rock pinnacles on the sea bed. George Orwell was once caught in it, and was lucky to survive.
technorati tags: watercolour, sketches, Sound+of+Jura, Gulf+of+Corryvreckan, Argyll, Scotland
Here's another painting from my recent holiday. This one is a bit larger, a 1/4 sheet. More practice with grey skies!
technorati tags: watercolour, Scotland, Argyll
I'm just back from my trip to Argyll on the west coast of Scotland. We were staying in a small village called Ardrishaig, which is on the banks of Loch Fyne, a large sea loch on the eastern side of the Kintyre peninsula, famous for the quality of its seafood. It is a beautiful part of Scotland, with sea, mountains, islands, beaches...everything you could want, provided the weather stays fine! This is a watercolour sketch of part of Loch Fyne.
technorati tags: watercolour, Loch+Fyne, Argyll, Scotland
I've been away on holiday on Scotland for the past week, hence my lack of posting. Over the next few days I'll post some of the sketches I did while I was away. In the meantime, here's a photograph to wet your appetite.
I haven't done the EDM weekly challenge for a few weeks, partly because I've been busy. Also, I think maybe it's one of those things that if you can just get out of the habit of doing. But since I have several sponges lying around, I don't really have an excuse not to do this one. So, here it is. I hope this means I'm back in the habit again! This is done with Copic multiliners and Inktense pencils.
This month's topic on Making a Mark is flowers in art. There are some wonderful links in this post; anyone with even the slightest interest in flower painting should take a look. I've been continuing to experiment with loose approaches to flowers, using lots of water, and as part of this have produced a few studies of lavender. Here are a couple. They're not really loose and watery enough, now I come to look at them again. Still, that gives me an excuse to have another go!
technorati tags: watercolour, lavender, flower+painting, Making+a+Mark
When the rain drove me inside yesterday, I did a quick sketch of this chandelier inside the spookily now almost deserted old Radcliffe Infirmary (mentioned in the previous post). I couldn't take long because, ironically, the lights weren't working! It's not particularly accurate, but then it was a pretty complicated thing to draw in the gathering gloom! Plus, it's pretty wonky IRL, so who's going to know? The little tower in the corner is on the roof of the hospital's chapel.
technorati tags: pen+and+ink, chandelier, Radcliffe+Infirmary, Oxford
Tonight I had the chance to spend about half an hour making a sketch of the fountain at the front of the old Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford. It's an historic site: the hospital opened in 1770, but it closed in January this year, with all its functions moving to a new site in Oxford. The original building is very interesting, but behind it is an ugly sprawl of buildings that have been put up over the years. The site has been taken over by Oxford University, who are going to turn it into teaching and research facilities. They'll have to preserve the original building, but I expect the rest will go.
technorati tags: watercolour, sketch, Radcliffe+Infirmary, Oxford
Time for a return to graphite. I like to use lots of different media -- watercolour, pen and ink, coloured pencil -- but I still find it hard to beat graphite. The control and subtlety of tone that one can get are unrivalled (at least, I can't rival it!). This is a bit of hawthorn, very common around here.
Here's another version of the girl that I posted a while back, this time with added pigeons! The vague shapes on the upper right were supposed to represent a flurry of feathers as more birds hurried over!! The fact that I've had to tell you this shows how well that worked! :( Part of the reason for doing this was to experiment with a new squirrel mop that I've just got from Jackson's Art Supplies; their own brand ones are currently on sale with a 60% discount, so I couldn't resist. I've never used a squirrel brush before; I'm amazed both by how much water it holds and by how soft it is.
technorati tags: watercolour, pigeons, winsor+and+newton, jackson's, squirrel+mop
Yesterday I attended a workshop in botanical illustration at the Harcourt Arboretum (part of Oxford University's Botanical Garden) run by Valerie Price, an artist trained in scientific illustration who has done work for, among others, Kew Gardens. Although you might not guess it from the very loose paintings I've posted here recently, I've always been fascinated by this type of detailed, highly accurate drawing and painting. I very much enjoy doing this style of work, even though I'm nowhere near being capable of the incredible detail the real experts can achieve. It seems to be unusual for people to enjoy producing both very loose and very detailed work; I suppose it doesn't really make sense to try to work in different styles, but after all I'm only doing it for fun, not to make a living!
My experience of taking classes in watercolour is that teachers invariably want you to work larger, wetter and looser, so it was a refreshing change to take a class with someone that thought my number 6 brush (the second smallest I own!) was "rather long", who stresses careful preliminary drawing involving painstaking measurement, and for whom A4 is as large format as it gets! I wouldn't want to work like this all the time, but I really enjoyed the day.
This was the result of my day's work...a single flower! But I'm quite pleased with it; I think it has a good feeling of transparency. It's mainly done using W&N opera rose on Fabriano Artistico cold pressed paper. Oh, and the flower is a lavertera.
technorati tags: watercolour, lavertera, botanical+illustration, harcourt+arboretum, botanical+gardens, Valerie+Price
Yes, it's another rose! I think tomorrow I'll have to try something different. Like a yellow rose, perhaps. :) Again, this is on a 1/4 imperial sheet of Bockingford NOT.
It's hard to resist painting roses at the moment, as thy are everywhere! So, here's another version. This style is largely inspired by the work of Jean Haines. Anyone interested in her work would also do well to check out the internet forum that she's recently set up (and which I've mentioned before), the Watercolour Haven. This is on a 1/4 sheet of 300gsm Bockingford NOT paper (as was the previous post).
technorati tags: watercolour, roses, winsor+and+newton, bockingford
I've not been able to post much so far this month, thanks to pressure of real life (boo!). But I hope to put that right with a flurry of posts over the next few days! Here is a watercolour of a Nigella, a lovely blue flower with delicate leaves and attractive seedpods. I'm trying to work in a very loose style. This was done in five minutes or so.
technorati tags: watercolour, nigella
I had the chance to go out and draw for a hour or so this evening as the sun was going down, and what better way to spend the time than draw one of my favourite subjects: a tree. I call it a "study" because that sounds like the sort of thing that proper artists do, but really, I just like drawing trees! I had to rush a bit at the end as it was getting dark, but it was a lovely evening to be out drawing.
I'm planning a painting of a young girl feeding pigeons. This is a quick study of the girl. I don't have a lot of time to do much art at the moment as I'm buried under a big pile of exams that I've got to mark! I know what I'd rather be doing, but I should be finished with the marking this weekend. I've still got that portrait to finish too!
technorati tags: watercolour, study, pigeons
Summer has returned to Oxford this weekend, thank goodness. And with all the rain, we've been having, when the sun comes out everything in the garden grows like mad. All our roses are out, pink, white, yellow, orange; patio, bush, climber. I never feel as though any attempt I've made to paint or draw roses have really worked. This year I'm having another go, using a very loose, watercolour style. Still not really right, but I think this approach could work if I keep at it.
technorati tags: watercolour, rose
