Vegetables and Experiments

Bok Choy Farmers Market ink and watercolour pencils

Still having fun drawing the produce of the local farmers markets.  This last couple of weeks has seen the addition of Bok Choy and I just finished the Cumquats yesterday.  I have been snuggling down on the coach with my heater and little Hannah as company as the rain comes bucketing down outside.  You can tell she is working hard and clearly having a bad hair day.

Hannah supervising the writing of the post

Experiment 1

I have been experimenting with different waterproof inks for my Lamy safari pen.  I had been using Noodlers black ink, but it isn’t as waterproof as I would like.  These two drawings were done with Platinum Carbon Black.  I did notice an improvement with this ink, it is smoother in the pen and is much more waterproof.  The down side is that it does have carbon particles in the ink and they might block up my pen, (though it hasn’t done so in the  three weeks it has been in there and I haven’t used it every day, I don’t want to mess up my new pen).  I have just ordered some De Atrementis black archive ink which is also supposed to be good so I will see how that goes.

Cumquats Ink and water-colour pencils

 

Experiment 2

I have also been playing around with gessoed boards to try to find some different ways to present this work.  I love working on paper, but I am not as happy with framing and putting the work behind glass. I would like to find a way to present the work similar to how oil paintings are with thick sides that can be hung on the wall.

When I did the  pieced patterns, I covered them with a varnish that had UV filters.  I am conscious of the fact that some colour pencil colours are not as light-fast as needed and that water-colour pencils are worse.  These UV filter coatings are getting very sophisticated so I am confident that the combination of varnishes from Golden will give me the dust and UV protection I will need.  I used Golden Gel Topcoat w/UVLS which I brushed on and Golden Archival varnish with UVLS which is a spray.  I used a combination of Gloss and Matt as the gloss gives a stronger finish and the matt top coat stops it being too shiny.

There is no doubt that these varnishes change the way the work looks and gives it a slight plastic finish and I haven’t decided if I can live with that yet.  I will take some photos of the process as I go along with these different experiments and of course share the outcomes with you.

Karen

 

 

More Art Supplies

Art Supplies

I have finally received my package of art supplies,  I used a Christmas voucher to buy it but took ages to decide what to buy.  So I thought I would share my little treasure trove of art goodies with you.

Not pictured here but one of my favourite supplies is my Lamy Safari Fountain pen.  I have used it in my latest sketches and I am totally hooked.  Finally a fine inky line and a pen that does not die on my harsher watercolour/printmaking paper that I made my journals out of.  It will also go over coloured pencil, yippee!  I can’t tell you how many fine liner pens I have massacred, they don’t last more than a couple of drawings in my journals and they are killed by all the wax in the coloured pencils.  Plus there are different nibs and a whole world of inks.  The people at Goulet Pens have the best site and great YouTube videos to truly entice you into the world of fountain pens, plus they give you lolly pops in each order!  I am so easily bribed with food.

Colour swatches of Derwenk Gaphitint pencils

I also bought the new Derwent Graphitint pencils.  They are coloured graphite and although the colour range is a little limited, they have lovely subtle colours and they are water soluble, so work in well with the Derwnet Inktense that I already have.

There is also some more Sennelier water colours to complete my set which I purchased before Christmas.  They have honey in them so a very creamy.  I don’t have much experience with water colours and this is the first set of professional paints I have bought, so not sure how they compare, but I am happy with them. I just need loads more practice to get proficient with them.

I also had to have some  water soluble graphite that Anna Warren has been using (see here), so I bought a couple of sticks and a tin.  I have not played with them yet but am looking forward to trying them out.

Karen

 

Making little Note Books

The set of finished notebooks

A couple of weekends ago I found enough time and energy to make some little note books that I had been meaning to do for ages.  I wanted to get back into some book binding and to use the paper that a friend had brought back from Sennelier Art shop in Paris for me.

Note Book 1 front

 

The set of finished notebooks

I had brought some of the same paper on an earlier trip to Paris and hadn’t been able to bring myself to use it, although I would bring it out and admire and pat it on occasion.  With the extra my friend bought and the possibility to get more I thought it was time to get brave and use them.  The idea of using the paper as covers for sketch books seemed a great idea and I was itching to have a go.

Making the Notebooks

These are small (A5) size and I wanted to give them to some friends who would not necessarily use them for sketching but would be writing in them.  With that in mind I used some lighter bleed proof paper.

Note Book 2 front

Note Book 2 inside

They have light cardboard covers that I covered with my special paper on the outside and used some photocopies of my drawings on the inside for a pop of colour.  The binding is a simple saddle stitch, it really could not be easier to make a book.  I gave them all different closures to mix things up.

Note Book 4 front

Note Book 4 inside

So please with my few hours work and happy to have such useful little gifts.

Note Book 3 inside

Hanging out with the mixed media girls

It has been a busy couple of days as I started the course with Jane Davenport who is a mixed media, journal artist.  There are fourteen of us here all drawing away in this little piece of paradise.

Umbrella Bali Journal Page

The mixed media journalling is a whole different world for me and their process is completely different to mine.  They do not plan their work, just go where the page tells them, they work from their imaginations not from real life and they just lay done colour, papers, stencils on a page to start the journal without worrying what the picture will be.  Also this group do faces, as anyone who follows this blog will know, I rarely do faces.  I am used to planning a drawing, doing sketches and working from real life or photo references.  Wasn’t I out of my comfort zone on the first day as we merrily slapped down colours and papers. I would be alright for a moment until I started to think about what I wanted to draw and then I would worry that I didn’t have a background that would work.  Let go Karen, let go!

Bali Journal Page Background

Bali Journal Page Background

Anyway I got there and have managed to get most of my pages filled with a background.  The great thing about these girls is they will use every different media under the sun in one picture, background using a scrape booking paper, on it will go a printmaking technique, then acrylic, then some water colour, ink paint pens and pencils.  They know so much about all the different mediums it is inspiring to watch them work.

Unfinished Morning Offering Bali Journal Page  Every morning a offering (canang) is placed at my door with a stick on incense (dupa).

I have only finished on page (Umbrella at the top), but I will show you where I am up to in a couple of other pages.  I am also learning to work on a number of different pages at a time and not to worry if one doesn’t get finished.

Unfinished Manatee Page Bali Journal   At the top I have drawn the fishing boats that go past every morning and evening and use their lights to attract their catch.  The manatee swim with the surfers.

Working on these different backgrounds has been so much fun, and it is what I most wanted to get out of this courses, apart from the pleasure of working with so many other lovely like minded people.

Bali Girl Bali Journal Page

 

Dusk in Fitzroy

I was waiting to meet up with a friend for dinner and used the time to start a sketch of the lovely old Victorian shops in the stripe the restaurant was in. It was still too cold to sketch outdoors so I did the next best thing and wound down the window of the car, switched on the seat heating and the stereo, almost outdoors but with all the comforts, felt a bit like cheating, but I was too comfy to care.  It was right on dusk so I did not have much time to get the basics down.

Dusk in Fitzroy

I am using my new Japanese pens, I found a new website (which may be going to cost me big time) called Jet Pens through Sketch Book Skool and bought just a couple of things.  The new pens are Kuritake Bimoji Felt tip pens, they just have to be good with a name like that.  I also received some very special Japanese brushes for my birthday too.  Kazan Mahogany mop head brushes.  I asked for the number 2 and 6 and they are huge, but soooo divine.  I will be drawing them soon and will share some photos with you.

These two little terraces stood out for me as the tops were still original Victorian with the contrasting brick colours, while the bottoms had been renovated and were painted black.  A very ugly job but interesting juxtaposition between the colourful old and monochrome new,  Melbourne is renowned for these colourful brick patterns, luckily we had a number of different clay colours close at hand which is apparently unusual.

The other news is that I will be off to Bali for 10 days where I will be taking part in a drawing retreat.  Can’t wait to be in the sun and spend time with other arty people.  I will be sending you some drawings from there next week.

Karen