paintings prints and stuff

Charcoal landscape sketch:Across the fields, in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook with Willow charcoal and Derwent charcoal pencil

2012-05-21T19:10:00.003Z

Across the Fields near Great Bowden

A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook, willow charcoal and Derwent charcoal pencil

A charcoal sketch on a hazy but sunny morning with layers of spring growth. First the long grass and cow parsley of the verge, some light against dark, some dark against light. Then the hawthorn hedge - a complex mix of light and dark and gaps between twigs where the field could be seen through. Then a field of growing wheat, a further hawthorn hedge, a bright yellow field of rape, a further hedge beyond which the land falls away to a valley - and then the far hills, blue and hazy with a few distant fields outlined by more hedges and more yellow rape. On the right a distant wood looking deeper blue. Patern and tone.

I had actually gone to sketch more sheep but they'd been moved to another field.

Every year I mean to sketch the fields when these vivid areas of bright yellow are there and usually don't make it in time. Soon the petals will fall and all will be green again - and peoples sinuses will be much happier, mine included. I need to track down some flax fields later in the year as the blue is lovely.

Drawing animals: sheep and lambs, sketch in Derwent Graphitints in the Stillman and Birn Epsilon sketchbook

2012-05-19T11:05:00.000Z

Quick sketches of sheep and lambs in the fields nearby using Derwent Graphitints, water soluble pencils

Quick sketches of a subject I don't think I've ever tackled before. The Graphitints with the waterbrush are great for quick sketches like this. I used cloud grey, aubergine and chestnut pencils mainly, with just touches of others maybe.

Yellow glow

2012-05-15T17:40:00.000Z

Hazy light and glowing rapeseed, near Market Harborough

The fields around the south of Leicestershire and into Northamptonshire are currently glowing vivid yellow as the rape is in flower. When the skies are purple with storm clouds and the sun is still shining on the fields in becomes spectacular. The day of the photo was hazy and not so dramatic but you can still see the intensity.
I need to get out with oil paints.

I've been very busy with work committemnt, appointments and my youngest daughter moving house so no painting going on at the moment. I will get out though.

Rainy windows 2, sketch with mechanical pencil in Stillman and Birn Epsiilon sketchbook

2012-05-02T11:08:00.002Z

Another sketch through a rainy windscreen whilst waiting for family appointment. Graphite in Stillman and Birn sketchbook.

This week is taken up with so many appointments for family and me too. This is a quickie, done while my mother had her regular Warfarin blood test.

The car this time is further away, so the raindrops distort more, as proportionally they are much larger than Friday's rainy window sketch. It was interesting how long the arch of the limit of the windscreen wiper stayed and how little globs of water built up along the lower edge like bobbles on a Victorian curtain.

The steering wheel size is too small, I added it later, often not a good idea - my mother came out too quickly for me to finish it there.

I will continue the series of post on essential elements in drawing - but life at the moment is a little hectic.

And a link to a great article on Leonardo's anatomical studies. Well worth a look - a man incredibly ahead of his time.

Rainy Day Sketching; distortions through a rainy windscreen, pencil in Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook

2012-04-28T11:26:00.001Z

Rainy Day, waiting. Mechanical Pencil sketch in Stillman and Birn Epsilon sketchbook

Life is busy at the moment with not much time for sketching. This one was done waiting while my mother went to a dentists appointment. A day of heavy rain.

I thought it might be interesting to try to catch the distortions and reflections through the wet windscreen.

If I'd worked from a photograph it would have been a very different piece - clarity - a frozen moment. This, done from life, is very different, it's about the blur, the distortion, the wavering lines seen through slithering splashes on the windscreen, against the clear but shadowed shapes inside the car.

An interesting exercise.

Sketches of people: Hospital waiting room, Mechanical pencil in Stillman and Birn Epsilon sketchbook

2012-04-19T14:57:00.002Z

Hospital waiting room, quick sketch with mechanical pencil in Stillman and Birn Epsilon sketchbook

A couple of hours, nearly, in a hospital waiting room can be so boring - unless you use it as an opportunity to sketch. The waiting patients don't sit still, they constantly look around but do return to the same position so it's just a waiting game. This one didn't move his body at all but gazed here and there, so while his face was out of position for my drawing, I simply went back to sketching in the body. The minute he turned his head again I'd go back to add more to that.

Funny hats

Despair or tired? He smiled when called in to the doctor, so maybe just tired (that's the top of his balding head with the hood of his coat behind, you couldn't see his face at all)

resigned

surfing or texting

So instea\d of a couple of hours of boredom, it was figure drawing practice :>) and I need it!

Another collage from sketches, Artbars and Inktense in the Stillman and Birn Gamma sketchbook

2012-04-18T07:40:00.001Z

Edge of Charnwood, Derwent Inktense and Artbars in the Stillman and Birn Gamma Sketchbook

I do lots of quick demos of different mark making options with various media materials in my classes. Some end up as finished pieces but others have elements I like though aren't complete in themselves. This collage is made up from torn fragments with just a very little extra work - a few lines in copper oil pastel and artbar.

The rocks were once a stormy evening sky in a quick Artbar demo.

The Artbars and Inktense are lovely to use with their ability to create graphic marks as well as washes of colour and the S&B paper is thick enough to hold up to the collaged elements well.

Stillman and Birn Gamma Sketchbook with collage and painting - recycling unwanted sketches

2012-04-16T17:28:00.000Z

Rocks and sea in Stillman and Birn Gamma sketchbook, with Derwent Artbars and Neocolor II

I decided to try some collage in the Gamma sketchbook today while the class were working - tearing up old demo sketches, The rocks in this one started life as undergrowth and tree trunks. Marks in trees, rivulets in wet sand and the cracks in rocks can be so similar in pattern - turn them round and the subject changes. :>)

The grass, sea, far headland and a few strokes of vegetation were added with a mix of Derwent Artbars and Neocolor II.

This book has the 100lb ivory paper, which held up to the washes extremely well. I do rather like ivory or cream paper - it has character. How about you?

Derwent Artbars in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook

2012-04-10T11:59:00.000Z

Summer's End, Derwent Artbars and Studio pencils in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook

This one was done with Derwent's new Artbars in an A4, natural white, Alpha series S&B sketchbook. This one has 100lb paper, which took the washes very well, it seems to take all sorts of media without complaint - though I do admit a deeper love of the lusciousness of the heavy 180lb Beta and Delta series! I have a 'thing' about nice paper :>)

This was done from a digital image I showed some time back, moving on, not just copying but letting the language of marks of the media make changes. I'm really liking the Artbars. There is a little glazing and line from Derwent's Studio pencils in there too - but mostly Artbars used wet and dry.

You can see a review of Artbars that I did here, with further work using them.

Stillman and Birn Beta sketchbook with Derwent Inktense and Derwent Studio pencils: woods in autumn sketch

2012-04-06T15:35:00.000Z

Autumn Woods: Derwent Inktense pencils and Studio pencils in a Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook

I'd heard about S&B sketchbooks from American friends but they haven't been available in this country - and shipping costs made them out of the question.   They will soon be available here and I've got some to try out. :>)   This is one of the Beta Series.   Heavy natural white paper with a rough surface.

Curled up in the armchair, (it has been very cold here :>(   following a week of summer temperatures and sunshine) I decided to see how they behaved with my Derwent Intense pencils, with Studio pencils used over the intial washes and marks.   The answer was ... so far, love this book! The paper was delicious to work on, heavy and with a nice texture that didn't dominate the image but held marks.

I was using a waterbrush from Derwent so the washes weren't very wet but there was a fair amount of water sloshing about.   I like these for situations like this - I would have managed to tip a water container over or splash staining watercolour over the cream chair without a doubt, but the waterbrush kept mess to a minimum,

detail

The binding looks secure and strong - I've got a couple of old A3 sketchbooks with this type of large ring binding from Fabriano, and it constantly unravels and I have to bend it back and re-thread the pages. A lovely book but beccause of this I wouldn't buy another. This feels stronger - time will tell. Folding back on itself means it's possible to sketch in a limited space, where the hardbound books I have (and love) would be a nuisance.

You can see other work with Inktense here and work with the Studio pencils alone here.

I'll be showing work in this and the other books in the range - and more of the Derwent range too.

The postcard exchange ends and I've got a lovely collection of paintings by an international group of talented artists :>)

2012-04-04T10:23:00.000Z

The postcard exchange ends - sniff - but what a gorgeous collection I've got :>) for a closer look run the slide show below.

my postcards received in the postcard exchange - slideshow maker

So .........I've got a fabulous collection of small paintings and sketches from a group of very talented artists - this exchange has been so much fun. Only Ronelle knew the order in which we'd receive our cards - so each month was a surprise, anticipation, wondering who our card would be from. We only knew who we had to send one to.

Aren't they great?

And another exchange idea is bubbling so watch this space :>)

More experiments with Artbars: soft pale colours

2012-04-01T18:25:00.001Z

Pale, pearly morning, Derwent Artbars, Vivien Blackburn

This one was an experiment with Derwent's new Artbars to produce a pale, high key image rather than the vivid colours of some works shown earlier. They were equally capable of catching the subtle light of an early morning when colours were pearly pale and delicate.

There is a lovely range of pale colours, plus of course the deeper colours which, applied lightly and then washed, will give further variations of soft pale colour.

Some of this was done using quite wet washes, some deliberately leaving marks, some dry crayon drawn through damp washes, some fragments dropped into wet washes, some at the end used dry and left dry. Whatever was going to make the marks I wanted.

Further episodes of the series on essentials in painting and drawing to follow - I've been up to my eyes in family matters lately!

Hearts and Flowers - beaded floral necklace

2012-03-24T14:27:00.000Z

Hearts and Flowers, beaded necklace with lucite flowers, Vivien Blackburn

This and others are in my Etsy store now

Committments have cut into my painting time lately - but these necklaces I can work on under artificial light in the evening and I'm enjoying playing with colour combinations and beads.

Help???
I'd appreciate some advice from you who wear necklaces - what length do you like to wear? 16inch? 18inch? 20 inch?? (that's excluding the pendant flowers). In the past the ones I've made have been just for me and I'd like to know what lenght you would consider the best generally?

Off to do some painting now ............

Painting skies and skies in artists paintings

2012-03-18T12:52:00.001Z

oil

The Guardian have done an article on skies in art with some great paintings mentioned - here.

So I thought I'd trawl through some of my sketches of skies ................

Dawn at Sennen Cove, coloured pencil in moleskine sketchbook

charcoal

watercolour

coloured pencil

oil

charcoal and coloured pencil

oil

photo, early morning

water soluble brush pen

oil

charcoal

coloured pencil

watercolour

We do have such lovely changeable skies and they are fascinating to try to catch - in whatever medium :>) Done sitting on cliff tops, in the countryside, on the back of the car as it opens flat ..... very comfortable when sketching alone if I can park with a good view. Getting out there and looking is essential to understand the layers, the colours, the way light shines through from behind ............

And - if anyone is interested in the jewellery I've been designing and making, I'm beginning to put it on Etsy in my shop

These are some yet to be listed

Variations on a theme: flower bead necklaces, next installment of the Key Elements in Drawing and Painting very soon

2012-03-15T15:39:00.000Z

Gold and Black: Flower necklace, Vivien Blackburn

photo taken from above showing the scale of the flowers more accurately

Tommorow I'll have time to paint after a spell with very little time. :>)

I'll also write another installment in the Key Elements in improving your painting and drawing series over the weekend. Previous posts One, Two and Three - click on these to recap or read for the first time.

In the meantime I've been learning more bead techniques, brick stitch, ladder stitch and a complex bracelet with picot edging (some needing much practice if I'm ever going to be any good at them! - they require neatness 8>0 ). I. Don't (Can 't). Do. Neat. :>( The little (scruffy) samples I produced yesterday won't be seen here! I'll show you when I'm better.

Daisy chain necklace, Vivien Blackburn

But the techniques learned will feed into my more free form, make-it-up-as-you-go-along, natural way of working :>) The methods learned in doing the necklace above meant I could work out how to add the flowers and flower clusters as I went, creating stamens etc

When I have a few more I'll re-open my Etsy store and put these and some small paintings on. Watch this space :>)

Spring; green, white and brown. A different Spring necklace - early spring this time, Glass beads, wooden beads, Lucite and glass leaves and flowers. Vivien Blackburn

I'm really enjoying doing these - playing with the gorgeous colours available.

A Spring themed necklace and a sketch of trees done while waiting

2012-03-12T21:10:00.004Z

I made a spring themed necklace as the weather has a definite, if cool, feel of Spring. I was really pleased with how it all came together as I'd hoped. I've not learned a lot yet but I used 2 of the techniques I've learned so far :>)

I'm going to do variations on this them, different colours, different seasons.

I must update the Etsy shop with paintings - and I may - just may - do a page for some of these when I makes some more. What do you think?

From a different angle.

I had a puncture this morning :>( and whilst waiting for the AA to come and put the spare on for me, I sketched the trees I could see. Nothing brilliant but better than being bored :>) They were done with Derwent Graphitint. The colours were really suitable for the cool morning light. It's better in real life though, the photo doesn't show up the colours quite well enough.

I'll carry on with the series of issues to consider when drawing and painting later this week - life has been a bit hectic and I've not had the brain power left to write the next installment. Sorry.

PS If anyone lives near Market Harborough, I'm starting a new, additional class after Easter on either a Tuesday or Wednesday (not sure which yet, the college will let me know) as the 2 classes I currently teach there are bursting at the seams and there are some on a waiting list. So if you want to come to a friendly multi level class - come and sign on :>) ........... painting and drawing and any medium.

Further experiments with the small abstracts - digital variations

2012-03-04T15:57:00.002Z

Digital experiment with small abstracts. Vivien Blackburn

I'm working out options for this series. The original ones were manipulated in photoshop, playing with colour variations and rotating/flipping.

I quite like the idea of doing a series of 9 framed liked this on either black or white.

Which do you prefer for the background - black or white?

I think the white background has a clean freshness but the black has an added glow.

More tiny abstracts: inktense, Derwent studio pencils and Fisher 400 paper

2012-02-25T11:03:00.000Z

Another in series of tiny abstracts, playing with the interaction of colour, shape and space

This one was done using Derwent's studio pencils over an inktense underpainting, on Fisher 400 paper. I like the way that Derwent's Coloursoft pencils work with this paper better, though these worked well, the Coloursofts were richer when used like this (not so on normal paper).

Working with the underpainting allows me to create the same sort of effects that I can achieve in oils - changing subtly or overlaying very different colour opaquely, and is a really useful way of playing with colour and ideas.

and another variation with the same materials

and there's more .....

I may arrange them in a grid, keeping each element small with the grid black or a deep linking colour - decisions decisions ....

what do you think?

Derwent Artbars: a luscious new product from Derwent, water soluble waxy crayons

2012-02-21T13:15:00.004Z

detail from step by step

Well ..... secret project is secret no more : > )

Derwent Artbars

Last summer I was asked to take part in testing Derwent's newest baby - Artbars, then in the lab under development. They will be available in the next couple of weeks and are now on the Derwent website.

Rocks near Porthgwarra, Derwent Artbars, on A2 cartridge paper, Vivien Blackburn

It was really interesting being involved in trying them out from the short-stumps-of-colour-and-varied-composition/shape etc at the beginning and following their progression.   I still have a little container of these stumps.

In this one, that they commissioned after the initial testing, the only other medium used is a little white gouache for those areas where I didn't retain the white of the paper for the incoming waves.   In other places it is simply the white paper.

In the one above, I was wanting to build an intensity of colour, unlike the sketchier, airier version below.   Artbars worked equally well either way.

The colour is lush.

It's possible to use a wide variety of techniques with Artbars

Draw on dry paper. Scumbling colours over each other, dry, then washing loosely with water, being careful not to over mix or overwork, and keeping the underlying graphic marks in places, contrasting with the really fluid washes with no marks, gave some really nice textures and colours.
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Draw into a damp wash for softer marks that blur into the surrounding colour a little.
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Drawing back over dry washes and leaving the fuzzier, quite different marks showing, where appropriate, adds variety and texture.
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Lifting colour from the sticks for fluid washes with no ‘drawn’ marks is very effective and gives luscious washes of colour. It's possible to achieve very pale translucent washes as well as intense colours.
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Splatter colour by picking up from the crayons with a wet brush
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Glaze layers over earlier dried layers for veils of changing colour
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Dry drawn marks in final layer, leave as graphic marks
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Use those fine triangular edges for linear marks (the shape also means they don't roll of your desk or roll away when you work plein air)
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Where I had only used dry colour or not built up too much wetted dark to sink in and stain the paper, a battery operated eraser worked well to remove colour and ‘draw’ back into areas.
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Printing - I scribbled onto acetate and then ran a small foam roller across it – then ran this across paper. I’ve previously done this with watercolour and it worked well with the Artbars. Scribbled marks on acetate were simple rolled over with the sponge and then printed onto the paper by rolling the sponge down the page. Ideal for underpainting marks in rocks, bark, stone walls etc They can be blotted whilst damp, to remove parts. Then use any of the techniques above to work into it, defining, removing, simplifying. Variations on stencilling and printing can be experimented with. Example on the left above.
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Spraying techniques using the spray bottle in the accessories
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Building heavy layers of colour and scratching through to reveal lower layers or the white of the paper
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Building heavy layers of colour and burnishing to a glossy smooth finish
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Scraping flecks of colour into wet washes to create interesting speckles and texture
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Using Derwent's embossing tools through a wet wash - it dents the paper surface, creating a fine line of more intense colour as the pigment dries.

There is a range of accessories with spray bottles and scrapers to add even further techniques - see on the Derwent site, to add to the range of techniques. I find spray bottles very useful with water media and often scrape fragments of pigment from pencils to add texture, letting them fall into a damp wash, which fixes them.

Artbars also worked well with Derwent's waterbrushes - I was absolutely amazed at how these self'-clean. You know how you have to wash a brush thoroughly before picking up another colour - I don't know how these clean so easily, but they do. (I'm sold on them for times when I wouldn't want to be carrying quantities of water They are ideal when you only want to carry a sketchbook, watersoluble graphite and a brushpen for instance - a minimal kit but really expressive). Taking Artbars out plein air I'd want water and bigger brushes to enable me to work fast and freely on a largish scale but for small studies the waterbrushes worked well.

detail 1 from a quicker sketch showing glazes, dry marks, washes, splattering, scratching .....

You can work fast with them as you can lay down a considerable amount of colour and cover, washing it out, blotting, working into it, catching the moment if you are working plein air. In the studio you have the luxury of more time.

detail 2 from a quicker sketch showing glazes, dry marks, washes, splattering, scratching .....

the whole of the quicker sketch

One of the things I asked for was a range of subtle light colours, as well as a good range of more vivid colour. This should enable images from the very subtle to intense and vivid and they certainly seem to have listened : > )

Here I've deliberately used the Artbars alone apart from a touch of white gouache in surf as I was testing them.

Artbars colour range

This earlier still life done with a limited range of the early Artbars was one of the intense variety I think
: >)

Still life experiment on A2, Vivien

I like the mix of drawing vs the painterly marks they can make, the flood of colour achievable and the soft subtle washes that can be obtained despite their richness.

They worked well on both cartridge paper and watercolour paper - the watercolour paper allowing more changes and pushing the colour about/lifting it off etc without the paper becoming damaged, though I preferred a smooth surface to work on and would use hot pressed watercolour paper. I like the marks to be ones I've chosen to create, rather than those imposed by the paper.

It's possible to combine them with any coloured pencils, water soluble pencils/graphite, ink or watercolours to extend mark making possbilities even further. My next project is to combine them with Inktense/Coloursofts/Derwents Artist and Studio pencils/watercolour pencils/watersoluble graphite - possibilities are endless : > )

For anyone who is a member of the SAA, I was requested to do an article for the SAA magazine about Artbars, (out in March, for those who are members). There is a step by step birch tree showing some of the above techniques in practice.

My paintings have been featured in a glossy magazine but I've never written an article - so be kind and make allowances!

So - these are going to be something I enjoy using, free an expressive and fun. I'll add further work here or links to longer posts about using the Artbars in work as I go.

Edit April 2012 - further work:

Go to the searchbox and enter Artbars and it will come up with more work and comments :>)

Derwent Coloursoft testing: Tiny abstracts, trees, seascapes, studies and ideas for potential large canvasses

2012-02-17T10:40:00.034Z

A series of tiny (2 inches and less) studies for possible large canvasses. Derwent Coloursoft on Fisher 400 paper, underpainting in watercolours. Vivien Blackburn

Tiny Abstracts with Derwent Coloursoft pencils and watercolour on Fisher 400 paper:

I had some tiny left over scraps of the Fisher 400 and decided to experiment with water colour washes, overlaid with Derwent Coloursoft pencils (which work beautifully over this paper, so intense and rich).

As I'm not getting out to work plein air at the moment, due to the cold not being great for arthritis, I thought I might work on some canvasses where I'm simply using luscious colours to create space, mood and lovely interactions of colour.

The Coloursoft on the Fisher paper allow me to throw in those unexpected intense bits of colour, over deeper washes beneath, like those touches of vivid red that float over the underlying colours. Mixing media like this allows me to do this - to let the painting, tiny as it is, to start talking back to me. To make changes, subtle or dramatic. Some of the colour shifts are gentle with watercolours wet in wet, glazed or with thin hazes of the coloured pencils.

Using the Coloursoft on this paper over watercolour, acrylic or gouache, on a small scale,is a perfect way for me to play quickly with ideas, colours, space etc before starting on a large canvas as I can create similar separation or blending to what will happen when I work on a large canvas in oils. with the mix of media. It has the same ability to work backwards and forwards between dark and light and make big changes.

These studies are the beginnings of a series that I hope will lead on to 36 or 40 inch canvasses - they have the feel of bigger paintings to me - do you agree?

An earlier series in a similar vein can be seen here and here for work in progress and below for one finished canvas, They were done for a project linked with the comedy festival here a few years ago and were about Harlequin and the Commedia del Arte. They were based on the patched Harlequin costume, stage lights reflecting on silky fabrics, distressed surfaces ...

Harlequin,30x40 inches mixed media on canvas, Vivien Blackburn

Some other studies testing out the Derwent Coloursoft:

Coloursoft pencils in Moleskine sketchbook, Abstracted seascape, misty morning on a day that promises to be glorious , Vivien Blackburn

Birches, coloursoft pencils on Fisher 400, no underpainting, Vivien Blackburn

Birches, Derwent Coloursoft on Fisher 400 paper, Vivien Blackburn

and this one, done as part of the postcard exchange.

I am really liking Coloursoft in combination with Fisher 400. It's lovely on paper - but the way it behaves on sanded paper is something special : > )

Coloursoft doodle in the Derwent 75lb sketchbook with Rotring pen lines

Colours can still be quite intense even on the thin paper in this sketchbook but even better on the 110lb sketchbook or other heavier paper.

An article on the Secret Project on a new product next week as it's secret will be out :>)

Tonal values: Light and shade, a key element in making your paintings and drawings better, 2 of 10

2012-02-13T16:43:00.001Z

The cliffs at Hunstanton in greyscale to show tonal values

Tonal Values

Getting to grips with tonal values is essential to capture your subject in an interesting way.

The original version of the striped cliffs at Hunstanton in colour

You need to use the full range of tones observable - this may be a limited range as in a subtle Gwen John interior (below) or a misty day - but more often has a wide range of contrasts. I find students are often wary of pushing the darks enough and the finished work lacks impact - deepen those darks (with colour not black) and the painting comes to life.

Gwen John

This Gwen John interior is a beautiful study using a limited tonal range, the shadows under the chair the darkest area, though not intensely dark, the rest bathed in a diffused light.

Half close your eyes to simplify tonal values and capture them with more ooomph. Colours are a totally separate issue from tone - yellow in the shade can be darker than black in sunlight - it's essential to look and compare, squint, really observe closely and don't simply think of the colour your left brain knows the object to be. The effects of light can make it appear a very different colour and tone. Constantly compare - the small hole punched in paper for filing can be useful to isolate an area so that you can assess it without preconceptions creeping in.

Remember as well that a camera can't cope with the number of tones a human eye can. If a human eye can see 10 degrees of tone then a camera catches less than half. Some areas disappear into blackness - black holes where the human eye would see colour in the shadows. Some areas get burnt out - skies too pale and washed out for instance - whereas the human eye sees the colour and tone. So, if working from photos a lot of visual memory needs to be drawn on to add back the missing elements.

Read this article on Handprint to see a scientific and interesting explanation of our perception of tonal value

Caravaggio

Don't forget 'lost' edges where things next to each other may be different colours (or not), but are tonally equal and the edge is indistinct as in the this Caravaggio painting, where the clothes melt into the darkness behind the figures- or the chair back almost melting into the soft shade in the Gwen John interior.

Caravaggio is an absolute master of contrast, with parts of the subject lost in darkness, faces and hands gesturing are brightly lit adding pure drama to the scene being enacted as though on a stage.

Consider the very different mood that the tonal values (and marks) evoke in these paintings and the one below.

Turner

Just look at the clever use of tone in this painting by Turner - he's used it to create a vortex, all marks and tones leading you to the ship in difficulties, the light areas silhouetting it, the dark swallowing it without clear distinction between boat and sea. Again, tone to add pure drama.

Do take a look at Turner's sketchbooks at the Tate if you haven't done so - here. They could have been done today, amazing, free, timeless, so well observed.

This is a study I did of a studio space I had about 12 years ago and below is a greyscale version.

As with the Gwen John interior the light was diffused. The space was cluttered with a shirt over the back of a chair, a vase of wiliting flowers and a tin of brushes, the window at the back but probably fluorescent lights lit as well.

close up of the brushesm backlit by the window and below in grescale

Tonal value also creates a sculptural sense of form

With these studies of cardoon heads I wanted to get the volume, the robust heavy shape, the different textures - scaly dry bracts and fluffy interior - tonal value (and observation and mark making - see they all interlink!) is what I used to try to achieve this.   I felt I was sculpting with the pencils, interpreting a 3D subject in 2D but trying to make it feel 3D, pushing the bits of darkness behind the bracts to make them come forward, using light over dark as well as dark over light in the fluffy areas. My little electric erasers are brilliant for this. I've got a Jakar and a Derwent one.. The Derwent spins a little slower, is a little wider and has longer refills.

The same issues of volume and form apply to any subject - portraits or landscapes.

Other artists that might interest you

Kurt Jackson's landscapes are full of light and shade, beautifully observed. Reflections on water are especially fabulous :>) (also intense observation and lovely mark making)

David Prentice   both traditional and abstracted work - but the tonal values are as important as the colour

If painting/drawing an abstract, tonal values still apply.   The overall painting still needs to work tonally it's a balancing act even though it isn't related to some concrete object, view or person being observed directly.

Mary Fedden flattens perspective, isn't concerned about 3 dimensions but her paintings still consider tone as well as colour and composition.

Barbara Rae abstracts from the landscape in wonderful vivid colour - but again the tone works. Take a look at her wonderful sketchbook, sadly out of print - I was tempted to buy : > )

To make an interesting painting, the light must be interesting in the first place, giving interesting tonal variation and shadows.

It's worth lighting a still life with lamps or positioning it sideways on to a window - or backlit for drama.

In the landscape evening and morning light is far more interesting than the flat light of midday. It has long shadows and a special quality to the light whereas midday - especially in summer - can be just plain boring to paint and results in a boring painting.

Prior posts in this series

Post one of this series an overview

Post two - on observation

More to follow with points 3 -10 : > )

Making a bead necklace .... and now for something completely different .... for me

2012-02-10T18:32:00.002Z

My first bead necklace

Today I met up with a fellow teacher for an exchange of skills. Sue teaches jewellery making and makes some really beautiful things (check out the link). She taught me how to make this necklace with all the extra, sticky out beads at the centre :>) I chose all the lovely blue greens of the sea with a few sand colours for contrast. Her studio was a treasurehouse of luscious beads. She was very patient with someone clumsy, who constantly tangled her thread :>)

I took the Inktense pencils and bars and my paintbrushes for her to have a play with them. They can be used on silk and as she involves textiles in some of her work I thought they might be of interest. Sue experimented with those, while I industriously threaded beads.

A lovely creatively different day :>) which we plan to repeat, with me teaching drawing/painting and Sue, Gill and Sheryl teaching different aspects of jewellery making.

Key Elements in Painting and Drawing series:

I'll do the next episode in the key elements of painting and drawing in the next few days. The next one will be about tone.

Birch trees in watercolour and coloured pencil: demo for class

2012-01-31T17:14:00.000Z

Watercolour and coloured pencil, approx 7.5 x 9.5 ins

This one was done yesterday as a class demo. Last week we'd looked at how various artists handled trees and undergrowth. This week we looked at the sketchbooks of John Blockley, David Hockney, Kurt Jackson and David Prentice, also the line and wash work that Sue Lewington does.

Then they wanted a demo of birches to see how I worked and discuss methods, order, techniques etc.

It was done straight into watercolour, no preliminary drawing with pencil, with a mix of White Nights and W&N artists pans, on heavy watercolour paper, type unknown as it was donated by one of the class. There are slight touches of watercolour pencils in there too.

There has been a lot of this sort of light on my journey to and from work lately - brooding skies ahead but sunlight where I am, making the landscape glow. This particular section is on a highish plateau - the countryside isn't actually this flat roundabout but appears to be in this view.

The trees were sketched in with paint first so that the white of the paper could be retained as necessary. Then far trees, field, sky and foreground foliage were added in layers and glazes.

I used these brushes plus a rigger for the calligraphic marks of the foliage and for parts of the trees.

When it was dry I added touches of Derwent Studio pencil to increase the glow or add extra shadow in a couple of places.

The harbour, Newquay, rainy day. Derwent Artists coloured pencils.

2012-01-29T13:44:00.003Z

Newquay Harbour, Rainy Day, 6x3 ins approx

More testing of Derwent products and again with the Fisher 400 paper. I do love this surface for working on.

Like the Derwent Coloursoft pencils, the Artist Pencils work beautifully on this sanded paper. Colours went down richly and overlaid and mixed really well - whites actually reading as white. There was a good range of subtle colours that I could choose from to mix and overlay. So necessary to achieve the soft grey green and a hint of pale blue and viridian in the sea, palest pink and cream that shone through the sky a little.

It's just a tiny sketch which I wanted to keep loose, not getting into overmuch detail, wanting to catch the misty air and the soft colours on a very small scrap of paper.

Not an Emmet in site (old Cornish word for mosquito - now applied to tourists ;>D ) - all quiet with the sea softly rolling in, no wild waves today, and the gentle subtle colours of sea, sky and stone.

The Drawing Painting series will continue in a day or so :>)

Observation: a key element in making your paintings and drawings better, 1 of 10

2012-01-27T16:26:00.005Z

Leonardo da Vinci, Hands

I've been asked to expand on the points I made in my post about what I considered the essential elements in drawing and painting. So, I'll take each point at a time and expand on what I mean, with examples. This is 1 of 10.

Because I think globally, holistically, I find it difficult to separate them! My brain is wired so that these elements totally interlock and depend upon each other. I will attempt to talk about each separately - with occasional lapses and links because I can't help it!

1 Observation: All the images shown here are the result of intense observation from life.

Unless your work is totally abstract, with no representational element at all, observation is crucial. A different kind of observation is still needed even then. Learn to look hard. It's often necessary to take longer looking than actually drawing.

Each time I say drawing, please read painting-and-drawing, it becomes too much of mouthful to write it in full each time.

Look at the beautiful sensitive, yet powerful work above by Leonardo. The sensitive shading, chiaroscuro, fading off into those beautiful fluid lines that still define form, solidity and flow of muscles. See here I want to start talking about marks .... but I'll resist. And aren't the traditional descriptions of art techniques in Italian just lovely? chiaroscuro, sfumato, pentimenti .......

Observation needn't result in such a traditional image. It equally underlies the beautiful expressive drawings of Van Gogh,

Van Gogh

Van Gogh isn't only observing solid objects in the landscape. He's trying to draw the wind, the wild movement of grasses and the tree, the swirling clouds and the feel of the day. For this he has to work out the marks needed to express them - ooops marks again you see, solidly interwined with the observation, but I'll talk about them in post number 4 in this series.

Degas

See how keenly Degas is observing the dancer, unhappy with the leg, he's redrawn it next to the figure. The arms and head have been redrawn. Don't be precious with drawings, be prepared to redraw, move things that are wrong, push it around until you are happy with it.

I highly recommend almost any book by John Blockley, amazing observation but so freely worked (oh dear, marks again) Look how those houses nestle into the mountain, almost a part of it.

Goat Skull, Vivien Blackburn, watercolour and coloured pencil

In these drawings I was trying to show the form, catch the light, the hardness of bone and the more crumbling feel of the delicate internal structures.

As the shape was a difficult one, I constantly considered what was in line with what,horizontally and vertically. I mentally compared measurements. Were the proportions right? how did the size of the eye socket compare with that dip of the cheek? the height of the overall thing compared with the width? if I took an imaginary line down from the point of a horn what was below ? etc.

another view, in carbon pencil

Practice: In these studies of a goat skull, I was drawng in a fairly traditional way, the drawings were purely about observation practice (and marks!) . Complete in themselves they aren't information gathering for future paintings as some of my sketches are.

They were done in class as a demonstration, working between discussions with students about their own work, they drifted by from time to time, to look as it progressed and ask questions.

My advice to anyone wanting to improve is to do things like this. I found it complex, difficult and challenging. Take time, observe closely, rather than dash off quick and shallow pieces in a rush to fill a sketchbook.   Working from life improves drawings fast, my students have proved it over and over again. To improve: practice, practice, practice.

Working from 2D images, photographs or other peoples work makes it harder to produce a good result, doesn't exercise your observation in the same way, even though it may at first seem easier.   It takes experience to be able to imagine the 3 dimensionality and allow for the distortions in light and perspective of a photograph.

So, I wouldn't say don't work from photographs, but use with caution and understand their shortcomings.

On about week 3 or 4 of a new student starting a course with me, they come up to me to say 'I see so much more now, I notice all these colours in clouds, trees, the fields, grey pavements .... whatever'    and they have no idea that the other students all came out with the same comment in their time :>)    That's success - they are observing. :>)

Why are drawing/painting what you are?

This is important to consider from the beginning - is it to express the smoothness of skin and the articulation of joints like the Leonardo, the wind and weather in the landscape like Van Gogh, the textures, perspective and form as I was trying with my goat skull or the movements and form of a dancer as with Degas?   mood can be important, a sense of melancholy, the excitement of the theatre, tranquillity and more. Knowing what aspects made it interesting to you helps you to focus on expressing these - how is for later posts on marks, colour etc.

Links you may find worth looking at

Turner's sketchbooks at the Tate Gallery

Durer, drawing of feet

Kurt Jackson, tree

Lowry and an incredibly powerful self portrait

David Poxon realism and acute observation

Hockney
The recent facsimile sketchbook (well worth buying) shows very Van Gogh like marks in many drawings - ooops those marks again

Van Gogh, boots, article

Urban sketchers - a blog of sketchers worldwide with some excellent work

Paul Lewin painting and drawing

So many more I could have included - take a look at the links in the sidebar to artists I admire and you'll see other great examples.

and consider the marks as you look ;>D   I'll talk about that in post 4 of this series