Bouquet Sketching

8 3/4" x 9 3/4"

Ink and Watercolour on Arches Text Wove 

Dot Flowers Everywhere!

For a few days I was filling every blank space with these dot flowers.  I was reminded how easy they were to do after watching this video.

From Faces To Flowers

 I was working again in my 11" x 14" sketchbook last week.  One day I was sketching bouquets in the same fast, scribbly way that I had been doing beards.  These were done with my Sailor Fude pen, allowing for lots of line variation.  The ink is water-soluble and I like that too.

My Kit

This is what is currently in my Urban Sketching Kit.  It also includes my sketchbook and a fountain pen that I drew this with.

Great Customer Service

A few weeks ago I was looking for a hard-to-find pencil sharpener and left an inquiry on the KUM website.  Kum is a German company, but some of their sharpeners are available for sale here in North America.  I just couldn't find the particular one that I wanted here in Vancouver, Canada.

A few days later my phone rang; it was Kum's North American office, in New York.  They apologized that there was no retailer here (including on-line) who could sell me what I wanted, but they offered to send me two samples.  Now THAT'S customer service!

Remembering Summer

Thoughtful

Curly Beard

So, You Wanna Go to Sea, Billy?

Opposites Attract

Suddenly, in the midst of working large, I got the urge to make a small, handcarved stamp.  

I immediately used it to make some artist trading cards for our local swap.

Beards are Fun!

Sailor Fude Pen and Watercolour

11" x 14" Strathmore Sketchbook

Roz Stendahl, one of my sketching heroes, loves to sketch men with beards.  I can see why - scribbling is fun!

The Paper Buckles, But So What?

Sailor Fude Pen and Watercolour

Strathmore Sketchbook

11" x 14"

You can see on the background of this scan how the thin paper buckles when I add watercolour to it.  But these sketches are so much fun I don't care!

Working Large

Sailor Fude Pen and Watercolour

I've been using an old 11" x 14" sketchbook as a studio journal lately, a place to keep notes, test colours, do thumbnail sketches, etc.

I have found that I enjoy the freedom of working large again, something that I haven't done for a few years.

Arches Text Wove

Arches Text Wove paper is a favorite with my calligraphy friends.  It feels about the same weight as the Arches MBM Ingres paper but I think it may be 100% cotton.  It performed beautifully using the same technique (laid on wet plexiglass without tape).

I wet the sky area first and dropped in Daniel Smith Opera Pink and Cobalt Teal Blue.  Then I drew the field with Sap Green and added water to wet this area.  I added French Ultramarine and Veridian at the horizon line, and some more opera pink and teal until I was happy with the saturation.  FUN, FUN, FUN!

Weathered Barn

Stonehenge 100% Cotton 140 lb.

This next test needed a bit of a sketch with a light pencil.  I did this on the paper while it was dry.  Next I wet the glass and laid the paper on top.  Although this paper was considerably heavier than the last one, it still stuck fine without tape.

This is also a wet on wet painting, worked in sections.  Once I stopped fussing with the drawing, it was a lot of fun to do.

The reference photograph was by Dana Critchlow from Paint My Photo.

Look Ma, No Tape!

Included in my paper stash was a small piece of Arches MBM Ingres 60 lb 75% cotton paper.  It seemed an ideal paper for my next experiment.

I wet the glass thoroughly and laid on the paper.  I didn't tape the paper because the water held it firmly in place.

First I wet the sky area and dropped in French Ultramarine.  I then moved into the foreground letting it bleed into the sky to create a middle ground.  After it was dry I added the trees.  I cheated on the highlights by using a white gel pen.

This paper was a lot of fun to work on.

Still Having Fun!

Opus Student Watercolour Paper

This series of watercolour paper tests seems to have morphed into tests with various methods of preventing paper buckling.  That's OK, though, I'm still having fun painting!  And I'm not worrying about how much paper I'm "wasting", so that's a good thing too.

I wet this paper on the reverse and taped it to the glass.  It worked well.  As I was doing some Internet research on this subject I found another method that I'll try next.

Persistent or Stupid?

Refusing to give up, I tried two more tests on Canson XL watercolour paper.  I washed the glass I have been using in case contaminants were my problem and I used more fresh water to wet the back surface of the paper.  The first painting I transferred from the glass as soon as it began sticking, but this time I noticed that the layers of the paper were actually starting to separate.

For the second one I prepared the paper in the same way but I taped it to a board instead of glass.  It worked absolutely fine with no sticking.

Just in case I had not left the paper on long enough, I took a very small scrap of XL, wet both sides, taped it to the glass and left it over night.  The paper stuck and separated.

Conclusion:  Paper production often changes over time.  My XL paper is a few years old, so other artists may not experience the same thing I did.   But I will not be using XL paper for painting with lots of water again. 

Another Canson XL Watercolour Test

After my last experience with this paper (see yesterday's post), I wondered what I might have done wrong.  I had learned this no-stretch method of preventing buckling from an artist who uses it with all kinds of paper, including Canson XL.   Had I left the paper taped to the glass too long?  Not long enough?

The next day was cooler and the humidity was lower.  With different weather and these questions in my mind I tried again.   After I finished painting I removed some tape and could tell that the paper was beginning to stick to the glass again.  I quickly removed it so that there was only some minor damage.  I transferred it to a board and pressed the tape down to continue drying.  This worked fine.

I still had a lot of fun painting, though, and enjoyed a change of subject!

Preventing Buckling

Opus Student Watercolour Paper

For the next test, I wet the back side of the paper and taped it to glass, in an attempt to stop the buckling.  (Paper buckles when it gets wet on one side only).  This worked really well and I had so much more fun when the paint didn't run into the valleys caused by buckling or over to the edges.  

This worked so well for this Opus cellulose paper that I wondered how the XL paper might perform.  It seemed to work while I was painting, but I was surprised that as the paper dried, it glued itself to the glass and wouldn't come off without tearing.  

Canson XL Watercolour Paper

Testing, Testing, 1-2-3

Stonehenge 100% Cotton

I recently began a series of watercolour paper tests.  I had a number of goals, which changed as I progressed.  My overall objective, however, was to see if I could get over my feeling that watercolour paper was too precious, too "good" for me.

My initial idea was to do a series of tests using the watercolour landscapes that we had done in Joanne Sharpe's Whims 2 class.  I had used a mixed media journal for the class, but thought that these would be more fun on watercolour paper with lots of water. 

I have quite a bit of watercolour paper in my stash, so I thought that it would also be useful to compare different kinds of paper.  Artist quality watercolour paper is 100% cotton rather than cellulose, and I wanted to compare the difference for myself.   

For the first two tests I taped the 140 lb. paper to a board and wet the paper in the sky area before adding paint.  The 100% cotton paper above definitely took more water without buckling than did the cellulose paper below.  The Canson paper buckled and the paint ran to the edges - not fun at all.  The Stonehenge cotton buckled a bit but at least the paint didn't run down to the edges.

Canson XL

Sketching at the Cemetery

Some people don't like cemeteries; I love them.  They are like parks, only quieter.

Fabulous Finishes

Well, Joanne Sharpe calls them fabulous, anyway.  I love this quote by Emerson.

Sketching at the Library

The overhead lights are too diffuse at the library to show good shadows, but I had fun with the chairs in this drawing.  The idea of drawing all the books on the shelves didn't appeal to me, however.

No End

There seems to be no end to the inspiration to draw my office chair and painting apron.  At the moment I'm working with water soluble ink and using watercolor to paint only the areas that are in shadow.

Negative Painting

Joanne Sharpe's Whims 2 class includes some negative painting.  I love negative painting, but I think this would have worked better on watercolor paper.  The Alpha Stillman & Birn book that I'm working in is great for pen work and light washes, but these multiple layers of watercolor require something a bit more robust.

A Mighty Tree

Evidently Joanne Sharpe likes looking up into tall trees as well!

All About the Vase

Another Fun Whim!