The George and Horn: painting a line and wash

The finished painting is at the end of this sequence of in-progress shots, showing you how I painted the local pub...

Our printer was out of magenta and yellow, so I printed my photograph out in rough monochrome.
I used a mechanical pencil (beause it was there) to sketch in the construction lines freehand.
I used my Noodler's Creaper flex-nib foutain pen, loaded with Koh-i-Noor document ink, to ink in the line work. The document ink is wateproof and claims to be safe for fountain pens. Waterproof is important, because the wash is wet! Usually, I use acrylic ink or India ink with a dip pen.

Pen work (almost) all done
(can you spot the missing bit?)
and a few bits of masking fluid in place.

That fantastic moment when you remove the masking fluid...

Most of the watercolour wash is done...

Finished!

Enchanted Woods

This tree - in ancient woodland on the Pendarves estate in Cornwall - looked as if it might be enchanted even before I gave it the stained glass treatment. The central tree uses very nearly every colour of acrylic ink that I own, and the stained glass is retricted to three watercolours - phthalo blue, permanent rose and quinacridone gold.

Return of the Stained Glass Trees (3 pictures)

Hollow Light
Approx 9 x 10 inches, acrylic ink and watercolour on bamboo paper

 ... and this time they're packing watercolour.

Burns Night Flowers

Sepia acrylic ink and watercolour (violet, yellow ochre and Hooker's green)

Nib

This is a handsome pen - the barrel, which you can't see here, is made of walnut, and the gold nib has delicate scrollwork on it - but it's never really worked right. I'm changing the ink to wahable blue to see if that flows better, but in the meantime I think I have found an alternative use for the pen - as a subject.

Watercolour (with white acrylic for highlights) on paper, ~10 x 15 cm

Winsor Violet on the Kennet and Avon

painted on 300gsm cold pressed cotton rag
(24 x 18 cm)

I have a metal watercolour sketcher's box, made by Winsor and Newton. It's an earlier version of this one. I've had it around 30 years, but I've never actually replaced one of the half-pans until today (watercolour pans last a long while, especially if you don't use watercolour very much).

I bought a number of replacement half-pans more than a decade ago. I had evidently mislaid the card that listed the colours, because there was a whole lot of guessing going on. Some of the "replacements" don't seem to tie in with the originals, and there is at least one duplication.

Original colour card, with my paint swatches

Sunset Road - SOLD

I'm really pleased with the way that this turned out. It's based on a photograph from last summer, when I stopped my homeward journey to admire - and photograph - the wonderful sunset.

Netley Abbey in the Rain (in the Rain)

Two watercolours done on Friday of the ruins of Netley Abbey, near Southampton. It was raining. Lots.

More watercolour practice - Cornish Copse

Cornish Copse 1, 2 and 3 (all A6)

Cornish Copse 4 (7 x 9.5 inches)

Four little watercolour sketches from our recent stay in Cornwall. While they were done from life, I was cosily ensconced indoors.

Three watercolours of Corfe Castle

I actually made something approaching a New Year's resolution this year: to improve my watercolour skills.

To that end, I have resorted to photographs from the family album of our holiday near Corfe Castle last year. The photogenic ruins of the castle itself are the common theme.

Detail of the second sketch

Brush hand

I'm praticising my watercolour skills.

'Scuse me while I paint the sky

Dipping into Watercolour Sketching

Above: Tadley Common, with and without cattle. Both ~ 20 minute lunchtime sketches.
Below: 15 minute sketch of fields near Kingsclere.

Watercolour is a dashed tricky medium.

The Oily Knife, part 1: Oils

Over the years, I have tried many artistic media, and several different means of applying them. From crayon to pencil and assorted pastels; from poster paint to watercolour to acrylic to oils; inks of many kinds, charcoal and chalk. Fingers, brushes, rags and knives. And that's just the two dimensional stuff!