Blake's Lock - a teaser...

These are details from nine pieces that I have been working on for Artikinesis' Blake's Lock exhibition (17 September to 2 October). I've been considering the surface of the water and thinking about the Victorian turbines...

Drawing the Lock

This is a step-by-step illustration of an image made using simple collage and acrylic inks (in black and white).

I cut out the approxiate shape of the canal water in black paper and stuck it down.

I used black acrylic ink, applied with a dip pen, to start the drawing

I added some white paper shapes

I  looked at the  clouds and at the trees and realised that the trees need more "weight", so I used the eye-dropper to apply my black ink.

I added white ink to the black paper to indicate the turbulence

The  effect of the turbulent water was achieved by drawing  swirly  patterns into, over and under the  turbulence, with a dip pen. I also smudged it lightly with my finger and used a tissue to remove an excess of whte ink and then to lightly print that excess back into the rough water

I added sme white pen work to the trees to make them more interes

ting.

It isn't quite finished - there's several places where I should add defining black ink, but the white ink is still wet, and I don't want tto make a muddly grey mess.