Three Sketchbooks: One Ink: Naphthol Crimson

I’m preparing some of my sketchbooks with Liquitex ink because I fancy doing some sketching onto coloured backgrounds for a while. I have three very different sketchbooks. The hand-made one (beautifully made by a friend) prepared with clear textured gesso. The small very heavyweight Khadi one, prepared with smooth white gesso. And the large, square-formatContinue reading “Three Sketchbooks: One Ink: Naphthol Crimson”

Three Sketchbooks: One Ink: Turquoise Deep

I’m carrying on spreading Liquitex ink onto my three very different sketchbooks. The hand-made one prepared with clear textured gesso. The Khadi one, prepared with smooth white gesso. And the unprepared one made by Indigo. This time I used Turquoise Deep. The effects are so different across the three books. . I have a newContinue reading “Three Sketchbooks: One Ink: Turquoise Deep”

Three Sketchbooks: One Ink: Deep Violet

I have these three very different sketchbooks. The top one, made by a friend with all sorts of paper treasures, has been prepared with clear, textured gesso. The middle one, a thick hand-made Khadi paper, has been prepared with a smooth white gesso. And the one at the bottom, a smooth paper made by Indigo,Continue reading “Three Sketchbooks: One Ink: Deep Violet”

Stayed In Sniffling…

Here’s another sketch I did en plein air last Spring in the Lake District. I was hoping to have done more last week when I visited, but it seems I might have developed geriatric hay fever and I ended up mostly staying indoors, sniffling. Ah well, I’ll stay by the sea in summer in future.

Been Away…

I visited the Lake district last week but unfortunately went down with something not long after I got there. I’m not sure if it was a lurgi, or whether I had hay fever for the first time. I didn’t have a temperature which makes me think it wasn’t a virus, and the farmers had beenContinue reading “Been Away…”

Inspired By Suzanne

There are a lot of artists I really love, and two of those I love most are Suzanne Valadon and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. I saw a painting called “The Hangover” recently for the first time and it’s a portrait of Suzanne by Henri. Wonderful. Two of my favourite artists in one artwork! Here’s a linkContinue reading “Inspired By Suzanne”

#Caturday Saturday

I carried on with this little cat piece, using  Derwent Aquatone watercolour sticks onto a heavy watercolour paper with Escoda Versátil brushes. The cat shapes are from a stencil I cut of our little Bill the rescue cat some time ago. This is the first thing I’ve done with the Aquatone sticks and I’m getting usedContinue reading “#Caturday Saturday”

#Caturday Saturday

I carried on playing with some Derwent Aquatone watercolour sticks that I was given a while back. I did a blend of Prussian Blue, Ultramarine and Light Blue a couple of weeks ago and today worked in some Spectrum Orange and Middle Chrome. The cat shapes are from a stencil I cut of our littleContinue reading “#Caturday Saturday”

#Caturday Saturday

I acquired some second hand Derwent Aquatone watercolour sticks recently and I’m giving them a try-out. I used a stencil I made of our little rescue cat William Chatnoir aka Bill, to draw a couple of outlines onto some heavyweight Khadi paper and used an Escoda brush to start blending three different blues together. NotContinue reading “#Caturday Saturday”

#Caturday Saturday

Someone gave me some slightly used Derwent AQUAtone watercolour sticks to try out (they’re now discontinued). I have a sheet of Khadi handmade paper. And I have a stencil in the shape of our little rescue cat Bill aka William Chatnoir. I’m planning to have some fun here.