paintings prints and stuff

sunglasses and eye drops, backlit,  ink drawing in A4 S&B Zeta sketchbook I've been neglecting my blog lately.   A mixture of a Mount Everest of marking and paperwork to do : >( and having had laser eye surgery.............. and being able to see without glasses (except for reading small print).  : >)    Yay!!!!!! I liked the backlit arrangement of clutter relevant to the surgery on my desk after I'd used the eye drops and decided to draw it.  It started off with some Herbin Gris Nuage but it didn't go dark enough for the shadows so I added FW acrylic Paynes grey ink and touch of their white ink to regain some highlights ,,,, then a small touch of Tombow pen.  The stick I used was a handle from a broken paintbrush, sharpened with a pencil sharpener.   I think I prefer the freer marks of twigs but it worked very well.  There was of course also water and a paintbrush for creating washes of paler ink. There were lots of really wet washes and the Zeta sto

Ragged feather in mixed media A ragged feather in a mix of watercolour, coloured pencil, Derwent tinted graphite pencils and biro. I can't show the work I've been busy with yet.   And paperwork and marking has been taking up a lot of time too.   So many plans and ideas and so little time and energy!

 Detail of the drawing It's a long time since I did any drawing with ink and twigs.  They make such a lovely range of marks with different tones and textures, I should do it more often. The drawing below was done mainly with twigs from the garden (image at end of post)  but also a bamboo pen , a shaped wooden stirrer from a cafe, a Tombo pen , a Sharpie and a very little black coloured penci l.  The Sharpie was a little too hard edged and doesn't gel enough with the fluid inks I feel but it was a fun experiment.   Using J Herbin Gris Nuage ink, I couldn't get the darks quite dark enough, which is why I tried the Sharpie.   There is also a little Daler Rowny FW white acrylic ink in there. It was done in the Derwent Panoramic book, 16.54 x 7.08 inches, 110lb paper.   I tried using watercolour in this book without success, the paper was too thin and buckled.  It worked well with the ink though. Edge of the Wood, ink sketch   detail 2  The twigs are

Tiny trainers in watercolour, coloured pencil, pencil and ballpoint pen in S&B Delta sketchbook Another sketch of my grandson's shoes. He's only 14 months so they are very little :>)    Done in my S&B Delta. A4 size.

Little courtyard off the waiting room, people waiting to be seen by the doctor; Rotring pen, water soluble felt pen with waterbrush and Parker jotter in Stillman and Birn Gamma Sketchbook I'm seeing rather too much of hospital waiting rooms at the moment - but the weather was nice so we waited in a little courtyard garden, just off the waiting room, for our appointment - which of course was running late.   Sketching people out in the fresh air relieved the boredom considerably :>) Not great sketches - my excuse is that the models kept twitching and moving and crocheting and suchlike, making it impossible to do the woman's hands for instance  - for me anyway. I just can't enjoy sketching like this with my Rotring pen - I find nibs too scratchy.  :>(    (man on the top right).   I binned my Lamy pen because no matter what I did or how I cleaned it,  it refused to let the ink flow freely - not one I'd ever buy again - unless Lamy want to send me one that wo

and F - I did have a union jack there but it was too fussy, so simplified it to the cross of St George. The end is in view ......

I spent some time working on the illustrations for the book for my grandaughter, for Christmas, today.   It's a mix of watercolour, pen and coloured pencil.  And  I suddenly realised the rate at which I've got to work to get 26 letters plus covers, plus put the book together in time .....  I think I'd better get on with it quickly ! I think primary teachers will frown at some of the phonics - like the aeroplane and auntie C.   Some of the words like avaricious are aimed at brother Sam, who is very articulate and will enjoy the big words.  I wanted to bring in lots of family things  and thinking up enough items for the letters isn't the easiest! This is the A4 sketchbook with the original sketch below and above is a trial print of the page as it will appear with added text.  You may be interested in the working out ideas sketches here and here  .   Other illustration projects can be found by searching under the tag Illustration. A sketch still to be developed.

I had thought that this sketch kit - my most minimal unless I simply take a mechanical pencil plus the tiny sketchbook - was small. A6 sketchbook, Jakar eraser, Rotring Art Pen, Pentel Brushpen, White Chinagraph Pencil, Mechanical Pencil, Tippex correction pen But take a look at this for packing an large amount of media into a tiny space!  amazing - and great sketches too The tiny sketchbook is an old diary, with a cover to pretty to throw away, refilled with heavy cartridge paper in a concertina fold..   It fits into the pencil case. I don't actually like working that small but sometimes it's all I am able to carry and at least I have it with me.  Often I'll take the pencil case plus bigger sketchbook. I'm hoping to continue with the birches today - life has been hectic with no daylight painting hours.

The Crowns, Botallack, inktense and mixed media I wasn't happy with this and have worked on it a little more.   You can see the previous stage here .   I wanted to keep the sky as it sets the mood and adds scale and distance  - but for me the composition wasn't really working as it was.   One change was to darken the sky - it needed to be darker to balance the tone of the lower part of the painting.   I gave the horizon a slightly lost edge against the clouds on the right to get away from that hard horizon line.  I also wanted that sense of light coming through a gap in the clouds to light up the cliff tops and sea, with passing shadows so it was important to see the clouds.   I do love that sort of light. I lost the hard forward edges of the buildings where the ink lines were too heavy - watercolour mixed with white gouache helped me to lose them and allow edges to be softer and closer tonally to the sea in places. Then I warmed up the colour of the cliff tops where the