I have been playing about with my acrylic paints, inks and Neocolors. I used heavy weight water colour paper as a base.
The ink is from Sakura’s Pigma pens, which are pigment based and fade proof. I especially love the brush tip version.
The Neocolor crayons are water soluble, so will dissolve with water to create a watercolour effect. I used to be sceptical about their usefulness, until I got some to try. Now I wouldn’t be without them. They are great to take sketching too.
I love trying to recycle or upcycle things. I hate to get rid of something that might potentially be useful. I have had this organiser hanging around for ages but it has never been used properly as I have another which is better suited to keeping my information handy.
I am always looking for ways to take a sketching kit along with me and I have various set ups, depending on the amount of room that I have in the bag that I will be carrying (if any). I had a play around with my organiser and found that I could fit a reasonable amount of kit in it. I ended up with a set of Inktense paints, which are a lot of fun. Lightfast and water resistant when dry. You can layer them very easily and the colours are strong. I also fit in a pair of containers for water. They are supposed to be for oil paint but work well for watercolours too.
I also cut some paper to fit, I used Zerkall printmaking paper in this case. It is a lovely smooth paper and takes both pen and watercolour really well. I have a great Bind punch which I used to make the holes, it is adjustable (A5/A6/A7) and I can get the holes in just the right position for my organiser. It is available here.
The pocket in the organiser holds some travel brushes, pencil and eraser. I forgot to show my pen which fits in the loop next to the paper. I haven’t room for a water bottle but I usually carry one for drinking, so I will use that.
All in all, I am pleased with how it turned out. I have only taken it out once so far but hopefully it will get more use soon!
Further to my previous post, here is another painting using the fabulous Dr PH Martin’s Bombay Indian Inks.
This time I also used some Neocolor II crayons, which are professional quality, water soluble wax crayons. When the ink is used alongside them they partially dissolve and create some lovely effects.
I am loving the translucent qualities of these inks and will continue playing with them to see what they can do, on their own and in combination with other media.
Today I thought that I would try out some inks that I have had for a while but not yet had a chance to use, Dr PH Martin’s Bombay Inks. I was getting some gesso out of the cupboard and noticed the inks lurking at the back. So I promptly forgot my original plans and started playing – nothing unusual for me.
These inks use pigments rather than dyes and therefore have better lightfastness. The colours, as you would expect, are mostly vivid and translucent. There are some opaque colours, white and yellow ochre are examples.
You can dilute them with water to create paler colours. I applied them with a brush and also using a dip pen. They are waterproof when dry, which means that you can create many layers without worrying about creating mud.
I also used some recently acquired mica watercolours, Kuretake Starry Colors. As these don’t show up well in a head on photograph, I took a second one at an angle. These paints are very effective and very pretty.
I have a couple more doodles which I will include in my next post, assuming that I don’t get sidetracked..
Following on from yesterday’s painting, using a minimal palette, this is today’s play. I used a similar palette with the addition of a little bit of red. I love using the dull, celadon green that one gets when black, yellow and white are mixed together.
I am playing with a minimal palette just now which leaves me free to concentrate on just letting go with the mark making which is the first layer of this painting. I have a few ideas in the pipeline but don’t have enough time to get started on them. However, I can’t not do any painting! So this is today’s play. 🙂
On another subject, I have been updating some of my blog settings and apologise in advance for any randomly duplicated email newsletters that get generated in the process! Hopefully it won’t happen but I thought it best to warn you!
I found out on Monday that I am a finalist in a competition. The competition is being run by the nice people at Printed.com.
The “Square Flair-Off design competition” brief competition was to design a 150mm square leaflet. I used a pen and ink drawing that I had done as the basis for the design.
Sadly for me, I didn’t read through the rules properly (let that be a lesson) and notice the fact that the final leg of the competition is being held on Facebook. Now I don’t do Facebook – just because I am contrary – so this gives me a bit of a problem.
As I am not on Facebook, I don’t have any Facebook friends and because of the vagaries of Facebook, it is unlikely that I will get enough people voting for my design. It wasn’t that good anyway…
Still if you do feel like helping out here’s the link to my entry:
I have been doing quite a bit of painting on paper lately, rather than my usual support which is canvas. I love the way that the paint moves on paper, especially when I water it down.
Now I know that I may well get someone saying that I shouldn’t water down acrylic paint with just water. I do add a little airbrush medium too but it is mainly water. I only do this when I am painting on paper and, in 35 years or so of using acrylics, I have never had any adhesion problems.
I have also added a little acrylic ink in the form of lines and doodles, as well as a bit of pastel.
I keep telling myself that I need to do paintings that fit into the frames that I already have in stock but, quite often, I get so wrapped up in the moment of creation that I completely forget and just grab the first piece of decent watercolour paper that I can lay my hands on. 🙂
I have been busy doing some more prints of my paintings, including the ones that other people are determined to sell without informing me!
I have also had some fun making some digital art and have listed them on my Folksy shop, which I am sad to say I have neglected for the past year or so! Still never too late…
I love animals and thought that it would be fun to create some cheerful stuff using them as the subject matter. I am using pigment inks and heavy, archival quality paper, so they should stay nice and bright for a good while!
Here are a selection:
I am now working on some prints that will be a combination of hand and digital work. I am starting off with a hand painted piece, photographing it, printing it and then adding further embellishment to each print, so that every print will be unique.
I will keep you posted on them…
Yet again, this image is appearing on various websites, where they have the nerve to not only claim copyright of it but also attribute it to some bogus artist, not me in other words. Some are giving it away as free wallpaper, others are actually selling prints of it.
In some cases they haven’t even bothered changing the file name. I get so frustrated with this kind of illegal use of my work. If someone wanted to use my work for non profit applications they could at least ask! As for the ones making money out of it, I just hope that their karma catches up with them.
I try not to put up very high resolution images, to discourage anyone from using them but if they are really, really low resolution then there isn’t much point in displaying them at all (goes outside to scream).
OK, rant over!
Anyway if anyone wants to buy prints of this or any of my paintings, please contact me. I will be putting some into my Etsy shop, but I can’t afford to list them all just now, so if there is something that you don’t see in the shop, then contact me. I can accept payments by Paypal.