You Say Potato

Messing About with Gouache
Gouache on Paper
9.5cm x 3.75cm (4" x 3.25")

I am not sure how to pronounce gouache. British painters seem to say goo-ash, but John Lovett and other Australians seem to favour gw-ash. It may be unpatriotic, but I'm with the Australians on this one.

Happy Christmas 2013

Deck the Halls
Watercolour on Paper
21cm x 15.5cm (8.25" x 6.25")

Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year

Elaine's Christmas Card
and Salty the Seadog by Joanne Cooke

Preparing for Christmas

Deck The Halls - Extended Gesture Study
Graphite Pencil on Paper
27cm x 20cm (10.5" x 8")

I am in the middle of painting Elaine’s Christmas card. The drawing is ready, but it could be a long night. Hopefully, I will post the result tomorrow.

Deck The Halls - Contour Study
Graphite Pencil on Tracing Paper
20cm x 14cm (8" x 5.5")

I am following the same steps I used for the recent picture of the orchid (see Why Can't Plants Keep Still?):

• Extended gesture study
• Contour study
• Painting

Kennet and Avon - Take 2

Early Autumn on the Kennet and Avon 2
Watercolour and Acrylic Ink on Paper
27cm x 18cm (10.5" x 7")

This is a second version of the canal scene from Early Autumn on the Kennet and Avon. There are two more, but one of them is too horrible to post and the other is so fiddly it will take 6 months to finish.

The main differences between this version and the first version is this one relies on splashing paint to represent the leaves and instead of painting the tree trunks in the initial wash, I wiped a space for them with a paper towel.

Early Autumn on the Kennet and Avon 2
Initial Wash
Watercolour and Acrylic Ink on Paper
27cm x 18cm (10.5" x 7")

After the initial wash was dry, I splashed in the leaves with greens, yellows and oranges. The last step was to paint in the trees trunks and add some details to the bank.

Early Autumn on the Kennet and Avon 2
After the Splashing
Watercolour and Acrylic Ink on Paper
27cm x 18cm (10.5" x 7")

Splattering and messing around with washes is fun, but I usually end up with as much paint on myself as I do on the paper. Last weekend, I covered the tips of my finger and thumb in yellow acrylic ink – this doesn’t come off in a hurry no matter how hard you scrub. On Monday morning, I thought it looked like the nicotine staining of a heavy smoker, but imagined no one would notice. Sure enough the first person I met said  “I didn’t know you smoked”.

Studio Rousar Memory Drawing Group - Weeks 19 to 23

Studio Rousar Memory Drawing - Week 23 Day 4

The exercises for the Studio Rousar Memory Drawing Group become evermore challenging (see http://www.studiorousar.com/2013/01/01/memory-drawing-group-week-one/).

Week 19 is another abstract shape (see Studio Rousar Memory Drawing Group - Weeks 13 to 18), but weeks 20 to 23 increase the difficulty. These exercises are drawings of real objects.

The instructions for these weeks are:

• Light the object (or objects) with a strong light source
• Study them for 10 minutes
• Move, so you cannot see the objects
• Draw the objects from memory

You can change the orientation of the objects each day, but I prefer to keep the same arrangement and try to produce a better drawing at each attempt. Darren Rousar suggests taking a photograph of each layout, so you can review the drawings.

Week 20 and 21 are drawings of single objects, but they are approached in different ways. Week 20 starts by treating the object as though it were flat.

Studio Rousar Memory Drawing - Week 20 Day 4

Week 21 focuses on it being a three-dimensional object.

Studio Rousar Memory Drawing - Week 21 Day 4

Week 22 concentrates on the main areas of tone in a group of objects and places less emphasis on the individual objects.

Studio Rousar Memory Drawing - Week 22 Day 4

Week 23 is about individuality – don’t just draw an apple shape – remember and draw a specific apple.

Studio Rousar Memory Drawing - Week 23 Day 4

The exercises are time consuming. The memorising part may only take 10 minutes, but some of the drawings have taken more than half an hour. This is eating into the time I have for the exercises from Keys to Drawing and Composition, but I am persevering. These exercises are not just improving my visual memory - they are good daily drawing practice.

Early Autumn on the Kennet and Avon

Early Autumn on the Kennet and Avon 1
Watercolour and Acrylic Ink on Paper
27cm x 18cm (10.5" x 7")

At the end of October, Elaine and I had a holiday on the peaceful Kennet and Avon canal with Paul, Wendy, and their dog Alfie (see Canal Sketches).

The last day was glorious; the sun shone and the leaves on the tress had just started to change to their autumn colours.

I saw a row of trees that I wanted to paint, but only had time to take a couple of quick snapshots as we chugged past at 4 miles an hour - fortunately, Paul was driving or the photos would be even more hurried.

Yesterday, I realised the trees would be a good subject for an exercise suggested by Ann Blockley in Watercolour Textures. Ann recommends painting multiple versions of the same (or similar) subjects using a variety of different techniques.

Early Autumn on the Kennet and Avon
Preliminary Sketch
Graphite Pencil on Paper
27cm x 18cm (10.5" x 7")

The painting at the top of the post is my first attempt. I started by painting wet in to wet washes on wet paper. The washes blended into each other resulting in a soft focus impression of the scene. I was tempted to leave it like this, but after the washes dried, I couldn’t resist adding some sharper details to the trees and banks.

Early Autumn on the Kennet and Avon 1
Initial Wash
Watercolour and Acrylic Ink on Paper
27cm x 18cm (10.5" x 7")

Over the next couple of weeks, I am planning to paint a few more versions of this scene.