Happy Christmas 2023

Happy Christmas 2023
Watercolour on Paper
11.5cm x 17cm (4.5" x 6.75")

Wishing You Peace and Happiness for Christmas and the New Year

Sorry for the lack of posts this year. Starting a YouTube channel (MarkBatemanArt)  has taken a lot of time. Normal service will be resumed in 2024 - hopefully.

More Recent Sketches

Aloe Vera
Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3 x 14cm cm (8.0" x 5.5")

Sorry for the lack of posts. Starting a YouTube channel (MarkBatemanArt) has distracted me from drawing, painting and blogging.

Prawn and Couscous Salad
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0 x 20.3cm cm (5.5" x 8.0")

Once a week, I’ve been sketching from life. A lot of these have been based on exercises from Liz Steel’s SketchingNow Edges.

Gift Box
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0 x 20.3cm cm (5.5" x 8.0")

This lovely little decorated box was made by Wendy.

Tea, Biscuits and a Seaview
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0 x 20.3cm cm (5.5" x 8.0")

At the beginning of the summer, Elaine, Doris and I had a pleasant few days at the Talland Bay Hotel in Cornwall. These are the tea making facilities (and biscuits) from our room. I painted them as Doris recovered from a blistering hot day on the coastal path.

Father's Day Fern
Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3 x 14cm cm (8.0" x 5.5")

The aloe vera at the top of the post and this fern were Father’s Day presents from Doris. I've no idea where she got the money from - best not to ask.

Recent (And Not So Recent) Sketches

 

No Flat Roads
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0 x 20.3cm cm (5.5" x 8.0")

Before Christmas, I realised I wasn’t drawing and painting from life very much, so I started doing an exercise a week from Liz Steel's SketchingNow Foundations. 

Quick Sketches Still Count
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 8.9cm (5.5" x 3.5")

These are a few of the sketches I’ve created since then. 

Palette
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0 x 20.3cm cm (5.5" x 8.0")

This is at least the third time I've taken the course. Not all the sketches have been successes because I am a bit out of practice and I am challenging myself to tackle difficult subjects from taxing angles.

What's in my Pocket?
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3 x 14cm cm (8.0" x 5.5")

My new YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@MarkBatemanArt ) is taking up a lot of time, but I am still managing at least one sketch a week.

Over the Fence
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3 x 14cm cm (8.0" x 5.5")

Roots

Roots
Watercolour on Paper
24.5cm x 15.5cm (9.75" x 6")

Roots is the third topic in the Tree Techniques chapter of Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice.

The topics in this chapter are challenging and educational. They are providing the perfect opportunity to experiment with and to develop a feel for drybrush technique. The key skill seems to be patience. I made quite a few mistakes with this picture, but I managed to correct some of them and making mistakes is a good way to learn.

James Gurney recently published an interesting post about Andrew Wyeth's use of drybrush (see What did Andrew Wyeth mean by "drybrush?").

Hardwood Tree Bark

Beech Tree Bark?
Watercolour on Paper
24.5cm x 15.5cm (9.75" x 6")

Hardwood Tree Bark is the second topic in the Tree Techniques chapter of Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice. 

Pretty sure this is some kind of Beech tree, but I have to put more effort into identifying trees. I should start by making notes about what I photograph as Elaine, Doris, and I wander around Westonbirt Arboretum (Will I ever learn - I took some photos today and still forgot to take notes).

All the texture on this tree was created using dry brush. This was a break through because until now I’ve struggled with the technique. I also used a masking fluid applicator to reserve some highlights. This is the most delicate use of masking fluid I’ve achieved, so I am pleased with the purchase (see Drawing and Painting the Landscape - Masking). 

You may have noticed I’ve not been posting as regularly as usual, this is because I am distracted by a side project. I’ve started a YouTube channel - Mark Bateman Art.If you are interested, please take a look.

Conifer Tree Bark

Conifer Tree Bark
Watercolour on Paper
24.5cm x 15.5cm (9.75" x 6")

Conifer Tree Bark is the first topic in the Tree Techniques chapter of Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice. 

Claudia uses Indian Ink to draw the heavily textured bark in her examples and then tints them with watercolour. I tried this approach, but it didn’t turn out satisfactorily because my tree is less textured and a much lighter in tone than her subjects. 

The picture on this post is my second attempt. This time, I painted the tree with light watercolour washes and added the bark pattern with dry brush work and sponged texture. This version is better, but now the bark is not conspicuous enough. This chapter is looking like hard work and I am expecting to learn a lot.

Driftwood

 

Driftwood Sculpture
Watercolour on Paper
16.5cm x 24cm (6.5" x 9.5")

Driftwood is the last topic in the Wood Grain Patterns chapter of  Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice. 

We don’t live near the sea and the only piece of driftwood knocking around is in this sculpture by Mike Lythgoe. I’ve drawn it once before – back in 2015 (see January 2015 Sketches). 

Studying the piece intensely has helped me to appreciate it even more. I don’t think I had really noticed the shadows until I sat down to paint it.

Drawing and Painting the Landscape – Underpainting

Downham Hill (Smallpox Hill) from Uley Bury
Underpainting - Drawing and Painting the Landscape
Acrylic on MDF
20cm x 40cm (7.75" x 17.75")

Lesson 38 of Drawing and Painting the Landscape by Philip Tyler introduces underpainting as a technique used by historical painters. They would create a monochromatic painting using cheap quick drying pigments to establish the composition and major tonal values. They would then glaze this with more expensive pigments introducing colour and more subtle tonal shifts. He points out that monochromatic underpainting provides another opportunity to work with a new medium without having to deal with the complexity of colour.

I created this underpainting with a 10-year-old, unopened tube of a cheap Payne’s Grey acrylic. I also glazed it with 10-year-old acrylics. These were better quality, but also unopened. 

Underpainting - Drawing and Painting the Landscape
Acrylic on MDF
20cm x 40cm (7.75" x 17.75")

This is the most ambitious painting I’ve tried in acrylics. One of the biggest challenges was that some colours barely tinted the underpainting, while others completely obscured it. I should have expected this because the transparency/opacity of different pigments is an important factor in watercolour, but it still blindsided me when the same thing became important for acrylic glazes. It is only when I wrote this post that I compared the two versions of the picture. Each change of tone in the underpainting is still visible in the glazed version - even when I thought the underpainting was completely obliterated, it still has an impact on the final painting - lesson learnt.

Philip suggests experimenting with different underpainting colours, but one is enough for me (for the time being). This exercise has opened my eyes to acrylics. I’m excited to paint some more, but this style of underpainting is not top of my list of techniques to explore.

Old Wooden Structures

Winery Barns
Watercolour on Paper
16.5cm x 24cm (6.5" x 9.5")

Old Wooden Structures is the sixth and penultimate topic in the Wood Grain Patterns chapter of Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice. 

These are some barns at one of the wineries in Niagara on the Lake. I took the photo in 2011, so I can’t be sure which winery and I suspect the barns have gone. The one on the right was the tasting room.

I cross referenced Claudia’s guidance with suggestions from John Lovett‘s book Textures, Techniques and Special Effects for Watercolor; which is sadly out of print.

Painting the texture of the timbers was harder than I expected even with two sources of advice - I need more practice.

Drawing and Painting the Landscape – Masking

Dart Moorings
Watercolour on Paper
15.5cm x 23.5cm (6" x 9.25")

Lesson 36 of Drawing and Painting the Landscape by Philip Tyler starts with a discussion of masking and then introduces a number of other watercolour topics.

Masking is the technique of using a fluid (rubber solution) or tape to preserve the white of the paper. You could just carefully paint around the white areas, but masking them makes life easier. I wrote about this approach recently (see A Fuzzy Background).

Some people never use masking because it can cause problems. Most notably, the edges created by masking can appear too hard and prominent. Masking fluid is also notorious for wrecking brushes. You have to use an old brush and protect the bristles by covering them in soap; which can make it difficult to apply the masking fluid accurately. It can also tear the paper if you leave it too long before removing it.

In honour of this lesson, I bought a fine tipped masking fluid applicator (Jackson's Masking Fluid Applicator) to mask the boats in this painting. It was the least stressful masking fluid experience I can remember.

A monochrome study of this scene in which the horizon was much lower (see Drawing and Painting the Landscape – Monochrome Study) made me suspect the composition would work better with more water and less sky.

Dart Moorings -  Thumbnail Sketch - 6.5cm x 10cm (2.5" x 4")
Pencil on Paper
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook

A thumbnail helped to confirm this before committing to paint.

Aged Wooden Shakes

Woodchester Park Boathouse
Watercolour on Paper
16.5cm x 24cm (6.5" x 9.5")

Aged Wooden Shakes is the fifth topic in the Wood Grain Patterns chapter of Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice.

I searched locally for wooden shakes (roof tiles), I couldn’t find any, so I made do with tile-stones (a traditional roofing material that can look more like wood than stone).

Stone Shed
Watercolour on Paper
16.5cm x 24cm (6.5" x 9.5")

I applied some texture to the tiles using natural sponges (I've used the technique before with stone, see Volcanic Rock, Marble and Sandstone). The dark background tone of the shed roof and ivy made it difficult to add texture in watercolour. Lesson learnt, I initially painted the boathouse roof lighter than the tone I was aiming for, so the texture is more noticeable and the resulting tone is more accurate. 

Polperro Cottages

Polperro Cottages
Watercolour on Paper
15.5cm x 23.5cm (6" x 9.25")

Last summer, Elaine, Doris and I spent a few days in Talland Bay, Cornwall to celebrate my birthday. It's a short walk along the costal path to Polperro in one direction and Looe in the other.

We all enjoyed the walk to and from Polperro, but our walk to Looe was less successful. It was a scorching hot day and Doris insisted on a taxi ride home (see Holiday Sketches).

Polperro is photogenic, but my photos didn't capture exactly what I wanted to paint. Some 7cm x 10cm thumbnails helped to explore and improve a composition. The initial pencil thumbnail was useful for deciding on the placement and configuration of shapes. It would have been handy if it had also given a definitive statement about dark, light and mid-toned shapes (see John Lovett - Thumbnail Sketches). I will include a 3 value tonal study when I next use thumbnails.

Polperro Cottages  – 7cm x 10cm (2.75" x 4") Thumbnail Sketches
Pencil and Watercolour on Paper
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook

The painting respects the spirit of the thumbnails except for the colour of the water. I prefer the turquoise in the second thumbnail, but if I try to adjust the painting, there is a chance I will spoil the reflections, so I will stick with what I have.