Sumi ink

So, in preparation for next week's Art group I have been looking at Sumi ink. It's black, very black ! Gently looking at the work of....
kitty Sabatier
Ruth Schleeh
Helen Terry
Yuko Wada

I prepared the ground with gesso and tissue laid on . These were the first three. Maybe I need to do 10 before I critique them in any serious way, but for now, I liked.....
The format
The way the ink ran when I tipped it
 the way I could get very fine , scratchy lines using a dip pen The splashes
I didn't like.....
The contrast of the black with the white....way too harsh
I wanted to....
Put in another colour...warm it up a bit....make myself do at least 10 before I do that....

 I also odd a series of 12 cm square inks . I couldn't resist adding in burnt umber acrylic...love that combination.....

Below was the photo I used for today's, ' daily walk, ' I wanted to move slightly away from the greys 

of the previous works.....warm it up a bit ...but still relate it to the the previous ones....

Saturday paint day...

This was the painting....33 inch square...acrylic on board....nothing like the inks that had been my small pieces this week...that's ok....

These were the words that came to mind as I painted...

Want warmth,grey but warmth,pinks are too ice cream, ugh, sunny day picture ( mmm it was hailing as I took the picture outside to photograph it ! ) love it,try a notan, I have an aversion to diagonals, I didn't mind that the trees ran into the canal, where is it going, palette weird.. He ho, put the photo 

away, painting too much in my head...do it intuitively, it goes it's own way....

I like...

The palette

The pink

The sketchiness of it

The abstracted areas

That you can't tell where the hills end and the canal begins

The dark purple

The greens.....it doesn't feel as heavy or as serious as some of the others.. Different mood....

Title..., ' I didn't mind that the trees ran into the canal. ' We will see if I like it tomorrow !

So, today I looked at the sumi ink again.....small pieces....14 cm sq. 

Techniques....

Wetting both sides of the paper so it doesn't cockle

Putting the ink down wet in wet and wet on dry

Wiping the washes off with tissue

Scratching with a dip pen

Loved it...

Above was a 12 inch square I tried...I added burnt umber to it.it was a textured ground.

Below were two of the ink pieces 14 cm squared.

So, I painted the backs of some Dailies white and painted a black, ' pretend frame, ' around the edge of the board. The drawings are just blue tacked on the boards so I can see what they would look like mounted....I like a wide mount.... I like to control the space around the drawing.....to give it space to breath and to detach it from a wall that might have the wrong colour ( for me ) I usually like a white mount......

The dog got into the paper bin and ate the tissue with the sumi ink on ! .....it does smell though.....

Daily walk millstone grit

This week looking at the work of Nicki Heenan and Ruth Schlee. Nicki Heenan has just finished a residency in Wales, including slate mines and has been very influential in my work this week. Words that come to mind when I look at her work.....strength, earth, strata, materials, textures......on my daily walks this week I took time to look at the rocks and the dry stone walls in my landscape. Miles of dry stone walls built in millstone grit, a term used to cover a few tough sandstones and named milestone grit because of the stones used for millstones. I picked up a few rocks, brought them back home and created studies from them.Loved it....and we are looking at this in the Art group next week.

Miles of dry stone walls on my Saddleworth hills ( well they are not mine really, just feel like they are )

Above. Daily misty walk. Acrylic , 33 inches square. Not sure about this yet !

14 cm studies. To get the texture I used ripped paper, gesso, salt, acrylic, earth. I blue tacked the piece to a wall. Liked that.

Above. Tried darker ( the stones are a hundred colours ) 

Above. Placed the pieces on the path made from granite clippings. Mmm liked that.

Above.Throwback to last week.Done too many drawings this week.

Tried the studies on a stone like background and also left one edge of the studies jagged, a nod to the shapes of huge stones. Liked that.

Below quick sketches of hawthorn and dandelion .

Below ...finished piece...., ' I wanted the mists, the trees and the millstone grit.' Acrylic, 33 inches square...acrylic, salt, earth, stone, pencil on board !

Tussled with this one all week.....they do say that you do have a stronger connection with the ones that you on have tussled with don't they ?

Art group prep. Misty landscapes in pencil

It's a massive discipline for me to stay just in pencil. What do I love ?
The colour ( don't like charcoal- colour too harsh, and it's very messy ! )
Drawing itself ......it's meditative

What don't I like ?
It's slow
Can't get the dark tones ( that's a plus too )
Don't like the colour of some of the paper...too white, which then means it jars against the graphite colour

So, been drawing since Friday.....small ones, so they are realisable ....and drawing with the mind that I can work back into them with colour, pastels, inks...anything really....

Whose drawing do I like ?
Richard Whadcock....tones yum
Laurie Steen....lines yum

Pencils, water soluable pencils, powdered graphite, rubber, propelling pencil.....yum....made a home for them !

The work...chopped, cropped,played about with, enjoyed....

Made some backboards to simulate mounts, painted them black, dark grey and white...interesting

Some of the work looked ok on the boards, some not....

Love a big mount above

I was  trying to get the work to work as a collective. Laurie Steen does that with some if hers...wonderful

Mmmmmm

Just put up quickly on the studio wall

This one worked only in the small white frame....interesting isn't it ? Made me realise once more that each piece needs to be considered seperately when it comes to the mounting and framing.

Even liked the strips that I chopped off when I cropped the work.....they are like landscape slices....these were actually the tops of the trees.....I have mounted some work like this before...when I hadn't got any card big enough for the whole frame...I did it in two pieces but like that look too...

The work was all different sizes.....when I drew big,I ended up cropping it !

These were small 14 cm square pieces from the photo....loved doing them....

This was the finished 33 inches square , acrylic on board....loved doing it...

Mists in the landscape

Saturday Paint day

Took lots of photos in the mist on Wednesday. Lovely.It sat on the hills and the roads. Chose this photo to draw and paint from.

First sketch...being disclined by using graphite only....can't get the darks with graphite ( but that's a plus too ) ....put the pencil down, rubbed it out, put the pencil down again...etc

Next sketch I did half way through the big painting....just needed to refresh what I was trying to do

Painting.....I was trying to 

Match the one last week , well relate really, not match. I am still trying to get paintings that will either butt up to one another to make a very large wrap around painting , or that will stand on their own...

Get a feel of my , ' distilled paintings, ' which are calm, peaceful and grey....

Do it in an hour ( fail )

So, this is the today's painting....words and phrases that came to mind doing the painting are...

Sometimes the mist engulfs, surrounds, comforts...or is that the paint ?

Gifts in paint

have to get the sky right before doing any branch or tree...mmmm

The sky was 2 colours either side of the tree

Looking for a sense of rightness

Too cold ( the colours ) need warmth

Do not want brush strokes

Think of Norma Stevenson and her use of line in the landscape

I get it then it's gone again

Pause and breathe

Didn't want a solid tree

Like to keep it simple

Tears

The more I worked, the complicated it becomes, I wanted it simple

Did I get it ? For an instant

It's become about the hills

Dog, bless, has to get in every picture...not sure how why the photo is upside down ! 

Figures in landscapes

Mmmm....Art group prep....figures in landscapes....?Out of comfort zone....well, get over it.....love the figures of....William Stott of Oldham, Kurt Jackson and Cathy Hegman....

Very proud of myself this week, have edited and tidied my Pinterest boards....love them....I use Pinterest daily but lots of artists I know don't use it.....I like the research and I like prepping for the Art group....it takes me out of my comfort zone of dreamy, ' happy as Larry ' landscapes....

Which comes first, the landscape or the figure ? Please yourself ! How big should the figure be ? Same....how should you paint the figure ? Anyway you want.

So I used mountboard no bigger than 12 inches square. I then did a very loose wash with a grungy colour all over the board.
Number 1...  I did the background then used a finger to paint in a figure which I promptly painted out again
Number 2...I got lost in the bushes with this one and the figure got lost too...
Number 3.... I made a sketch of my husband and son playing on the beach....I drew the figures in charcoal pencil, painted them over, drew them again , then painted them over....it was difficult to be objective becuase they are my family. I got into the memory of the day......

'' Dave Did, as always, most of the work ' of play, ' whilst Matthew wondered in his own world, ' Wonderful memories....."

21x30 cm.acrylic on mountboard.5 minute figure.

No 26x38cm.Acrylic on mount board.

The poor brush!....this is why I never buy expensive brushes...

No 3. 5 minute figure. Acrylic on board.

Daily walk.....

So today's , ' Saturday paint day, ' involved mixing of lovely greys. I had been looking at the work of Nicholas Herbert....small wonderful drawings and paintings , done plein air, water soluable crayon (must get some ) and acrylic , Davy's grey is used quite a lot.

I don't use Davy's grey, my tube was half full and dried up ... I made something similar with black, white and light olive green but it didn't have the transparency of the real Davy's grey. Anyway I enjoyed the mixing and after the walk today felt that I would try ( she says ) to.....

Use Davy's grey
Work from memory and not use an image which I find restricting
Look back at a couple of Dailies that I could base the painting on.
Do it in an hour.Mmmmm not much to ask then......

These were the Dailies that I referred to... They are 52 cm sq.

Above....graphite and acrylic on paper, pasted to cotton stretched over board.

Above was mixed media, acrylic and paper on board.

The Painting !

Loved the process of painting. Loved mixing the greys , which I mixed on the board. I had given the board three coats of raw umber acrylic.

These were the thoughts/ words that came to mind.....randomly.....

Nod to Nicholas Herbert in the Davy's grey 

Can't get a swathe of one colour at this size ( 33 inches square )

It becomes about the paint rather than the landscapes

Davy's grey is sombre

The little marks are just as important as the big ones

Patches of colour

Warm grey, cool grey, green grey

Need to , ' still, ' some areas.

Mmmm.What was I trying to do.....?

Use Davy's grey.....done
Work from memory no image....done
Look back at the two dailies as a base for the paint ing....done but you wouldn't guess , the painting went it's own way..
Do it in an hour .....fail big time....kept messing

What did I like
Well TODAY I like
The coolness of the colours , it did remind me of my distilled landscapes
The scratches and marks with the pencils ( water soluable graphite )
Actually doing it...love the paint


What didn't l like ?
It is a bit sombre
The tones.....are they all too similar ?

As always, I need to come back to it with fresh eyes....

Daily walks....studies on photographic paper with window paints

Love the walks , love the paint. Still trying to paint something more literal and figurative. A recognisable landscape ! Fail !

These are this weeks sketches/ studies/ little pieces. On some of them I used glass and window paints ....craft stuff really. These craft materials are donated at Emmaus Mossley where I am the resident artist . So, we try stuff in the Art group and the Upcycling group I run. Love it. The window paints were wonderful for glazing but very sticky on the brushes ! I used photgraphic paper for the support ...tried both sides and that was really fascinating. The effects were like no other. Need to continue to try on the photographic paper.

Sketches
Photo of the two trees. ( out of my kitchen window ) used as a base for a realistic  painting that is the last piece ...Fail !

Sketch ( or study ... What's in a word ? 11 inch square. ) on the glossy photographic paper. You can put the paint down and yet then take it off quite easily which suits my working practice.

Same again below.

11 inches square.

Sketches from this weeks walks... Done from photos in the studio. I am not a plein air painter , I have an impatient dog !

11 inches square.

Cropped the he one below. Took me ages and was the one that I least liked. Can't do the woods justice.

Used the window paints on most of them ...... Or alternatively acrylic with Golden glazing liquid.

Mmmmm 11 inches by 5 inches.

11 x 5 inches. 

More and more . Some worked from photos, others painted intuitively.

11x 5 inches

The last two looked a little like a traditional oil painting.Interesting.

A4 size

I cropped the one above to take away the bits I didn't like. I often use the ipad to do this. Take a photo and work out the cropping on the ipad...then cut the painting.

11x 6 inches.

Well below was the one I was supposed to be working up to. 33 inches square , acrylic on board ( didn't use the window paints in this one... Not sure of their longevity.) Did it in an hour. ..... Kind of a big sketch which seems to be important to me with this project. Perhaps because I usually walk for about an hour. I actually don't mind it...today....ok it doesn't look anything like the two trees it was supposed to be....it went it's own way.

I like... The drips, the limited palette, the strength of it...the words ( I wrote them in conte and then carefully painted over them in mat varnish...easy to smudge them......try...a large one just in sepia.

Try again.......

8x8 inches. Techniques....I wrote in biro all over it...put acrylic over the window colour and it majorly cracked. .......layer up the colours.....used my fingers.....

16 x 6 inches.....loved it......well loved it today......