INDIGO BEACH ART

Ink Inspiration

Above are some quick and simple ink drawings which will go into my sketchbook. Inspiration for these came from a tutorial in Lois Davidson’s Patreon group. I’ve been a bit unmotivated with my drawing practice of late, so when I watched Lois’ tutorial about drawing with ink and home made stick pens, I suddenly felt motivated to give it a go. I saw it as a way to inject some extra fun and interest into my drawing practice. And guess what… I love drawing with ink… !! So much more fun than just a boring old pencil…. !! It’s also a lot messier too…

These are the inks I used:

These are the inks I used – Black (Schwarz), Sepia and Petrol (Frieda) by Rohrer & Klingner, a German company. The Black and Sepia inks are Indian Ink and they will granulate if you run water through them on paper. The Petrol (Frieda) ink is a drawing ink and does not granulate. I love the Sepia and Petrol ink together, they’re a lovely colour combination.

I managed to find some sticks and made my own stick pens:

Home made stick pens to use with ink for drawing

I got mixed results from my home made stick pens – some good, some not so good. I will make some more when I find suitable sticks – you really need a hard wood that isn’t going to splinter. But what I did find really good to use were these three items:

At the top is a really old way of using ink – the quill end of a feather! This was really good to use. Next, my favourite so far, a Chinese Bamboo Pen – this was brilliant to use and very cheap to buy. I’m going to buy more of these. The third one is a dip pen with a metal nib – I love using this for drawing fine lines and small details. The Chinese Bamboo Pen I bought from Jackson’s.

I will be doing much more drawing with ink in the future, even though it can be a bit messy (I seem to get it everywhere!). I may acquire one or two extra colours! In my drawing at the top of this post, the two larger drawings were done on cartridge paper and the two smaller ones were done on khadi paper. I am going to try the inks out on my favourite 100% cotton watercolour papers. My drawings will be going into my sketchbook, with notes.

I did mention in my previous post that I would have some important decisions to make early in this year. Well, those decisions have been made. Due to increased family responsibilities, I have had to give up work. I’m now officially retired. I’m nearly 59 years old. My life is very different now and a lot less stressful in many ways. It does also mean I have more time for my art work, if I budget my time carefully. Do I miss going out to work? NO !!! I like being retired… !! Happy days.

Crossroads

“CROSSROADS” is a semi abstract, imaginary landscape. It was painted with just two colours – Payne’s Grey (Cotman) and Transparent Yellow Oxide (DS). I used Arches rough paper, 140 lb. I didn’t have a precise plan before painting this, only that it was going to be a loose style landscape. As the landscape emerged through the brush strokes, I felt it needed a pathway. So I added one, then another and finally ended up with a cross roads. This painting is now in my sketchbook. It measures 19 cm x 14.5 cm.

This little painting is significant and very poignant, as I am at a “crossroads” in my life right now. Life has thrown me and my family a “curve ball” in late November 2023. So now I have some big decisions, life changing decisions, to make early in 2024. On the one hand, my future is a little uncertain and daunting as I don’t know yet quite how things are going work out. But on the other hand, there are going to be new opportunities, new horizons and potentially, a better (very different!) way of life for me. I haven’t quite got my head round it all yet! Which path am I going to take on that “crossroads” above?

Above, in my sketchbook, are three abstract landscapes which were inspired by Lois Davidson Art. I have joined Lois’ Patreon Group. The colours I used for these were: Raw Sienna Light, Ultramarine Green Shade, Burnt Umber and Payne’s Grey. I like how these colours work together.

Here we have more abstract landscapes inspired by Lois Davidson. I’ve used a much cooler palette here: Buff Titanium, Ultramarine Green Shade and Payne’s Grey. These colours give me a winter feel, with cool air and maybe a little frost and snow. The landscape in the top left corner is the only one that I have added any detail to. It needed a little something “extra”, and a winter tree was enough.

I’ve only been in Lois’ Patreon group for a very short time and already I’m learning new things and have fresh ideas to move forward with in my art journey. Happy days!

Sailing

I’ve spent a little time putting art work into my current watercolour sketchbook. The small watercolour sketch above features a rare splash of red. I don’t do it very often. It was a quick watercolour sketch based on one of my own photos. It measures 6″ x 9″ approx. and was painted on Baohong Masters’ Choice rough paper, 140 lb. The colours used were Ultramarine GS, Prussian Blue, Manganese Blue Hue., Undersea Green, Pyrrol Scarlet and a tiny bit of Lunar Black. As an experiment, I did also use a Titanium White watercolour stick on the sea. I’m going to do other watercolour interpretations of this.

The four watercolour experiments on the two pages above were painted some time ago now, but they’ve only just found a home in my current sketchbook. I’ve put the necessary details next to the images for my future reference. I used very cheap ordinary table salt for these. You don’t need to buy fancy, expensive salt to get good results. I have done a post about my observations on creating salt patterns – you can read it HERE. The sketchbook I have put my art into here is an Artway Enviro hardbound sketchbook, A4 landscape style.

I have also recently added two new sections to my website PHOTOGRAPHY and MIXED MEDIA. Both these areas are important parts of my creative journey and have influenced me. I want these on my website as a record of what I’ve done creatively in the past.