From my sketchbook, ink drawing with wash of a Paris scene in the olden days inspired by a black and white vintage photo.
Tag #sketchbook
Scarecrows
I was walking up the street of a Hampshire town early Autumn last year, when I saw these lovely scarecrows for sale just outside of a shop pavement. Not only did they look very cute and not at all scary ….but also not too expensive ! Would they frighten birds away in a field… that is another story. Anyway, I took several pictures of them and decided they would make a perfect subject for a painting.
7 day challenge #WorldWatercolorGroup Day 7
This is my last day for the 7 day challenge with the WorldWaterColorGroup. I set out at the beginning to do a portrait every day inspired by cutouts from magazines or newspapers with one exception : today. This final one is a painting I did last year. As I was finishing this portrait it reminded me of the famous painting “Aristide Bruant” by Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec, obviously just the scarf and the hat were the link…
I found this experience of daily painting very uplifting. I limited the size of each portrait by using my sketchbook with a maximum spread when both pages used of 26cm(10″)by 21cm(8″). Because of the relatively small size of each painting, it was feasible to sketch daily time wise. I enjoyed all the feedback and felt really part of a great community of artists family and friends. Big thank you to everyone for you support !
7 day challenge #WorldWatercolorGroup day 6
Another actor from the past : the very much loved Ronnie Barker. I just could not resist his funny stare… I used a 2B pencil and watercolour and played with the 7 day challenge sign integrating it into the painting.
7 day challenge #WorldWatercolorGroup Day 4
Today I chose to paint the extraordinary British actor Sir John Hurt who died last week.
Not only he was a remarkable actor but I thought an amazing portrait subject to paint. I did this sketch very loose with pencil and watercolour in my moleskine sketchbook.
7 day challenge #WorldWatercolorGroup Day 3
I simply used today a 2B pencil and watercolour. I noticed that doing a wash on this Moleskine sketchbook, the paint stays longer on the surface compared to the cold pressed 300gr Arches watercolour paper for instance.The advantage is it leaves more time to move the paint around, a bit like on a cold pressed paper. The drawback is the paint once dried is more difficult to lift… I liked the imposing hat for this portrait !
7 day challenge WorldWatercolorGroup day2
Today I have decided to use a pentel brush pen to give a different feel to the sketch and paint bright colours. I really like to use black and white photos as they give you tonal values as well as more scope for your imagination.
7 day challenge#WorldWatercolorgroup Day 1
After having been invited to do a 7 day watercolour challenge by Alice Cox Humphreys an artist from New Mexico through the Facebook worldwatercolourgroup, I have decided to do a portrait sketch inspired by photos from newspapers or magazines lying around .The rule is to nominate another artist everyday to do the same “to keep the watercolour flowing”…
I decided to sketch today in my moleskine sketchbook using an 8B graphite pencil and my prize winning small watercolour set which I got last year thanks to the public vote for best watercolour ( Hangar group show with over 800 visitors)
Scarf in a jug still life
Scarfs were the theme during last week’s watercolour class at the Hangar where I go regularly. I chose a bright and cheerful scarf that was on offer and made this still life with it wrapped around a jug standing on a stool.
I painted a very subdued background as the colours and motif of the scarf were loud enough … a bit of a calming down for the eyes would balanced out the picture, I thought.
The manufacturing of wine barrels in Bercy, Paris.
Bercy village today in Paris is a very trendy shopping centre which was built in the 1990’s . In the past Bercy used to be an important wine market. This sketch is done from a vintage black and white picture. I chose a main colour which evoked wine . I know some people use wine to replace watercolour but this is not the case : I don’t think I would have obtained the same transparency and and I am not sure the paper of my sketchbook would have taken it well…
