But, despite the cold and the almost continuous rain, I did manage to get out to the summerhouse (aka garden studio) over the weekend. I decided to have a bit of a sort out and stored away anything that I thought I wouldn't need for a while and just left out the materials I thought I would need over the next few months.
I had been working on a drawing while I was off work convalescing and I originally had the intention of adding watercolour to it. I generally don't do a lot of preparatory drawing for my watercolours, preferring instead to draw with the brush as I go along, so it all felt a little too rigid for me. It's quite a large format too to what I generally use (12in x 16in) and so I got out the biggest brush I could find - a one inch bristle wood preservative brush (!) and worked lots of lovely rich Daler Rowney tube colour over the drawing like it was going out of fashion! Well, I must admit, it looked absolutely dreadful ... and no, I didn't take a photograph of it ... way too embarassing! Not wanting to commit it to the waste paper bin, I took out my Carbothello pastel pencils and my Derwent hard pastels and set to work, covering the watercolour washes with dry opaque pigment. I quite like the result - not bad for a watercolour painter anyway :)
Happy painting to you all.
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| Cambridge 1, Pastel on Langton 140lb HP, 16in x 12in |
That is an impressive rescue operation, Michael! So it's now a pastel with a watercolour underpainting. :) It has an impressionistic feel to it, I love the colours and the softness.
ReplyDeleteHi Judy and thank you! More undercoat than underpainting I think. A Flickr friend of mine, who uses this method a lot, advised me that pastels were more transparent than pastel pencils and leave a veil rather than be so opaque. I need to experiment more:)
DeleteI love it Michael. It looks like a picture from Paris, but that isn't. I know. ;-) But the style give this feeling. It's beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you Renske! I know the lovely parisian scenes you talk about. My gran had some and I loved looking at them whenever I visited her house. I'm chuffed with your comment!
DeleteGood idea Michael, that was better than tearing it up. The 'underpainting' showing through in places gives a nice layered effect.
ReplyDeleteThanks Keith - I tried hard not to be defeated on this one! The layering does show up on this photo quite nicely as you say.
DeleteJust goes to show never give up on a painting till the bitter end, you never know what you will achieve with that next stroke...
ReplyDeleteHi Laura and thank you for following and for your comment. A lot of my work comes from a general lack of direction ;) The less I plan, the more freely I seem to work and that generally shows in the end result!
DeleteVery nice....love the unusual composition. Admire your attitude....hows about coming to fix my 200 unfinished paintings?
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you are on the mend.
Thanks Sharon. I liked the composition too - it's just a random photo of the buildings but the figures make it interesting don't they? Wow, two hundred unfinished paintings! Not even got the time to fix the two unfinished oil paintings that I have! That's the nice thing about watercolour - much easier to screw up, throw away and just forget about ;)
DeleteThat was a great rescue Michael and it's produced a very nice street scene. Glad to hear you're feeling fitter and thinking of getting out to do some plein air.
ReplyDeleteThanks John, it came out quite well considering but the robustness of the paper helped a lot! I can't wait to get out there and sketch by the river again!
DeleteI hope the weather improves and you get outside sketching soon. I'll send you some of our heat - min 30C phew!!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you are feeling better now.
Thank you Sue. No rain/hail for the last two days so fingers and toes crossed! Wow, 30C min ... that's a little too much heat for me!
DeleteWell retrieved! This has a lovely feel to it. You must be delighted how it worked xx
ReplyDeleteThank you Pat. Yes, I am pretty pleased with it overall, particularly since the subject matter and size are quite different to what I am used to.
DeleteHi Michael.
ReplyDeleteLovely that you are able to post again. I like this one especially the bike. You have done a brilliant job of that mate. I also liked your Fields of Gold, excellent.
All the best Michael.
Vic.
Thank you Vic! I'm glad you like it. Yes, the bike was quite tricky but then again, being a cyclist myself, I really should be able to draw one blindfolded! All the best, Michael.
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