Ink Flow

I've had a tennisarm for quite a while and it's driving me crazy. Yup, that's one of the reasons why I didn't post something new. Although it's getting better everyday I still can't use it well for painting and drawing like I want to. I have a pile of work waiting for me with a deadline so it's hard sometimes not to get too frustrated. To take my mind of this project waiting for me to continue (and finish in time!) I had to do something to keep me busy.

A friend of mine advised me to take my new ink and my dipping pen and start making quick sketches. No time wasting on observing every little detail, making numerous studies before I really started... no, nothing of that this time. Just sit and sketch with pen and ink.

The first drawing wasn't free at all. I did a sketch first and traced the pencil lines with the dipping pen. The result was nice but not much more than that:

Pyrola rotundifolia (Round-Leaved Wintergreen)

The drawings after this one were much better. Now I must say that I have done this in the past but had totally lost it over the last ten years or so. It's such a relief to let myself go again and not to worry about the mistakes. I HAVE to accept that mistakes will happen and that I can't undo them. I always enjoy much more the sketchbooks and the direct sketches and studies of other artists than their "finished" work. It sounds silly but it never occurred to me that my own sketches might have that same kind of charm.

So for these drawings, I'll show you three here, I made the drawing with my dipping pen (a Speedball pen with Hunt nib 22, extra fine) and three kinds of ink: J. Herbin 'Cacao du Brésil' and 'Vert Olive' and Winsor & Newton Matt Black Calligraphy Ink. Also did wet-in-wet washes with those inks for shape and depth.

Rose hip

Dried Beech leaves in winter

Iris siberica seedpods

Winter subjects with dried old dead stuff is perfect for doing these sketches. So for this the timing is good. Although I really rather have my good arm back and draw for the next exhibition...

30 Day Challenge

Meanwhile..... I'm working on several projects. Besides the Arum (which still isn't finished) I've also decided to take up the 30 day challenge again. For those of you who are not on Facebook and are not a member of the best group on it (Botanical Artists), the 30 Day Challenge is somewhat of a tradition now. Every year in September the members of this group are invited to join the challenge to paint or draw a botanical subject for 30 days. So every day one finished thingy.
Now because I had to work very hard on yet another project I missed a few days already. Going to catch up in the next few days though. For now I've done 5. Here they are.

Rosa rugosa hip

Rosa glauca hips

Rosa moyesii hip

Clematis x jouiniana 'Praecox'

Amanita muscaria

More of the challenge soon. And for everyone who is not yet a member of the Facebook group (WHY NOT????) here's the link: Botanical Artists. Just request membership. ;)

Hips

I finally managed to finish something again. And it was about time too. For the first time I painted rose hips with my watercolours. I already did hips in graphite, coloured pencils and even with pen & ink. But never watercolour. The Botanical Artists forum on Facebook has a bunch of very active and motivating members and when one starts to paint apples, we all start to paint apples. When one mentions she wants to paint hips I too want to paint hips.... It's fun though, to see all the different approaches to the same subject.

For the first time. And it was nice work. I really enjoyed doing it. I chose the tiny hips of Rosa 'Francis E. Lester'. This rose blooms with many clouds of small flowers during the summer and gets an enormous amount of orange hips in Autumn.

This is on Lanaquarelle HP, paper size 4"x 6".

Autumn

I love Autumn. But then again, I suppose all botanical artists love autumn. So much going on, so many beautiful colours, not to mention all the fruits and seeds...
In my previous post you could read I'm working a bit more with watercolours now. Also trying out some things to combine the coloured pencils and watercolours. Valerie Oxley told us that it shouldn't matter how we come to a good result, as long as we get a good result. I got to experiment with that when I made a watercolour of the rose hips of one of my roses, Rosa moyesii 'Geranium'.

I started to make a watercolour of it. But in the end I wasn't totally happy with the way it looked. I worked a bit too much in the red and it got a bit grainy and muddy. I remembered what Valerie told us and thought 'why not'.
I got some coloured pencils out and saved the painting. It looks much better now and I'm glad I did what I did.

Next I tried to make a painting of a rose hip I picked from my Rosa glauca. That didn't work. AT ALL. It was hopeless, even my pencils couldn't make that one better. So this time I made the rose hip again, now using only coloured pencils. Sometimes things just don't go as you plan it I guess. But it doesn't matter... as long as you get a nice result in the end.

Now I need to think about what to make next... it's autumn and there's so much choice...