Month: April 2018

Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking.
— The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolkien

One of my previous students posted a photograph that she took of one of her irises last summer and I kept the photograph which I painted today. This is May’s iris, who lives in Beaconsfield. We also had a nice brunch with some friends this morning and then went on to visit Shari Blaukopf’s solo exhibit in Pointe-Claire and wow! She is such a beautiful watercolour artist. Congratulations Shari –)

This iris was painted with watercolours in a Moleskine sketchbook using tons of pigmented water being dropped on the page, and not scrubbed in. (See yesterday’s post if you are perplexed). I first drew it in and then painted it… Glad with the result and I really don’t know which one that I prefer… how about you? Can you guess the answer to the riddle?

Sketchbook: Moleskine
Watercolours: Mineral Violet, Ultramarine & Q. Gold
Location: Rigaud, Québec, Canada

This thing all things devours;
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats mountains down.
— The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolkien riddle

I don’t know why I love painting in a Moleskine Sketchbook so much as it is not really made for watercolour. It is mostly a drawing type of paper as it has some type of glaze on top of it that makes the watercolour pearl into drops onto the page instead of being absorbed… and I love that quality! It makes for very intense and deep colours. The trick is to manage to let the watercolour pearl on top of the paper instead of scrubbing it in and let it dry from a long time -) Can you guess J.R.R’s riddle from The Hobbit?

Sketchbook: Moleskine 5″ x 8″
Watercolours: Q. Gold, Cerulean Blue Chromium & B. Sienna

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.”
— Plato

As today in Rigaud it is a rainy, cold day the idea of going out for sketching is not very appealing and looking at my calendar, I realized that I have not posted for a very long while as a few weeks ago I was inundated with school work, then caught a cold which developed into bronchitis and now, finally, I am slowly coming back to my old self. When I have not painted or drawn in awhile I always feel “rusty” and today I decided to draw, which is my very first love. The sense that drawing gives me is always one of well being and of a certain accomplishment.

Sketchbook: Moleskine 5″x8″
Fountain Pen: Platinum Desk Pen EF DP1000AB
Ink: De Atramentis Document Black Ink
Location: Rigaud, Québec, Canada