Category: Painting

Ink, Painting, Sketchbook Molesine

La Casa

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments on La Casa

Painting completed my life.
— Frida Kahlo

Using a triad of colours, you can get a myriad of colours just by mixing them… from greys to browns to greens to purples. The sky was painted with Prussian Blue, in its pure form and the side of the sidewalk was painted with Burnt Sienna. Everything else is a mix of the three basic colours. Amazing how you can get so many colours out of only three. The red, Pyrrol Scarlet, was added for the rent sign. I chose one cool colour and two warm colours for this painting, but I could have chosen all warm or all cold for different results.

Colours: Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna & Prussian Blue
Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook
Ink: De Atramentis Document Black Ink
Fountain Pen: Platinum Carbon

Painting, Techniques

Gradients & Saturation Levels

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments on Gradients & Saturation Levels

“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.”
— Pablo Picasso

So today is another fun exercise. Playing with saturation levels results in beautiful gradients. The idea here is to start with your paper tilted to at least 30 degrees so that the “bead” of water can run downwards. Secondly, prepare your colour so that you have enough to cover the paper and by saturating it to the correct level (meaning that the watercolour should not be wishy-washy but swirl when putting your brush in it). Pressing firmly on the mop, the first horizontal stroke is with clear water, make sure that you have a bead before continuing. Next stroke with a higher saturation level, until, in the end, you reach 100% saturation (meaning no water). I used a brush Mop #4 for this exercise. After the first stroke of water, do not add any more water to the mix. Midway you will dip directly into your colours to get the saturation level higher.

My favourite is the mix of Ultramarine with Burnt Sienna and I don’t know if you can see it, but at the bottom of the gradient, the texture almost looks like wood or wool. So interesting. My second favourite is the middle one. So which one do you think would be best for a stormy sky? Which one would be best for an early morning sunrise? Let me know what you think…

Now the trick to all of this is being able to apply this technique in an actual painting. Hah! Peut-être qu’il y en a entre vous qui comprennent ce que je veux dire…

Paper: Etchr Sketchbook, size A4, 11.4 x 8.3 in [29 x 21 cm]
Colours Left: DS Ultramarine Blue + W&N Burnt Sienna
Colours Centre: DS Ultramarine Blue + W&N Burnt Umber
Colour Right: DS Cobalt Blue + W&N Burnt Umber
Brush mop: da Vinci, casaneo #4

Painting, Papers, Watercolour

Testing Watercolour Papers

Featuredby Jane Hannah4 Comments on Testing Watercolour Papers

One never knows what one is going to do.
One starts a painting and then it becomes something quite else.
It is remarkable how little the ‘willing’ of the artist intervenes.
— Pablo Picasso

I’ve been going through all of my drawers and found a myriad of different watercolour papers that I decided to test out today. I decided to test all of them out with the same combination of mixed colours (Cerulean Blue, Prussian Blue, a bit of Q. Gold and a small amount of red to neutralize the colour). I used a wet-in-wet technique which is, I think, the reason that my colours are are too unsaturated. I definitely do not like how the Strathmore paper bloated with the water. The Arches paper combined the different intensities of colour a bit too much (but my paints were too watery). The Fabriano and Fluid 100 papers were fine and the Saunders was intense as the paper is darker than the rest. To note that the Fabriano paper was not HP (hot-pressed) as the other ones so to compare it with the others is not really fair, as I usually love the results on this paper. I think that I might redo this exercise tomorrow with more saturated paint colours.

That is what happens when you stop painting for a while… humph! My technical eye went for a ride and said bye-bye -))) Well, guess what I will try to achieve tomorrow? Good saturation levels — hah-hah!!!

Colours: DS Alizarin Crimson, DS Q. Gold, W&N Cerulean Blue, DS Prussian Blue
Papers: Arches, Bockingford, Fabriano Artistico, Fluid 100, Saunders Waterford, Strathmore

Painting, Watercolour

Montreal Cotton :: MoCo

by Jane Hannah6 Comments on Montreal Cotton :: MoCo

Each day has its own individuality of colour.
Hawthorne on Painting

My hometown is Salaberry-de-Valleyfield and in 1874 the major employer in those days was a cotton company named the Montreal Cotton, MOCO in short, and people referred to it as “La Coton”. Everyone in Valleyfield had a parent that worked there at some point in time. My grandfather, William Hannah worked there as a small boss. His son Dorland, my Dad, worked there also separating the cotton threads. As most things today it has been converted to a hotel, and behind it an elderly residence.

Yesterday I brought my whole paraphernalia for sketching with me in Valleyfield and I managed to draw on location, but due to a lack of trees and the sun falling on me, I quit and I forgot to take a picture of my drawing.

I first painted the sky, then I painted the water and then the reflections. Then I painted the trees and the buildings and in the end put on a bit of calligraphy to show shadows and depth. Hope that you like it!


Paper: Travelogue 8″x8″
Watercolours: New Gamboge, Raw Sienna, Alizarin Crimson, Ceruleant Blue, Prussian Blue

Painting

Who loves the trees best?

by Jane Hannah8 Comments on Who loves the trees best?

Who loves trees best?
I, said the spring,
Their leaves so beautiful to them I bring.
Who loves the trees best?
I, summer said,
I give them blossoms, white, yellow, red.
Who loves the trees best?
I, said the fall,
I give luscious fruits, bright tints to all!
Who loves the trees best?
I love them best, harsh winter answered,
I give them rest.
— The Pearl Story Book” by Ada. M Skinner

For two days now I have been painting under Shari‘s wonderful guidance a stillwater view of a lake.

I struggle with every painting that I do and I guess that this is part of the fun and the excitement of it all? If it were easy, would I keep at it? Would it keep me challenged enough to find it interesting? I don’t think so. I must say that I will always question my competence, as this is part of my temperament. The key to learning and improving is to keep on doing it, without taking long breaks as I am doing… with the Covid-19 situation, my life has changed a bit and underneath my apparent calmness, there is a struggle and anxiety that is there. Today and tomorrow it will be there too. So because I have not painted in a while, I felt rusty and of course I redid the same scene three times… not once, twice but three times! And talk to any artist, and they know what I am talking about.

So if you can, I would be really interested in knowing which one of these three paintings that you love best? And could you let me know? As I am very curious -) Top one is A, middle is B and lower one is C.

Stillwater A
Stillwater B
Stillwater C

Watercolours: Hansa Light, Q. Gold, Burnt Sienna, Q. Rose, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Blue, Indanthrone (C)
Paper: Fabriano 12″x9″ CP
Reference photograph

Painting, Sketches / Drawings / Paintings, Watercolour

:: Colour in my eyes O children ::

by Jane HannahLeave a Comment on :: Colour in my eyes O children ::

O children
     Forgive us now for what we’ve done
     It started out as a bit of fun
     Here, take these before we run away
    The keys to the gulag
O children
     Lift up your voice, lift up your voice
     Children
     Rejoice, rejoice
— O Children by Nick Cave

As some of you surely know, once you have’nt painted in a while, you need to put colours in your eyes… a weird way of explaining it but to me it makes a lot of sense. I guess that I mean that I have to saturate my eyes with colours. I actually test out colour combos, which by the way I love to do and need to do.

To bring you back further in time, I had a recent conversation with some water colour artists on choosing and painting with reds… and the responses were quite diverse.

The two reds that I decided to test out were my two favourite ones of course – hah-hah! Daniel Smith’s Pyrrol Crimson and Daniel Smith’s Q. Rose. One of the reasons that I love these two colours is that they only have one pigment… not a mix of pigments. Some water colour artists sometimes wonder why their colours turn to mud? Well, that is one of the reasons… when mixing too many pigments together at the same time, they turn a mushy brow…

The six squares represent the colour at 100% (top left) then a mix of Q. Gold, then with New Gamboge, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue and Cerulean Blue. I picked only primary colours to test this out, yellows and blues to see the variants in colour.

All in all, both colours are valuable and the combos even more so. The Pyrrol Crimson gives off richer hues and the Q. Rose gives more summery and bright hues… it all depends what you are painting, when and where on this beautiful planet. Let’s keep it beautiful, huh? Nick Cave & P. J. Harvey have been my musical muses these past few weeks -)))

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20200109-paints-QRose-loRes

Paper: Hand•book journal co. pocket landscape
Location: Rigaud, Québec, Canada

Painting, Watercolour

:: Lieu historique national du Commerce-de-la-Fourrure-à-Lachine ::

by Jane Hannah7 Comments on :: Lieu historique national du Commerce-de-la-Fourrure-à-Lachine ::

Do not fail to draw something every day, for no matter how little it is, it will be well worth while, and it will do you a world of good. 
— Cennino Cennini, 1370-1440

I was painting with my friend Chi Mai today on the Canal Lachine in front of the Fur Trade at the Lachine National Historic Site which dates back from 1803. It is a gorgeous place, right next to the Canal Lachine and next to Lake St. Louis which is part of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Chi Mai has a vast knowledge in watercolours and she helped me out in the end which is very generous of her. Thanks Chi Mai! If you would like to see her work, just click on this LINK.

I find that I have trouble with midtones and usually my paintings fall flat as all of my values fall in the same range… not enough contrast. So I worked today with one concept in mind and this was to have values in mind. To do this I started with a value sketch in lead pencil.  The other thing that I did do differently today was only use flat brushes, and I loved it. I had a big 1″, 0.5″ and 0.25″ and I really enjoyed using these and kind of liberated my arm. And Chi Mai helped me with my values -)))

Paper: Arches 12″x12″
Watercolours: Pyrrol Crimson, Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue, Q. Burnt Orange, Raw Sienna & Burnt Sienna.
Location: LINK

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Painting, Urban Sketching

:: Happy Holidays :: Joyeuses Fêtes ::

by Jane Hannah10 Comments on :: Happy Holidays :: Joyeuses Fêtes ::

A Christmas Song
     Once in Royal David’s City
Stood a lonely cattle shed
Where a mother held her baby
You’d do well to remember the things he later said
When you’re stuffing yourselves at the Christmas parties
You’ll just laugh when I tell you to take a running jump
You’re missing the point I’m sure does not need making
That Christmas spirit is not what you drink
     So how can you laugh when your own mother’s hungry
And how can you smile when the reasons for smiling are wrong?
And if I just messed up your thoughtless pleasures
Remember, if you wish, this is just a Christmas song
— Jethro Tull

Have a wonderful holiday with your family & friends.
Joyeuses fêtes à vous et à votre famille & amis -)))

Paper: Travelogue Sketchbook
Watercolours: New Gamboge, DS Pyrrol Scarlet, MG Ultramarine, WN B. Sienna
Calligraphy: Dr. Ph.Martin’s 29H Crimson Lake
Location: Rigaud, Québec, Canada

#urbansketching, #watercolour, #rigaud, #holidays, #fêtes, #rigaud

Painting, Sketches / Drawings / Paintings, Watercolour

:: Paroles de Migwetch ::

by Jane Hannah11 Comments on :: Paroles de Migwetch ::

Si la vie était dure je jure
que je ne l’ai jamais su
Je n’ai de regret que celui de mon âge
et ce jeune cœur de moi est intact
Le mal qu’on m’a fait est écrit dans le sable
et le bien est gravé dans le roc
Souffle ce vent de haine
ma peau est feuille de chêne
Je suis si seule parfois
parfois si souvent
souvent toujours
Je ne serai plus l’architecte des nuages
ni de vos existences
Vos beaux yeux noirs déposés sur mon visage
comme une récompense
J’irai rejoindre sous la feuille
mon bien-aimé
si doux celui
qu’un jour m’a dit
Pour toute la vie
— Richard Desjardins, partie de la chanson Paroles de Migwetch

I went to visit my 92 year old Mom today and as usual she was in very good spirits. She seems to have adjusted very well to her new residence on Dufferin Street in Valleyfield and enjoys the company of her girlfriends. She keeps telling me that she has a 19-year old boyfriend — always laughing out loud as she tells me… and I almost faint every time that she says so! Of course this is a joke! This painting is on the backstreet to where I lived for 9 years with my young husband… very good memories of those days gone by…

When I scan my paintings it (Epson) seems to dull the colours a bit and I always want to have the scan look as much as possible to the real painting. So the steps that I take in Photoshop are the following.
a) I scan at 300 dpi for my high resolution image;
b) I then do –> auto tone –>auto contrast –> auto color” which gives me good results, even though the colours become too vibrant
c) I then open –> Layer –> New adjustment layer –> Levels and then I move the mid-adjustment gamma to 1.15 instead of the mid value of 1.0
d) I also open –> Layer –> Color Balance- -> where I put the yellow slider to +0.15 and the red slider to +0.15. This combination seems to work well for most paintings that I do, except for the black and white ones of course.
d) I save my image –>international date.paint subject.myname.jpg
e) I flatten the image and then resize the resolution to 100 dpi;
f) I save again adding –>loRes add the end of the filename and this is the one that I post.

I am listening to the music of Rectify on Spotify, a TV show that still resonates with me!

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Paper: Travelogue Sketchbook 8″x8″ #22
Watercolours: DS Q. Gold, DS Pyrrol Crimson, MG Ultramarine, DS Raw Sienna, WN Burnt Sienna
Fountain Pen: Platinum Carbon Desk
Ink: Noodlers Lexington Grey
Reference photograph taken in Valleyfield

 

Ink, Painting, Watercolour

:: A long sigh ::

by Jane Hannah13 Comments on :: A long sigh ::

IN AND OUT
The dog searches until he finds me upstairs,
lies down with a clatter of elbows,
puts his head on my foot.
Sometimes the sound of his breathing saves my life
— in and out, in and out;
a pause, a long sigh….

Tuesday was my last day of classes, Wednesday I started correcting, today we had our last department meeting of the semester and tomorrow I am still correcting… however, I feel free and that I can start breathing again. Cegep teaching is a weird field, as you are juggling with over 100 students, preparing your courses, correcting your students and of course teaching… I calculated once that I was  correcting over 2000 times per semester… something that I am not overjoyed to know! and on top of that dealing with administrative requirements, deadlines, dealing with software issues and all of these young beautiful people that are dealing with their own issues on top of that… lahdiladah! Can you tell that I am “very” happy to be done? So here is a small flowerpot that I have in my house that I just painted to commemorate all of this! Yeah!!!

Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook Watercolour
Watercolours: Q. Gold, Q. Rose & Cerulean Chromium
Painted in Rigaud, Quebec, Canada
janehannah.com
#sketchbook #watercolour #flowerpot #painting