Category: Watercolour

Techniques, Watercolour

Greens

Featuredby Jane Hannah4 Comments on Greens

Do not try to do extraordinary things
but do ordinary things with intensity.
— Emily Carr.

Testing out different green swatches today for my next trip to Costa Rica this year. These look quite boring but they are quite difficult to do, well for me anyway. I could have chosen for each swatch more saturation or less, more intensity for one colour as opposed to the other, so I tried to do to get consistently equal washes in both colours. That was the main difficulty. Some of the colours that really stand out for me are the following. The spring green, olive, khaki, dark green, rich green, mahogany, grey, and moss green. Generally, Lemon Yellow and Cobalt Green gave the lightest greens and the Hansa Medium made the brightest greens. The Raw Sienna gave the dullest greens and the phthalo green gave the most intense, bright greens.

I have always bought the DS Ultramarine, but the last one has been granulating, which I do not like, so I did another Ultramarine by W&N, which I prefer. The Prussian DS makes gorgeous greens; I will add this colour to my palette for Costa Rica in April.

If you like learning, you could look at Shari’s online classes. This is one of the exercises in her new “trees” course. She is well organized and her classes are always fun, especially since they are online.

DS: Daniel Smith :: DV: Da Vinci :: H: Holbein :: W&N: Winsor & Newton

Paper: 12″x9″ Hahnemulhe CP

Handbook Travelogue, Ink, Watercolour

Longing for Greece

Featuredby Jane Hannah5 Comments on Longing for Greece

It’s not what you look at that matters,
it’s what you see.
— Henry David Thoreau

What better way than to paint what you long for? This painting is vastly overdone in many places, but I am happy with it. I like the grunginess of it all. It is very characteristic of what I have seen throughout my travels in Greece. Some of my shadows are not the right colours and some are too intense. I could call myself an eager painter as I paint in haste.

Paper: Travelogue Handbook 8″x 8″
Colours: Yellow Ochre, Q. Gold, Q. Rose, Cobalt Blue, Prussian Blue, B. Sienna
Fountain Pen: Pilot Penmanship  Fountain Pen, Clear, EF Nib, Japan
Ink: Noodlers Lexington Grey (bulletproof), my favourite colour

Drawing, Ink, Sketchbook Molesine, Watercolour

Flowerets II

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment on Flowerets II

Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity…
Any activity becomes creative
When the doer cares about doing it right, or better.
— Author unknown

My flowerets in colour. I tested out 2 new colours today, Lavender which is an opaque watercolour and Cobalt Green. Then I got going with all of the other colours that I felt like putting in… must be because of the weather outside, cold and snow with no sun. This is my way of enlightening my days -))) To note that Moleskine Sketchbooks are not really made for watercolours… but they are definitely made for drawing with a fountain pen or technical pen as the paper has a velvety finish that makes ink go so smoothly… it’s as if you are drawing with butter.

And I’m still having problems with the calibration of my scanner since I have updated to Ventura… humph! The background paper is turning dark grey once I post it on WordPress so I have to calibrate each channel (RGB) individually. A real pain! If ever some of you are having the same type of problem, let me know what your solutions are…

Ink, Sketchbook Molesine, Watercolour

Paintbrushes for Valentine’s Day

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments on Paintbrushes for Valentine’s Day

Oh boy! When I start on something, I don’t let go! Meaning that I am still testing my scanner today and I am pretty sure that now my colour calibration is on the dot. Yeah! What really helped my quest was that I did not sleep last night — not a wink — and after tossing and turning and wondering how come I could not sleep I started doing calibration tests in my head. Oh bo-boy! When I start doing that, I am so screwed. But, the results are good! Hah-hah! My mother always used to tell me not to worry as a good night’s rest heals everything… well, perhaps that no rest heals other stuff?

Oh! Posted the wrong painting… ah! No sleep, that’s exactly what happens -)))

Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook 5″x8″
Watercolours: M. Graham’s Payne’s Grey

Sketchbook Molesine, Watercolour

Fooling Around…

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment on Fooling Around…

A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.
(Phyllis Diller)

Fooling around with non-permanent pens… and wow! I did not realize that it would make such a mess of the colours. On the bright side, if you want a grungy look this is the way to go as the ink from the pen washes away and mixes with the watercolours. On the other hand, I like my colours to be “clean” so this was the downside. It doesn’t matter as I am experimenting and enjoying my time doing so. Ahhhhhh… the joys of retirement.

Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook
Pen: Staedtler triplus fineliner
Watercolours: Hansa Med., Q. Rose, Prussian Blue

Drawing, Painting, Sketchbook Molesine, Watercolour

Wonky Crooked House

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments on Wonky Crooked House

There was a crooked man
There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.
— Mother Goose

There is this wonky crooked house in Windsor, England which I adore. I’ve been looking at pictures of this house for a while now, and today what better day to draw and paint this in? The weather is a balmy -13C, compared to the -30C that we have had in the past few days, and seeing the birds sauntering around today, why not paint?

For the past few months I have been painting without any lines whatsoever which is called direct watercolors, and even though I love painting this way, it felt so good to have a pen in my hand and draawwwiiiinnnnnggggggg! I missed it so much. I think that I’ll be going on a drawing spree. This girl does not do shopping sprees, she does drawing sprees — hah-hah!

Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook 4″ x 6″
Watercolours: Hansa Medium, Yellow Ochre, Q. Rose, Burnt Sienna, Cobalt Blue

Painting, Watercolour

Nocturne II

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment on Nocturne II

Life isn’t about finding yourself.
Life is about creating yourself.
— George Bernard Shaw

Here is my second Nocturne and I find it quite light… hah-hah! Even if you have the best of intentions, sometimes it just doesn’t work as you had planned. What do I like? The sky and the glow of the buildings on top of the tunnel. I like the tunnel too. What I don’t like? The buildings leading to the tunnel and their insignificance. However, I wanted to put the emphasis on the tunnel and the buildings above… but they did not turn out as I wished. The joys of painting, sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t. If I have the time, I will repaint this scene, as I believe that I could turn it into a lovely painting… “if” I put in the time.

Paper: Arches CP 9″ x 6″
Watercolours: Hansa Med, Yellow Ochre, Q. Rose, Cobalt Blue
Location: Prague photograph

Painting, Watercolour

Happy Burns Night!

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments on Happy Burns Night!

O my Luve’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June:
O my Luve’s like the melodie,
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.
As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve!
And fare-thee-weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho’ ‘twere ten thousand mile!
A Red, Red Rose
— Robert Burns.

Robert ‘Rabbie’ Burns sits proudly atop the pantheon of Scottish poets. From ‘Auld Lang Syne’ to ‘Address to a Haggis’, his work is intrinsically linked with Scottish culture. His journey from humble rural beginnings to international renown tells the story of a man inspired by nature, class culture and love. It was his birthday today in 1759.

This painting does not look like much but it’s the technique that is so bloody interesting. Totally wet-on-wet, so this means that you need a high level of water control, which is excellent for practice purposes. It forces you to look at your paper and see if it has absorbed enough water or not, if it’s time for you to charge back in or wait a bit… it is kind of a dance with water, watercolours, and paper.

Paper: Arches CP 9″ x 6″
Watercolours: Hansa Med., Q. Gold, Alizarin Crimson, Payne’s Grey

Drawing, Painting, Sketchbook Molesine, Sketches / Drawings / Paintings, Watercolour

The Lee Shore

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments on The Lee Shore

All along the lee shore
Shells lie scattered in the sand
Winking up like shining eyes at me
From the sea
Here is one like sunrise
It’s older than you know
It’s still just lying there, where some careless wave
Forgot it long ago
When I awoke this morning
Dove beneath my floating home
Down below her graceful side in the turning tide
To watch the sea fish roam
There I heard a story
From the sailors of the Sandra Marie
There’s another island
It’s a day’s run away from here
It’s empty and free
From here to Venezuela
There’s nothing more to see
Than a hundred thousand islands
Flung like jewels upon the sea
For you and me
Sunset smells of dinner
Women are calling at me to end my tails
But perhaps I’ll see you, the next quiet place
I furl my sails
— A small tribute for David Crosby

Any artist will tell you, a complicated painting needs simplifying and a certain amount of study. I have this complicated painting to do and first of all the perspective is challenging. So I had to work on it. I found the horizon line first (where the eyes of the viewer “photographer” were) and traced a horizon line. Then with a ruler acting as a pivot, I found my two vanishing points. There are actually three, but I winged that one (the vertical one).

Then I drew the scene in small thumbnail size, about 4″ x 3″, and then painted in the different values with Payne’s Grey. Yes, I have used a pencil for this, as I think that it would be impossible for me to paint in direct watercolours. Some painters might be able to, but not I.

Now let’s hope that tomorrow the final result is somewhat good. We’ll see -)))

Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook 4″ x 6″
Watercolours: Graham Payne’s Grey

Direct Painting, Painting, Watercolour

Nocturne

Featuredby Jane Hannah3 Comments on Nocturne

Music : a short composition of a romantic or dreamy character suggestive of night, typically for piano. 
Art : a picture of a night scene.

Did you know that trying out a new way of painting is so bloody difficult? So difficult that I do not even recognize myself in this painting. I can’t find myself in it, even though I know full well that I am the one that painted it.

It’s funny as the same thing happened to me when I handed in my Master’s thesis. When I reread it, I could not find myself in it, as there is a certain “way” of writing that you must follow when writing a thesis… and I was not there. It all looked well and dandy, but nowhere could I be found.

So the same thing goes with painting. Learning a new way of painting is making me “see” differently and I have to apply the paints in a different manner. I could say that I am an apprentice of some sort. Again no lines were put down at the beginning, I laid down a wet wash throughout the paper, then right away added some mountains and reflections in the water. Then waited a bit for the wash to dry a bit, and added the forest. Then waited for it to totally dry and then added the foreground forest and reflections in the water.

Paper: Arches Watercolour
Colours: New Gamboge, Q. Rose, Cobalt, Payne’s Grey