Venice, Inktense Pencils on paper

This is today's output, well when I say today, I mean finished today after two hours per week for six weeks. It's an image of the Grand Canal Venice, drawn in Inktense Pencils on a piece of old discarded paper at MIND that was probably heading towards being thrown out.

ArtRba Photograph; Venice, Inktense Pencils on paper

(Click on the image to open it full size)

This one is a gift for someone who attends the same weekly art group as me.

Another Version

Accidentally making the move to trying out Winsor & Newton Watercolour Markers has been a good, albeit frustrating thing.  The good points are that I like the product, I like the ease of handling, and I like the three colours that I was gifted.  The bad point is that I need a yellow, and you can't buy these watercolour markers (individually or in a set) in Aberystwyth.  So if you know anyone in Winsor & Newton product development or marketing, tell them to find me on social media and get in touch.  Because at the moment, I'm confined to a red, a green, and a blue marker.  Albeit, they are a pretty good red, green and blue.

Photograph: Venice

Using watercolour markers on circa 7 x 5 cheap watercolour paper 

ArtRba you can also find me on Social Media *

I've completed a few similar images, using various size and type of watercolour paper, as I begin to understand how the watercolour marker product works to best effect.  

I'm noticing that the nibs spread (but that was anticipated, so no problem there) and that the application of water needs to be thought through, as the paint merges (again, anticipated, but controlling needs to be learnt).  

The big pluses are (1) the vibrancy and punch of colour, and (2) the ease of use (which suggests that the Winsor & Newton Watercolour Marker is ideal for in the field sketching.

* ArtRba my posts on Blogger are always more detailed.

Winsor & Newton Watercolour Markers

I've had a stressful few days, so this is the sum total of my artistic dabblings since Tuesday morning.  On the minus side, I feel a tad let down by someone of whom I thought the world of.  Whereas on the plus side, I was delighted by someone of whom I expected nothing.  It's a funny old World.

So I tried to park the stress by using three Winsor & Newton Watercolour Markers for the very first time this evening.  The watercolour markers that were used are Winsor & Newton 'Sap Green', 'Phthalo Blue (Red Shade)', and 'Alizarin Crimson Hue'.  Like most professional art products, they're expensive at £3.99 a pop. Although it's worth remembering that because they're watercolours, I don't own three colours, but four.  This is because the white of the paper is the fourth colour. 

Photograph: the markers and the initial drawing

As is often the case with Blogger: click on the photo to see the full image

ArtRba

It's a little Venetian scene, mainly because Venice is my 'theme of the moment', and I guessed that these watercolour products that have sat unused in my bureau drawer for many months; would lend themselves to this watercolour style.  Of course, after obtaining the markers, I went and completed a 'Colour Theory' course with the WEA-YMCA.  So I now know that instead of the green one, I actually needed a yellow. 

Hey ho, my hand will have to dip into my ever deepening pockets, and instead of a bunny, pull out some more dosh. This time, for a fourth Winsor & Newton Watercolour Marker. 

Photograph: the result after water is applied and spread to suit

Don't forget to click on the image!

ArtRba

The water spreading also includes 'on the paper' mixing.  This means that the watercolours get transferred around, blended, lightened, and darkened etc.,  Maybe this on the paper mixing is something that you could try.  Go on, you know that you want to!

How to No.8 Using colouring pencils

Well I don't think that's too shabby, a first attempt with my new Karisma Colouring Pencils.  I sort of hope that you agree, because I'm delighted with the outcome and this one has already found itself inside an envelope, all wrapped up, and posted out as a gift to someone whom I met on the P&O MV Aurora.  It's just pigment with the Karismacolor product, you don't add water or a wash.  Unless of course you're expanding your artistry into 'Mixed Media'.  So this is another example for the ArtRba file. The RBA bit stands for my initials and the rest is self explanatory.

Photograph: Venice, Karisma pencils on 165 gsm smooth paper circa 7x5 inches

(ArtRba all rights reserved [as is always the case with my Art and Poetry] 2016)

My learning outcomes as I move further into my 'teach yourself' coloured pencils home and coffee shop course, are:

(1) the intensity of the coloured pencil pigment laid, depends on both the pressure applied to the art pencil and the number of layers that an artist uses over their first and subsequent layers.

(2) the surface pattern that can be created when laying the pencil pigment is dependent upon such things as (but is not restricted to) [i] the type paper used, and [ii] the surface on which that paper rests, and [iii] any indentations into the surface of the paper that are deliberately made by the artist. 

(3) mark-making adds to the outcome of the finished image.  Such mark-making could include (but yet again is not restricted to) [i] short or long lines with intense pressure, [ii] stabbing into the paper, or [iii] moving the pencil in the direction of the shape [rather than a tendency to go horizontally across a page with watercolours], or [iv] indentations or raised edges forced into the paper, [v] scrubbing in colour (on good quality paper that can withstand scrubbing), [vi] hatching, [vii] shading.

(4) depending upon the quality of the paper used, highlights could be achieved by using an eraser or even sandpaper.  Alternatively the artist could use a white pencil of the same brand.  Unlike with watercolour where it's essential to preserve some of the white of the paper.  The lightening process could even include the use of chalk, or white soft pastel, or white oil pastel (notwithstanding that with the chalk or soft pastel a fixative would be required).

(5) pigment could be lifted from the colouring pencil [through sharpening or using a course nail file] and then allowed to fall onto parts of the drawing.

(6) layering a pencil colour on top of a previous layer can change both the intensity of the colour of the previous layer, and the final colour itself.

(7) after sharpening, the colouring pencil tips can be maintained sharp by using a small card and glass paper disposable nail file before the next sharpening.

(8) blending of the different pencil colour pigments can be achieved by using one colour on top of another, or with the use of a paper blending stick.

(9) controlled indentations can be made into the paper by using [i] the tip of a blunt dart that has been made blunt and cleaned using a metal file, or [ii] the small end of the nail art tools that are quite often sold by Poundland at, you have it, in the U.K. £1 for a set of four.  But don't hold me to that price!

There you have it; some useful advice courtesy of ArtRba

Venetian Watercolour

This is today's output so far. The art was started while we were on holiday after I gave away a painting that Pauli liked. Drawing the Venetian scene using Yellow Ochre and a Daler Rowney Aquafine 10/0 'Liner' brush took about one and a quarter hours. It is painted on a 14 x 10 inch 'Lana' cold press 300 gsm fine grain watercolour block.  A block has many sheets of watercolour paper gunned down on all four edges so that you paint on the upper sheet and when dry detach that sheet from the block.  It means hassle free watercolour painting, without the need to tape the paper down onto a larger board. 

On this occasion, I'm using Winsor & Newton Artist Quality watercolours:

Winsor Blue Green Shade

Winsor Lemon

Raw Sienna

Yellow Ochre

If you can't see the whole photograph, click on the image and it should open full in your browser.  Blogger often crops photographs unless you resize them (small) in the full Windows online version of the page.  The photograph shows the three distinct stages of this artwork to get where I am now.

I've imaged the boat using a WH Smith watercolour pencil of no distinct labelled colour (when producing cheap pencils, they have to cut down on production costs, so they don't label them).  

The plan when dry is to detail the sea with the Winsor Blue G/S and the boat in green (mixed with the Winsor Blue G/S and the Winsor Lemon) and Blue Black.  The watercolour pencil outline of the boat, should in the main, wash out.  That's the joy of using watercolour pencils to map out the whole or part of a watercolour image.  

The shadowing on the buildings etc., will be my usual mixture of Prussian Blue and Venetian Red. Well, with a scene of Venice, Venetian Red just sort of has to be used, doesn't it? 

How to No.7 Forming a Sky with Inktense Pencils on COLD watercolour paper

The sky in this new Venetian image was created with just three Derwent Inktense Pencil colours: Willow 1900, Navy Blue 0830 and Sun Yellow 0200.  The Navy Blue pencil appears to be as close as I can tell to Ultramarine, whereas I've chosen Willow as my 'Burnt Umber'.  Using Ultramarine and Burnt Umber in watercolour gives you some nice blues and darks and creates various greys.  Albeit that grey is not my favourite. Nope, I prefer to use Prussian Blue and wait for it. . . Venetian Red.  So no surprises there then, especially given my predominantly Venice themed art.

Photo: Sky over Venice using just three pencils

All rights reserved R. Bennett 2016 (as is the case with all of my art and poetry)

Search 'ArtRba' on Social Media if you want to make comment and to see other images

The sky shown in this Inktense Pencil image is loosely based on part of an article in the current edition of 'The Artist' a monthly magazine coming in with a shop price of £3.99 and a reduced price if you sign up to home delivery.  I think that it's a good value for money magazine.  It found its way into my life, when a lovely person in the south of the County was giving away a huge number of back issues free of charge.  At the beginning, I extracted the watercolour information pages and gave the rest of the magazine away.  Now I seem to be finding lots that grab my interest, so after reading an issue, I deposit them with MIND for others to share and for me to have ready access in the future.  

I say 'loosely' based upon, because the artist reviewed on several pages including page 51 (where this sky formation appears) is using watercolours, whereas I'm dabbling with my current holiday favourite media, i.e. Inktense Pencils.  Careful observation of my uploaded image (if it doesn't all show, as with all photographs on Blogger, just click on the photo for it to fully open) will show a significant number of colours in the sky.  This seems to be a pretty cool effect, from using just three Inktense pencils.  This is one of the joys of any water based medium; you can move the colour around, dab in bits elsewhere, lift colour to lighten an area, layer colours, and blend colours together to create variations of colour on the page.  Although with Inktense Pencils it is worth remembering that you are dealing with ink, and once dry, the product is primarily colourfast and unlike watercolours, it resists further movement or lifting.  

One final note, is for you to preserve some white in your image.  This of course gives you an extra colour in whatever colour spectrum that you are using.  Plus, nothing is as bright as the white of the paper.  

Memories

. . . and today's art memory is of Venice.  It is an image of the Basicica di Santa Maria della Salute shown from the main arterial waterway (not the Grand Canal) to the South of the Church.  

I created the image using Inktense pencils on circa A5 size watercolour paper over two enjoyable sessions in Caffé Néro in Aberystwyth after returning from our summer holiday in the Meditaerean. I used a reference photograph that I took while we were being ferried by water taxi to and from the cruise ship into the city.  Some of my Venetian images were created in situ (one of a church while relaxing under the shade of a tree), but the majority of them will come from reference photos that were taken while we were visiting Venice.  These photographs were taken for the purpose of creating the art rather than as holiday 'snaps'.  The down side being the restriction of carrying the lightweight 40mm 'pancake' lens with its limited fixed focal length rather than the heavier by more adaptable 24-105 lens.  But everything in life is a trade off, and during a hot day in Venice, you carry what you can manage.  

This is probably why I am moving towards Inktense Pencils being my holiday art media of choice. It's a clean product that can provide pleasing and sometimes stunning results.  You don't need to carry water or a water container; as you can choose to wash in the image when you get back to your hotel or cruise ship. The tin is large enough to take postcard size watercolour paper held on the outside without bending.  So if you stitch a piece of elastic to secure the tin, then that paper size can be slipped between the elastic and the tin and thereby supported when it's all carried in your bag.  If you want more detail in your images, then you can work on the smoother 'Hot' watercolour paper, rather than using 'Cold' or 'Rough' paper, or you could combine 'pigment liner' pens, or 'Graphite Pencils' with Inktense pencils.