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

Karisma in England and the USA by Berol Karismacolor

I bought these beauties second hand a few months ago.  A full 36 set of Karisma 'soft lead pencils of the finest quality'.  Made by Berol in both England and the USA.  They came in at £125 but I have seen them sold for much more.  These highly blendable colours are highly sort after.  The box contains:

Indigo Blue 901

True Blue 903

Light Blue 904

Peacock Green 907

Grass Green 909

Olive Green 911

Apple Green 912

Green Bice 913

Cream 914

Lemon Yellow 915

Canary Yellow 916

Yellow Orange 917

Orange 918

Light Green 920

Vermillion 921

Scarlet Red 922

Scarlet Lake 923

Carmine Red 926

Blush 928

Pink 929

Violet 932

Blue Violet 933

Black 935

Tuscan Red 937

White 938

Peach 939

Yellow Ochre 942

Burnt Ochre 943

Burnt Umber 947

Sepia 948

Silver 949

Light Violet 956

Light Aqua 992

Bright purple 995

Grape 996

Yellowed Orange 1002 

To which I can add in loose format: 

Chartreuse 989

Spanish Orange 1003

Violet 1007

Dahlia Purple 1009

Pink Rose 1018 

Peacock Blue 1027

Warm Grey 20% 1051

Warm Grey 70% 1056

Cool Grey 20% 1060

Cool Grey 30% 1061

Cool Grey 50% 1063

Charcoal Medium

Which gives me a working set of 47 Karismacolor pencils, which should be enough for anyone.  The Karisma box set is lovely, but the pencil design was probably more about selling individual units.  Hence the slanted end.  Each Karisma pencil would be stored upright in the display stand and the approaching customer would see all of the lovely colours without having to read the labelling or pick up the product.  This kind of display meant that the tips weren't damaged during handling, which in turn could put off the next customer.  I suspect that the compact upright display also lent itself to less wastage from theft as everything was highly visible and in your face.  Another plus side was after sharpening a Karisma pencil past its label, the artist could return to the shop with the end bit and match it to a specific colour within the display.   

So giving its display and other advantages, along with the awesome reputation that the Karisma pencil pigment and blending properties enjoyed; we just got to ask ourselves why on earth did they cease manufacturing the Karisma pencil in its original format.  It seems so strange, especially when you look online and see that it costs circa £275 for a box of 76 Caran d'ache Luminance pencils. 

There is of course a downside to my now lovely collection of Karisma pencils.  Although they are really nice; I have no experience of using coloured pencils, other than when I was a child.  Watercolour pencils yes, Inktense pencils yes, graphite pencils yes, pencil pencils no.  So this could make for some interesting art as I flounder along on yet another self taught course.   

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? 

More inktense

"Come in number AB 104, your time is up."

Well I don't know who owns 'AB 104' but that was enjoyable three hours working the Inktense Pencils outdoors down near the Marina in Aberystwyth and then finishing off with water and a brush inside one of my favourite coffee shops.  This particular piece of art is approximately 7 x 5 inches on 'Hot' Langford watercolour paper. 

It was also the first time that I tried out my big floppy hat bought for me by one of my daughters to keep the sun off me when out and about painting or drawing.  The hat was a success too, so all in all, it's been a great day!

New chair, lovely weather

What a lovely evening it was, settling down in the glorious sunshine and drawing outside in the church car park opposite Aberystwyth Castle. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the art, and the warm air and sunshine.  It was also my first run out using an outdoor collapsible chair that Pauli bought me just before our holiday.  This portable delight was bought purely to encourage me to get out and about with the art.  Better still, the cup holder in the chair, was the perfect place to stand my Inktense Pencils, whereas my Inktense Pencil zipped wallet (a brush wallet snaffled up for the pencil carrying purpose) formed the perfect table to rest the watercolour paper on while completing the art.  I spotted this particular view a week or so ago. Photographers often photograph the Castle Keep full on, whereas I found this side view (with obligatory seagull in situ) to be the perfect angle for a coloured ink and wash drawing.  

When I wrapped up at the Castle, I found a spot on the benches at the top of town and started an image of the Clocktower and Starbucks building.  I tried this scene as a Mono-Print with Black Pigment Liner and Artist quality Soft Pastels about a year ago, and it just didn't work. So maybe this image is about removing the demons that appeared upon my previous failed attempt. In fact that attempt was so bad, that just now I visited my Mono-Printing Album on my Tablet to check the date, and found that I had never taken a photograph of that particular mixed media work.  Now that's not like me, and it's not the type of behaviour that I would encourage you to adopt. Nope, it's best to embrace all of our artistic attempts, whatever their merit, and try to learn and develop from them all.

Carden Bach

ArtRba 

Whoop, whooop, whooooooop; my new 'Business Cards' have arrived.  Well, not so much 'Business', but more 'Point of Contact' cards.  Each ArtRba card represents an opportunity of staying in touch with all of those lovely people that we bump into as we meander our way through life.  The artwork used on the ArtRba card; is a little something of Venice that I painted in watercolour while enjoying this years holiday on the P&O Cruise Ship the MV Aurora.  As is so often the case, this watercolour painting of Venice was given away.  On this occasion the fortunate recipients were Steve and Jan from Bridgend in South Wales.  A lovely couple who we chatted to on a table next to us on the second night of our P&O Cruise Holiday to the Med.  

I couldn't afford any writing on the back of the ArtRba card, but thought that I could write down the web address whenever someone asked me about the ArtRba page on Social Media.  

It was a daunting experience designing the card on VistaPrint.  The task took far too long, and alas I'm not too task orientated these days.  But maybe the scariest bit was when I was going through the checkout process and the pound signs seemed to be racking up.  Although in all fairness, I'm well chuffed with the quality of the ArtRba card, the clarity of the writing, and the speed of delivery.

I'm also chuffed that the Vista guys and girls allow users to upload their own images to form the card background.  Nice one, and thankfully I had the foresight to use the tablet to photograph this particular watercolour painting before giving it away!

Homage

So another one has flown the nest! "Homage to Iceland" an acrylic painting on primed stretched canvas, was painted on the evening that Iceland beat England in the European football championships.  

Photo: "Homage to Iceland", acrylic on canvas

All rights Reserved Roger Bennett

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Even when knowing the cause of its inception, after trawling through the stash of images that I have painted, our lovely friend Andrew chose this painting as part of his 50th birthday present.

Midas Touch

My new watercolour paint brush! A lovely 'Midas Touch' pocket brush that is ideal for holidays and when out and about painting.  Better still, this gorgeous example is a 'Filbert' which is my paintbrush shape of choice for watercolours.  

The front half of the brush sits inside the main handle.  Which of course in turn protects the brush hairs.  The outer shell appears sturdy and looks as if it will take a fair bashing during transport and use.  The 'Cotman' Winsor & Newton small student standard watercolour paint set usually contains a very small brush with this half inside half set up.  I was going to snaffle the brush from my unused Cotman set (bought during last years holiday) to go with this Filbert, but the lovely people in the Art Shop (Pier Street, Aberystwyth) gifted me a small compact brush like a Rigger, when I was buying the Filbert and a few other things.  So, now I have two brushes that don't take up much space.  

This could mean using watercolours as well as Inktense Pencils on the next holiday, or when I'm out and about on a fine day.  With the right Artist quality watercolour set, this is a lightweight, easy to carry, and relatively simple to use set up.  Whereas the watercolour stuff that I currently have is more suited to Studio work.  Which is great 95% of the time, but when you do get outside, we need it to be simples. Winsor & Newton even do a field painting kit with an integral water bottle and water container. I mean, how cool is that?

The Midas Touch wasn't overly expensive; but it is new old stock and it may be difficult to track any down. 

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.  

Piazza San Marco, Venice

How to No.6

Drawing with Inktense Pencils on HOT paper 

I've mentioned the different kind of watercolour paper in an earlier post.  My least favourite is 'HOT' pressed.  Water is quickly absorbed by the surface and it most definitely isn't my watercolour paper of choice.  But saying that, I do have too much of the stuff.  When I began using watercolours last year, I simply bought several pads of different sizes, believing (then) that all watercolour paper was equal.  So my holdings are being chopped up into small sizes and used with my product of the moment; Derwent Inktense Pencils.  

This image is of the entrance to St. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco) in Venice, the 16th Century square Cathedral Tower (Camponile di San Marco), and the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, all from the Grand Canal.  I used two of the my recent photographs as reference points for the artwork.  The tower was drawn with a straight edge to ensure that it wasn't leaning, and then the shape of the remaining buildings were sort of blocked in; to define the area for the sky.  Several Inktense pencils were used to create the sky, including a second and a third layer of colour each time the paper dried out.

The buildings began with the windows being drawn in and then lightly coloured.  My favourite Venice Inktense Pencil art colours are: Tan 1720 for the non grey buildings, Scarlet Pink 0320 for the pinkish walled buildings, Charcoal Grey 2100 for the grey buildings and to outline non pink or tan objects, and Tangerine 0300 for the various roofs.  Layered colours were used to darkened areas, either with a darker brown such as Bark, or the much used Charcoal Grey and right at the end of the process; Ink Back No.2200.              

Colours from the sky were used in forming the water of the Grand Canal.  With lighter small strokes close to the Gondola points, that were worked towards broader longer strokes in the foreground.  When all of the drawing was complete, the image was 'wetted' using plain water applied with a cheap pointed brush.  You don't need a Sable brush as you're trying to be sparse with the water, and therefore don't need anything that can hold lots!  But you do need a cloth or kitchen roll to dab off any colour picked up in one area by the brush, that you don't want to accidentally apply to another area as you continue the 'wetting' process. 

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.

My 'lost' Panda

There's a puzzle doing the rounds on Social Media at the moment (well it may have been going for some time, but I've only noticed it since returning home) that is relevant to most artists.

The puzzle consists of an awful lot of snowmen in various poses and with or without various adornments; along with one solitary panda. The task is to find the Panda. 

But of course the human brain fills in the gaps, so to a varying degree (that is the time taken by different people to find the single Panda), the brain makes the onlooker see only snowmen.  

This is worth remembering as an artist, as colours and patterns can be made up that the brain interprets as a single block of colour or primarily as a shading (or tone) of a single block of colour.  This idea works well with pastels, as the pastelist can hatch over two colours to create a third colour that the human eye interprets as a single effect, when in fact it's simply hatching.  The concept is not restricted to colour, it also applies to lines and shapes. These lines or shapes can be formed or extended as broken edges. This works with 'wet in wet' and 'wet to wet' techniques using watercolours.  These 'lost and found edges' will form a building or a corner edge of a building when no straight line has been run the whole length of that part of the painting. 

Of course there is a lot more that an artist can do with this 'making good' interpretation that is subconsciously achieved by the human brain.  This could be the forming of a 'black' colour by using several other darkening colours, that the brain picks up as shading and shadow, but the lovely colours used to form the dark area also become visible on further scrutiny by the observer.  The artist can also fool the brain into joining up lines when dealing with perspective, maybe by having detail in a boat in the foreground, some less detail in some boats further back, and then some occasional detail at the rear of the scene. Size, detail, and missing lines, all get formed automatically as we search for that 'Panda'. Happy painting and drawing folks! 

How to No.5 Painting 'Cadiz' in Acrylic on Canvas Board

It now seems like a nice time to paint an image of Cadiz in acrylic on an Artist's Canvas Board.  This canvas board is roughly sized 10 x 12 inches and was picked up in Poundland.  It's not the greatest quality, but it will serve our purposed.  The biggest problem with canvas boards (even the expensive ones) is that they can warp over time.  So the board needs to be laid flat and eventually fixed and backed in a frame, or stored flat in a drawer.

SCALING AND TRANSFERRING OUR REFERENCE PHOTOGRAPH 

We begin by scaling the reference image with a marked out pencil grid on the canvas board.  Our image is then transferred across using pencil.  The good news with the 'grid' method is that we can rescale the reference photograph larger or smaller on our painting surface (support).  When we're happy with the drawing, it's time to erase some of the construction lines.  Well, at least to try to erase these lines as far as is possible.  They good news is, we're going to use acrylic, and acrylic paint tends to cover well.  So eventually the lines that are left should be obscured.  

It's important to draw grid lines lightly and only in the specific areas where they are needed.  Do not draw grid lines all the way across your support!  The squares created by the grid lines can be further divided if you need more detail or accuracy in that particular area.  It's also important to draw lightly when constructing the image over the grid lines.  If you're using watercolours then you can use watercolour pencils to construct grid lines and to draw the image and most of these will gently wash away during the painting process. Alas, today we're using acrylic and canvas board.  The canvas board likes to hang onto the pencil.  I have deliberately pressed hard with both the grid construction and the drawing phase, because I want the method to clearly show up in the 'how to' photographs.  But I may end up paying for this later in the day.

STARTING WITH THE SKY

Cadiz is in Spain; so we are talking warm vibrant colours.  The first task is to lay down the sky colour.  On this occasion I have gone for Lefranc 'Louvre' Deep Blue.  The photograph shows a second layer of blue being applied from the top of the board.   I took the photograph having painted half way down, just to show you the difference between one and two coats of paint.  It's my intention to move swiftly back to the painting and take the second coat of Deep Blue all the way down to the buildings.       

Take care around the edges of the buildings where they meet the skyline, so that you don't create obvious brush strokes, going up and down that replicate the building shapes.  I'm using a Daler Rowney 'System 3' No.12 Filbert brush.  If you handle this brush carefully and are not afraid of turning it, then you can get in quite close while trying to keep the brush strokes left to right, or at the very least finishing them left to right while the acrylic paint is still wet.  It's a bit like watercolour; in that you need to work quickly.

IMPROVING THE SKY COLOUR

I wasn't overly convinced with the result from the two layers of LeFranc 'Louvre' Deep Blue, so Winsor & Newton 'Galeria' Ultramarine was mixed with Deep Blue paint and layered as a third coat of acrylic across the sky.  To try to give the sky an extra punch, while that third layer was still wet; I introduced neat Ultramarine low down in the skyline to the right of the buildings.  The Deep Blue and Ultramarine mix was also introduced into the painting to form the sea.  Two coats of paint were applied to the sea. The first coat deliberately left the white lines that will form the light reflections later in the painting process.  When dry, a second 'wash' coat of the mixture was applied all the way across working left to right and going over the vertical white stripes.     

BLOCKING IN THE LAND

Having blocked in the sky and sea, it's not time to turn our attention to the land sweeping from the right hand side of the canvas board, across the middle and running down to our foreground.  I went for Daler Rowner 'Cryla' Yellow Ochre as my base blocking in colour.  

In all stages so far with this painting, I've just using water and have not used my favourite 'System 3' Flow Enhancer manufactured by Daler Rowney.  Flow Enhancer will show less brush strokes and retain more pigment colour in the image.  But the product comes in at circa £6.50 for a 75ml jar, so it's not something to waste.  When you do use Flow Enhancer, I recommend that you decant a very small amount to a smaller jar.  I use cleaned out small jam jars (the kind that you get in a coffee shop with your toast).  You can use a pipette (if you can get your hands on one) to transfer the Flow Enhancer or even use a medicine syringe.  Although with the latter, I recommend that you keep the syringe securely locked away out of the reach of a small child and labelled to remind yourself and other adults that you have used this particular one to transfer paint substances and not to use for medicine! 

CHOOSING SOME BUILDING COLOURS

There are some lovely Mediterranean colours in the buildings shown in the Reference Photograph (and I've visited Cadiz at least twice), so I've opted to using and mixing the following paints (in no particular order): Rowney 'Cryla' 501 Cadmium Red, 308 Bright Green, 612 Cadmium Yellow, 221 Burnt Sienna, 651 Lemon Yellow, 513 Crimson, 123 Utramarine, 527 Light Red Oxide, 352 Hooker's Green.  I mention visiting Cadiz not as a boast, but as an important aspect of painting.  I think that it's quite pompous when people refer to 'En plein air' or 'Plein air' painting.  What they actually mean is; painting outdoors at the scene.  There are some good points and some drawbacks with this outdoor malarky.  People are bound to approach you, take an interest in your work, and in the main; praise you.  Unfortunately this interaction opens up a sort of social contract with the viewer; you don't want to let them down.  So there I was in the centre of Cardiff while everyone else was enjoying the NATO Summit shenanigans, nicely positioned in the middle of a closed road with only the Police horses to worry me, and what did I go and do?  Well, I'll tell you what I went and done, I simply drew a superb drawing of Cardiff Castle.  Which attracted lot's of praise and would have course have been the perfect outcome if I had intended to do a pencil drawing of Cardiff Castle.  The thing is, that was not my intention and I was instead armed with superb (gifted) handmade watercolour paper and watercolours.  So here I am with my lovely pencil creation, created to prove to my Social Contractors that I could draw, and I then promptly painted as if I was colouring by numbers.  It was a dreadful outcome, and I was so cold, that I promptly debunked to my favourite coffee shop in Cardiff and sat at the back to whittle up a lovely Summer beach scene in watercolour from memory.  

So lesson number 1; don't draw it (you can do a swift sketch, but get on and paint it).  On my second outing in Aberystwyth, I settled for painting a nice sky to frame my subject and then got on with the nitty gritty.  My social contract part was to immediately show that I could paint, while thereafter enduring the turmoil of working the image to completion.  The thing is; both of these experiences left me with something far beyond what happened on each day.  These attempts were in many ways intense events.  As a result of that intensity; I can sort of feel the shape of the castle walls, and see the darkness in the corners.  Whereas with the Aberystwyth image I can hear the sea, and see the waves crashing, and see the many colours of those who settled and walked on by.  And this folks is what painting outdoors truly means.  Lesson number 2; you see the true colours that a camera will only settle for as an average, you also feel the wind, and or the beating of the sun, and many other things that allows us to 'connect' with the scene.  That connection can be transferred back to our studio.  Not just for the painting process in itself, but also because the memories add to the joy of the painting.  And if we're not enjoying it, then we sort of have to ask ourselves why on earth are we doing it. 

For this photograph I have also added another layer of Ultramarine to the sea and close to the tops of the buildings and also swept brush strokes of Ultramarine randomly across the sky.  The buildings have had two layers of paint.  The secnd layer applied after the first one had dried.

           

Another enjoyable hour passed with the 'Cadiz' painting.  This time it was a case of paying attention to the sea wall and the rocks that make up the sea defences.  The main colours used for the rocks was 'Cryla' Prussian Blue mixed with Cryla Cadmium Red and then lightened to various tones with Winsor & Newton Mixing White.  Most of the darkened marks were achieved with undiluted 'Cryla' Burnt Umber, and to add some interest 'Lefranc' Burnt Sienna and 'Galeria' Raw Sienna were added in part, including some dry brushing of the Raw Sienna over the lighter tones.  The sea wall base colour from earlier photographs was overpainted almost to its top edge with a mixtuure of 'Cryla' Light Red Oxide and Cadmium Red, followed by some dotting of the lightish purple colour that was used for part of the sea wall. 

To finish off the painting; 'Cryla' Titanium White was applied to the sea for a reflection and then each colour was immediately applied, before going on to paint the next reflection.  The orange was a mixture of 'Cryla' Cadmium Red and Cadmium Yellow. The green is 'Cryla' Bright Green. The blue reflection is a mixture of 'LeFranc' Deep Blue and the Titanium White used for the base of each reflection.  It was a case of moving quickly, constantly cleaning the brush, and having plenty of water spread over three jars (one for waste, one for use, one with clean water to top up the 'use' jar).  Some over painting with the same colour mixtures was added at the end using a fine brush.  The street lights were dabbed in 'Cryla' Titanium White and then Cadmium Yellow. 

So there we are, a nocturnal Cadiz scene.  The only thing left to do is to paint the image with acrylic gloss varnish.  I've signed the image on the rocks so that the letters and date are less obvious. 

Happy painting everyone! 

Turner; 'Fishermen at Sea', Oil on Canvas

Well, I've now finished my attempt at copying Turner's astonishingly good "Fishermen at Sea", and if there's one thing that I have learnt from the process; that is the huge amount of rubbish and inaccuracies that have been published on the Internet regarding this particular painting.  So in a humble attempt at trying to tidy up the online mess, I've written the following essay:

"Fishermen at Sea" was painted with Oil Paint on Canvas by J.M.W. Turner and exhibited with the Royal Academy in 1796.  The painting is an atmospheric night scene, which we could describe as Nocturnes or Nocturnal.  The catalogue entry for this 1796 work, notes a contemporary account commenting that 'the figures, by not being more distinct and determined, suit the obscure perception of the objects, dimly seen through the gloom of night, partially illumined.'  

In many ways it must be harder to paint with vagueness in mind rather than the distinct shapes of detail and replication.  If anything it becomes pleasing to the eye, and thereby allows us to join up our own lines and to create our own shapes.  This of course means that the onlooker may never 'tire' of this painting, and see or perceive new things each time that they view the image.   

Many of the online reproductions of the Turner painting are of poor quality.  The lack of clarity and in part over saturation of colour, means that it is therefore difficult to use these online images as reference material to determine such matters as the figure poses and the details of the boats.  The image is also reproduced in many books, but the quality of each reproduction is wholly dependent upon the quality of the source material that was used as well as the quality of the book printing.   

'Fishermen at Sea' is also shown full page and in colour in: 'The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner; Plates', by Martin Butlin & Evelyn Joll.  Published for The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and The Tate Gallery by Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1984.  The image in this particular book allowed me to make five observations that had not been made by reference to a flurry of online material and a plate of this painting that appeared in another book.  A copy of this book should be held by a Deposit Library (you can access the book onsite, but not remove it from the premises).  There are five Deposit Libraries in the United Kingdom.  Each Deposit Library will have it's own rules and processes for obtaining what is usually referred to as a 'Readers Ticket'.  There are two versions of this book, the one with corresponding text, and one that is also titled 'Plates' and which thereby contains 572 full page images of Turner paintings and drawings, of which 'Fishermen at Sea' happens to be Plate No.1 in the sequence.  The 'Butlin & Joll, 1984' Plate is certainly not the best image, and there are other online reproductions that show other parts of the image with improved clarity, but in the absence of being able to view the painting in person, it is recommended that this Plate is viewed in conjunction with online material.  

Returning to the painting; the nocturnal scene is illuminated by a full moon and cloud cover with light bouncing off various clouds as well as directly entering the area of the canvas containing the main theme.  There are two boats.  For the purposes of these notes; the boat located on the left of the canvas will be referred to as being the main or primary boat.  The reason for determining it as the primary boat is that it is draped in greater light and hence there is greater clarity of the figures onboard, and this boat is somewhat larger than the one on the right hand side of the canvas, and which we shall refer to as the secondary boat.  Turner has loosely followed the 'Rule of Thirds' and placed the primary boat in the left third and lower third of the canvas, and the secondary boat roughly in the right third and lower third.  The same composition technique has been used to place the Moon, that appears roughly one third from the left, and two thirds from the bottom of the support (canvas).  These values aren't spot on; in fact the primary boat and the representation of the Needles combined, are one third up from the bottom, but of course you should be able to grasp the idea and the intention of the artist.     

The composition is completed by the sea, the clouds, the distant mountains and shoreline, representation of 'The Needles' (Rocks with that name, off the Isle of Wight), the fishing net with it's associated paraphernalia, birds and light source.  There is a distinct swell taking place with the sea, and two visible wave areas have been formed.  The improved clarity of the 'Butlin & Joll, 1984' Plate, links the cloud formation (or maybe it is sea mist) to form almost one block of cover with the moonlight shining through.  The same Plate identifies three floating objects (higher up on the crest) to the left of the lefthand barrel that is floating in the water, that in turn suggests that the fishing net from the primary boat covers an area of the image that is more extensive than first thought.    

The primary boat has a taught line running from its bow (front).  The tautness of the line suggests that it is attached to an anchor or a dredging anchor that allows the primary boat to move.  But as these are fishing boats, there is also a possibility that the line is attached to somethings that weighs down part of the fishing net.  The primary boat has a fishing contraption attached to a small mast at the stern (rear) of the boat.  The light cast into the sea from an onboard lantern being held by one of the figures, illuminates the cork buoys that keep the uppermost part of the fishing net afloat.  We can safely assume that the net is further connected to the two sealed wooden casks (or barrels) that are located to the left and right hand side of the canvas.  But in the night gloom, and the sea swell; the linking lines are not obvious.  Along with ageing cracks in the original oil paintwork, there are lines in the sea that form parts of the submerged fishing net.     

The secondary boat has crested a wave from the main sea swell that forms part of the central theme.  But of course this does not necessarily mean that this fishing boat has pushed on through that particular wave.  The sails are down and the oars are not in place, so the crew have not made any obvious attempt at sailing through.  The secondary boat, like the primary one may have cast a static, dredging or weighted line.  It is simply that it cannot be seen in the painting.  Low down beyond the bow of the boat is a contraption that looks attached.  It is a flimsy and not too dissimilar version of the battering ram from an ancient fighting ship.  It's purpose is unknown, but the contraption is probably something to do with feeding out or retaining the net in position.

There are three birds shown in the scene.  Two of the birds are in flight and the third is resting on, landing on, or taking off from the right hand fishing barrel that supports the net.  These three birds illustrated in white are well contrasted to the darkness of the sea swell in that area.  Although unlike other online and book images, the 'Butlin & Joll, 1984' Plate shows the dark sea as not being quite as dark as the photography has defaulted to (that's the problem with a camera, it tends to search for the average result) and that the darkness is in fact made up of numerous black lines, that Turner added to the painting to suggest movement within the dark area of the sea swell; as opposed to the distinct lines of the submerged fishing net.  Reference to the the 'Butlin & Joll, 1984' Plate shows with clarity the difference between the sea movement 'lines' and the ones forming the fishing net.  They cannot be confused, and Turner's intention was clear.

There appear to be five figures in the primary boat and four figures in the secondary one.  The central figure to the theme is the fisherman sat in the primary boat and who is holding an illuminated lantern to provide light beyond that available from the full moon.  To his right at the stern of that boat is a figure hard at work, whose arms are illuminated from the lantern light. To the left of the lantern holder is a figure looking away from us and with their right arm extended.  On the other side of the boat are two figures leaning over the and looking towards the horizon.  The weather causing the swell is reinforced by the full moon (denoting high tide) and the coat tail of one of the figures flapping in the wind.

The figures in the secondary boat are less distinct.  The main interaction being the figure towards the bow of the boat; who is holding onto a line with both hands.  But of course we do not know if that figure is lowering or is about to raise the sail.  The act of lowering would of course suggest that the secondary boat had deliberately crested the sea swell to take up its position in the composition.  Although as a neutral onlooker and without the benefit of additional evidence, we cannot be certain.  There are certainly at least four figures in the secondary boat, but there may be a fifth to the left of the chap holding the sail line.  If there is a fifth figure then it is to the edge of the raised side of the boat and is helping to weigh the boat down on that side.  The two central figures on the secondary boat appear to having a dreadful time.  Rather than being involved in the fishing process; they appear instead to hanging on for grim life.  The figure at the stern of the boat can be seen in two poses.  In one pose it is facing you and in the other it is holding onto the tiller arm and facing the figure who is working the line.  Maybe this vagueness was a deliberate mechanism employed by Turner.

There is a possibility that there are paint marks to suggest two ghostly ships, just beyond and almost in line with Turner's representation of the Needles.  The first ship appears as if with sails down almost at the top and to the right of the mast of the primary fishing boat.  The second one, but with a hint of sail, appears at the top and to the left of the rear fishing mast of the secondary boat.  Was this a deliberate ploy by Turner?  In that he added colour and marks to suggest something else, or even to suggest something that is not truly there?  We know from his other work, that he developed a fondness towards suggestion and not pure representation.  Of course these ghostly additions may be down to poor reproduction of the original painting.           

The inclusion of numerous dark marks beyond the bow of the secondary boat (again shown with clarity in the 'Butlin & Joll, 1984' Plate); suggest the existence of floats holding a fishing net that has been cast from that boat as well.  We can assume from the manner in which the scene has been painted, that this is early into the fishing process, otherwise dead fish and or their entrails would be on either boat and the sea birds would be swarming that area rather than the darkened sea swell to the lower right hand side of the painting.

The oil on canvas painting is sized 914 x 1222mm (another source puts the measurement at 915 x 1224mm) and was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1796.  The painting is also known as 'The Cholmeley Sea Piece' and was the first oil painting to be exhibited by Turner.  The variations in metric sizing may be down to errors in translating the Imperial measurement of the original canvas.           

Roger Bennett, August 2016