Hay-On-Wye

This is a sketch made from a photograph (an old that I took over a decade ago). What makes it a sketch? Arbitrarily, because I decided it was one! It's small, it didn't take long, and its main purpose was to try line and wash on a sample piece of paper (Jackson's ECO, approx A5).

We used to visit Hay-on-Wye nearly every year for a while, before our chldren were born. Just to buy books and meet up with friends.

Prussia Cove

Another line and wash, this time from a rocky inlet in Cornwall (via a photograph).

Acrylic ink and watercolour on 300 g/m² fine grain / cold pressed (NOT) watercolour pad, 18 x 24 cm

Bridge, Bradgate Park - Line and wash

A dramatic scene from a dramatic place - Bradgate Park, Leicester. I thought I'd pick a less urban image this time around. The contrast between the bridge's dark shadows and the misty fade of the distance prompted me to use two inks; I diluted the sepia for part of the drawing.

Indian ink, acrylic ink and watercolour on 300 g/m² fine grain / cold pressed (NOT) watercolour pad, 18 x 24 cm

St. Mary's, Melton Mowbray, from Edgerton Lodge Gardens

This is a view of the town I grew up in. From a photograph taken in February 2013, on a return visit. I used a fuller palette for this sunlit winter scene.

Acrylic ink and watercolour on 300 g/m² fine grain / cold pressed (NOT) watercolour pad, 18 x 24 cm

Portsmouth Dinghies - Line and Wash

 

I'm rather enjoying placing loose washes of colour over a line drawing made in acrylic ink. The ink is waterproof, and so I can do what I like with the waterolour. I'm trying to make a point of not "colouring in" - the idea is to create an impression of colour. I'm keeping the palette limited, too.

This is a relatively new technique for me, so the sketches are experimental. Acrylic ink is not the sort of thing that fountain pens like, so I'm using a dip pen (not much of a hardship; I like dip pens, but they aren't very good for sketching on site, because of the open bottle of ink). Unfortunately, I was a little careless and dropped a blob of ink. It's mostly disguised as shadow on the dark blue boat.


Acrylic ink and watercolour on 300 g/m² fine grain / cold pressed (NOT) watercolour pad, 18 x 24 cm