Blog Title | art techniques

Thursday 15th December 2016 My Techniques

Visitors to the gallery are curious about how I collect and manage my ideas for my paintings and work on them, so I've decided to write a series of short blogs in response so that visitors to my website can read about different techniques.

This is the first - I hope it's of interest.

Collecting Ideas

I use a camera to record the various places I visit and it is a vital tool for the kind of paintings I produce. From this, I will produce a drawing – often on tracing paper as I find the paper surface can be damaged with rubbing out and this is only evident when the paint is applied. I work out the composition of the painting and then carefully trace it down. I will then do a detailed drawing of the scene in pencil before starting to paint it.

Washes

The washes are built up in delicate layers, starting with the largest and lightest areas first, then on to the smaller and darker parts of the painting. This process can take many weeks and sometimes months to do and the painting will only come off the drawing board when I am completely satisfied with it.

Drawing

The application of many washes can soften the initial pencil drawing so I often have to strengthen it at certain stages of working on the painting. I may decide to use waterproof ink to make the lines sharp and clear. Sometimes I will use brown or sepia ink for the reeds and grasses or for the bare branches of trees.

Posted on December 15th 2016 on 10:40am
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Labels: art techniques, drawing, ideas, washes