Clovelly Nets

I love the seaside and especially fisherman’s clutter that can be found lying around. In Clovelly I was inspired by the lobster pots and the colours that shone through the netting material. I tried to work out if I was painting the netting or the holes. The rough cobbles created a regular pattern to help draw the eye into the picture.

 

While I was painting this picture I read an article in the artist and illustrators magazine about gouache resist. So I thought I would give it a try. Using a piece of mount board I drew my image and then proceeded to paint gouache in the areas I wanted to keep white. When this was dry I painted over the whole image with Indian ink.

Then after a night of drying I washed the image under a cold tap to release the gouache paint. Then I added some watercolour to the image…

I have read other versions of this technique and I might come back and explore them one day…Stay Tuned.

Clovelly fishing pots image from my sketch book.

Bressingham Truck…

Sketchbook challenge 5 May 2012

I wasn’t sure where this sketch was going when I originally drew it…Which is no surprise as visits to Bressingham Steam Gardens were quite often consumed with booze. The trip used to signal the end of Summer for me as it was the last steam rally of the season. It was a pilgrimage to Norfolk of about 12-14 years in total.

In this sketch I was trying to portray the effect of rust on the metal and pen and ink seemed like the best method. Getting the tone right took about 2 hours.

Room 28b Royal Brompton Hospital

Apologies to all sketch fans on the world wide web – Martinsonlinesketchbook has not been updated due in part to illness. BUT I am on the mend and here is the proof a sketch from my latest hospital admission in the Royal Brompton Hospital.

This is a respirator called the Bird and it is used to help get air in the to the lungs and this helps to clear sputum and infection. I must admit when the physio said she was going to give me the bird I thought I’d right royally upset her! The machine is connected to a supply of neat oxygen to help expand the lungs when you breathe in. Surprisingly it works really well and I think ever home should have one, purely because neat oxygen gives you a bit of a buzz.

This is the view from my hospital bed looking out onto Chelsea, London (look up sw3 6hr on google maps). My room is directly opposite a night club called 86. This was quite loud at night.

The IV pump on the left became my best friend for the first 10 days of my admission as I was attached to it non-stop. This did present some difficulties, particularly when I needed the toilet. The little wheels had a mind of their own and the tube connecting me was just long enough to be an inconvenient distance.

I did get to see the Olympic Road Race, both the Men’s and the Women’s and I managed to make some sketches of the spectators which I will post in the next few days.

Hat’s my boy!

Sketchbook Challenge - 4th May 2012

On a shopping trip to find clothes for Samuel we ended up in Debenhams where he insisted on trying hats on. He looked really cool and in advance of his age plus there were some really nice lights and darks. I think this sketch of Sam, has the potential for a larger finished painting. I am unsure of what to include in the background but feel that the loose effect of the colours drifting off works well.

Half way stage between drawing and painting. I have put in all the darks that make the contrasts with the lights of the skin tones. This is different from the normal working of light against dark. At times it can be easier to work watercolour dark against light especially if you have some light areas the you want to keep.

The finished sketch as it appears in my book.

Ice and a Slice

Ice and a Slice Video

Okay so the make a sketch a day in May is going really well, but I haven’t posted all the pictures yet.

This is a sketch in video format of a glass of lemonade I drank in the Fire Station Restaurant beneath Waterloo Station in London. The restaurant beats eating in McDonalds or Burger King within the station.

Enjoy!

Painting a day in May 3

Continuing with my epic painting a day in May – Today London’s Shard. I have painted this once before about 8 months ago and I find the whole structure fascinating. I first saw it when the building work had only just commenced at ground level at London Bridge station. This view is looking up from St Thomas’s Hospital next to the Mcdonalds. A wonderful combination.

It is good to sometimes photograph the progress of a piece of work to find out where things go wrong! I created this painting in 5 sittings although I forgot to take a picture of stage 4!

Stage 3 – First light water colour washes to establish the main areas.

Stage 2 – Ink drawing making any corrections.

Stage 1 Pencil sketch – although I usually go straight in with pen.

Sketch as it appears in my sketchbook.

Painting a day in May 2

I have a lot of problems with trees not least that I have a tendency to be colour blind in the green/brown spectrum. The sketch is of a tree in the Breamore House estate. I spent a lot of summer weekends on the estate with the Theale Miniature Steam Club at their annual steam event.

I had a second attempt at the tree…

In both images I have failed to get the size of the tree to be convincing. The shadow in the ink drawing is correct but the tree canopy is not right. I may give this another go on a bigger bit of paper using charcoal and wash.

Sketch as is appears in my book:-