objects – Page 6 – Africantapestry

Posted on July 2, 2008July 4, 2008 by Myfrenchkitchen · 25 Comments

Ink exercises

I love inkwork and there are some beautiful inks around not to mention the artists that do beautiful inkwork.

I took my summer shoes to do some excercises with the inks and pens I have. Excercise 1: Summer sandals done in Gris nuage ink from J. Herbin, drawing the lines with a stylo à plume d’oie(quill pen) and afterwards I bled the lines and washed with some powerful blue Eclat de sapphire ink and a small brush. I just can’t help myself. I have to do a wash somewhere with a brush. It is an addiction. I would so love to do only beautiful lines and leave it. Maybe next time.

…the blues…

Excercise 2: A second pair of summer sandals, this time using a speedball pen and Cafe des iles from J. Herbin. Once again just dragged a wet brush over the lines to get a wash, and finished off with some black india ink hatches.

…summer swing…

Excercise3: A pair of Sperry’s…and could I explain the difference in size? Maybe I have one big foot and one small foot…? Or could it simply be bad observation? Done in a reed pen and plume pen with Sanguine 270, from Sennelier. And after dragging a wet brush over the lines to bleed the colour, I decided to add some washes of Lie de the of J. Herbin. Finished off with some scribblings with a rotring pen, 2,5 .

…Bigfoot…

Excercise 4: Since I had now used up all my summer shoes, I had only my shoe blocks left. Linework in rotring artist pen and washed with a wet brush to bleed the lines. Then decided to splash in some colour with Sennelier’s Sanguine 270 and Lie de the, J. Herbin.

…in-and-out…

In the past, I have done a lot of calligraphy work, so I have many speedball pens and nibs that work wonderful for drawing. Added to that, are some reed pens(which I don’t like much), plumes/goose quill pen, which I love to work with, rotring artist pen(Fine), and rotring rapidograph pen, size 2.5.

I enjoy the inks of J. Herbin. They are rich, make for nice washes as well as lines and dry with a nice sheen. I have only recently started working with the J. Herbin inks and they are really beautiful! Wonderful for linework as well as doing bleeding with a wet brush and they are lightfast, can be sealed beautifully…in short, I have nothing bad to say about them! I haven’t yet found a nice dark burgundy red, but Sennelier’s Sanguine 270 is a nice dark red which comes close to what I’m looking for. All the sketches were done in a spiral watercolour pad, 18x26cm (7″x10″) Fabriano Artistico CP. Below you can see part of my “ink workstation”.

…hailing efforts…

Posted on June 27, 2008June 27, 2008 by Myfrenchkitchen · 12 Comments

Coffee shop sketches

When I said yesterday I have nothing to post, I lied. I forgot I had these four sketches, which I did in February, just after France became a smokefree public area country. We are almost 5 months down the road(why does it feel like more?) and it is still going well and the law is pretty much respected by all. Only nick now is that all the smokers stand right outside the entrance and you thus enter through this haze of smoke, holding your breath, closing your eyes and keeping your hand out in front in good hope you’ll somewhere hit the entrance! Ohh, I’m joking, it’s not reallyh that bad…I’m just happy for having a smokefree interior! Which allowed me in February to enjoy coffee at lenght’s desire in my three favourite coffee spots at the time…it’s changed by now, since I can’t stick to one thing for too long.

…Le duclos…

…le pt gilles…

…le steven…

…les deux hommes, z…

All sketches in moleskine, done with pen and monochrome wash.

Posted on June 26, 2008June 26, 2008 by Myfrenchkitchen · 14 Comments

Sketchbook exchange sketches

Now that our Flying Pictures Project is a little further down the road and everybody involved had already seen my first sketches posted on our blog FPP, AND since I don’t have much in the form of sketches to post here, AND I haven’t been around much, I thought it good to post my first sketches that were sent off in May. With my theme being “rainbow moments”, I took the first subjects that came into my view that gave me joy and this is what shaped the first two and half pages in my book that went off to Lindsay, and has just landed at Robyn. So, four more stops, before it arrives back home.

Edited: To see Lindsay’s beautiful addition in oil pastel, see our Flying Pictures Project .

All sketches done in our handmade concertina sketchbooks with rotring pen, pencil and watercolour.

Posted on May 26, 2008May 26, 2008 by Myfrenchkitchen · 9 Comments

My sketchbook has taken to flight.

My sketchbook has taken off on its long journey to Lindsay in the US. This is how it looked just before I pushed it out of the nest to test its wings.

I baptised my little creation “Rainbow moments”, thinking that instead of chasing the “pot of gold” that is always somewhere else, we should look closer at home to find the beauty of the “small moments of rainbow”, right here in front of us and the bigger the mixture, the greater the beauty.

…cover…or wrapping…or dummy….or clue…?

This is my handmade sketchbook, going off to be something of a Phileas Fogg… which there are seven of involved in this voyage which we called the Flying Pictures Project; started off by Lindsay in the US, who acted on her wishful thinking and gathered us together from around the globe to act along with her. So, there is Robyn in Italy, Nina in Sweden, Vivien in the UK, and Glen in the UK and Caseyand I, in France. We decided to make our own books, accordion style, each one choosing what she wants to do with her book and starting off the journey with 2 and 1/2 pages of art. The person receiving it, will add her own paper and continue with her 2 and 1/2 pages of art. And so the journey continues until the books finally arrive back home after 6 stops.

To be continued…

Posted on May 19, 2008May 19, 2008 by Myfrenchkitchen · 17 Comments

A breather in spring.

I have been taking a long break. I’m doing things I have been neglecting for some time, I’m enjoying spring and everything that goes along with it. I have been waiting a long time for summer to show up and now that it is here, I have to make every minute count, for it passes quickly. I’m basking in the fruits of the season. I have had an attack of fatigue and I am paying attention to my health. And I’m playing around on Myfrenchkitchen, which I’ve allowed to slip from me over the last few months. I’m stopping by here at Africantapestry just for a quick breather before I continue on my road of indulgence. And pretty soon I’ll be back here with full gusto.

Enjoy the season!

Watercolour and pen in sketchbook