Abstract efforts in inks.

I’m not a natural in doing abstracts, but I can appreciate abstract art work. And I mean real good abstract art, not bad art which hides under the cover of “abstract art”. What I’ve done here didn’t exactly end up  being  totally abstract, but I enjoyed the line work and the ink marks. In fact, it is probably still only more of my exercises in line and mark making, and not real abstract efforts..

…the blues…

..J Herbin inks with feather quill on Arches aquarelle paper rough,18x26cm..

…the Reds…

…Sennelier inks with feather quill on Arches aquarelle paper rough,18x26cm..

…The Blacks…

…Black Winsor et Newton Indian inks with feather quill on Arches aquarelle paper rough,18x26cm..

Colors and foliage of November 3.

I found some beautiful grays…some more bluish, others more yellowish and greenish and some just simply…gray.

…grays..

watercolor and J Herbin inks on Hahnemuhle paper CP 15,5x25cm

Doing the above sketch  was very quick and dare I say easy, without sounding obnoxious? I’ll tell and you can decide…

  1. With a goose quill and nib and “gris nuage” ink from J Herbin, I drew the outline of the twig/branch with contour lines.
  2. I added a wet was over the areas that I wanted to highlight as the greyish moss, in the process flooding some the water soluble ink lines.
  3. I dabbed in some light dabs of indigo, prussian blue, paynes gray, ochre and raw umber on the wet areas. To finish off the background, I dropped some paint , using the same colours,  from a loaded brush to loosely suggest random patches of moss.
  4. Lastly I finished off with some dark paynes gray(little water, lots of pigment, to give very dark values, suggesting the small dark corners between the moss.

..J Herbin inks and goose quill…

People sketches in ink in a bistro in Tours..and a postcard.

I’ve picked up my pen again. If one stays on a break for too long, you can lose the desire to return. It is like that with everything in life. At some stage you need to apply some discipline to get going again.

For the first time in along while, I have done some sketches while having coffee in a bistro in Tours. My favorite way of doing it, is with contour lines. If I don’t watch it, I’ll do everything in contour fashion. I love it.

Some of the sketches worked, others didn’t. But it is always like that. Not every sketch is a success. I’m happy with the sketch of the three men at the top and I’m happy with the two men to the left in the bottom sketch. Unfortunately the child and man to the right didn’t work out.

I have also received my first postcard from Albrecht in Germany. Please visit A postcard from albrecht in Germany to see the post on his postcard.

Sketches in January 2011-flora of the Loire

There is always something to pick up on a walk and take home to sketch, especially on a rainy day like we had today. I picked up a few twigs and leaves..which are always good to sketch. Leaves in winter have fascinating shapes which make up for their overall monotone brown color.

I also sketched some scampi and prawns, which are normally a translucent, greyish color, but turn red after cooking. Unfortunataly I couldn’t put these to mouth after sketching them..it felt a bit too “cannibalistic” to eat them after studying them so up and close…

..all sketches done in Fabriano artisico water color sketchbook, 18x26cm, with inks and watercolor..

…scampi and prawns..

..dry leaves of “Platanes” (Sycamore)tree and moss covered twig..

..a variety of seeds, leaves and twigs..

..bon week-end et à la prochaine fois..

Ronell

Peaceful christmas wishes to all!

Be at peace with life, stay faithfull to your hopes and keep a smile on your face.


sketches in an old book

A while back I bought this lovely handmade book. It has the look of an old book with handmade paper pages. The cover had me immediately think of ink sketches, particularly olf etch-like drawings…statues, architecture…all things I love to sketch. I’ve started doing some statues in it…the paper isn’t very forgiving and not ideal for sketching and it doesn’t take watercolour at all, but maybe it only adds to the “ancient” look that I’m after. In any case this book is not about art, but about a look – I am looking forward to see it one day when it is done, filled with ink drawings, thick and used! by then, it might be REALLY old…

I use only ink and a pen with nibs and afterwards I wash gently with a little ink and water to just add a shadow and a stain here and there. The book is 11.5 x 17cm and I found it at Les milles feuilles in Paris.

…an old touch…

…statue 1-St sulpice…

…statue 2-…

…statue 3- chateau de vincennes…

…statue 4-chateau de vincennes…