Posted on 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 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-duclos1.jpg

…Le duclos…

le-pt-gilles.jpg

…le pt gilles…

le-steven1-03-jan-08-8-25-32-am.jpg

…le steven…

twomen.jpg

…les deux hommes, z…

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

Posted on 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 by Myfrenchkitchen · 13 Comments

Sketches from Dordogne and Perigord, France

We just came back from visiting the Dordogne area in France. The first sketch was done in Brantôme, while we were lunching on a baguette and saucisson among the ducks next to La Dronne.

 

…lunch with the ducks…

There are many “pigeonniers”, circular or square in the Périgord and Quercy. Before 1798 it would be only the owners of plenty of land, who were fortunate enough to own pigeonniers…used for fertilizer. They were elegantly attached to houses or were loose standing and elevated to prevent humidity.

.

…mon pigeonnier à Sarlat…

…mon pigeonnier à Rocamadour…

..colour in the streets of 8th century, Turenne…

…a monochrome view on the ruines of le chateau de Turenne…

First 4 sketches done in pen and watercolour in sketchbook, and the last sketch is done in rotring art pen and wash.

 

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen · 21 Comments

Bill on a bicycle

I’m doing a portrait exchange with Bill. He’s been waiting very patiently for me. Thank you Bill! See how great he did my portraits here!! Not fair that he does so well and I am struggling!

As I say, I’ve been struggling. I started off today with just a contour drawing, which got filled up a bit more than just a simple contour. Then I did another one and another…and then jumped on my bicycle and went for a ride.

contour drawing, rotring pen on paper, 29,5×42 cm

I have new bike, a very cute one. Based on the old “Hollandais city” style. Up until now I’ve used an old bicycle which had me running just as I thought I was pedalling well away. Or I was on Liandri’s mountain bike, with my behind way up in the air and my head almost down between my knees. I sort of feel at this age, I would prefer my “derriere” closer to earth and my face “lifted”. So now I look very elegant, with my back straight and my hair in the wind.

…wizard of oz…

rotring pen and watercolour in Artistico sketchbook, CP, 18x26cm(7″x10″)

When I came back, my head felt clear enough to give Bill another go.  Put in some shadows this time. It doesn’t really look like him. And before I attempt a painting, I have to get the drawing right first. He has very intense eyes and I make him glare from the page. So, I have more work to do. More cycling to do.

inkdrawing, rotring pen on paper, 29.7x42cm(11.7×16.5″)

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen · 7 Comments

Life drawing in pastel pencil

In the life drawing class a while ago, we had one long pose and used pastel pencils in black, white and sanguine. I’ve never used pastel pencils before. The closest I came to do something recognizable with pastels, is a little still life I did a few years ago. I dug it out to compare. It was done with soft pastel sticks.

…five a day…

I had a hard time with these pencils. They are harder than the sticks and I kept on coloring in instead of putting in mass. Or maybe it is all the sketching and ink line work I’m doing currently and very little painting. And I didn’t want to smudge the pastel, glazing it, smooth it over. I wanted texture and expressive strokes. But it seems I’ve left her out in the sun for too long…I loved the pose, so maybe I’ll redo this later and try and come up with something more painterly and eye pleasing. Any advice from the pastellists out there?

…fire, fire!…