Inktober

October 24, 2020 horsenettle 2 Comments

This is the second 18”x12” painting I’ve done lately, which is big for me. I drew/painted theses two ponies on Terraskin mineral paper

Using India ink has been eye opening. It’s lightfast, permanent, and waterproof. It’s available in many colors, and it’s mostly transparent. It can be a stick, liquid in a bottle, or markers. I guess I never thought about how perfect it is as a medium.

This little fawn is on Ampersand Claybord.

I think it creates beautiful, glowing colors. Unlike watercolor, I don’t overmix and create mud. I wanted to add a little opacity as well as some white here and there, however, so I bought a bottle of Dr. Martins’s Bombay white. That, along with the few dozen Faber-Castell Pitt Brush Pens should hold me for awhile.

I sketched this pony very quickly and liked it so much that I completed the larger one above the next night. The second one is more true to the photo I took.

I’ve learned to work from light to dark as once the ink is down, it’s not possible to lift it unless working on a surface like Claybord or Duralar. I’ve also learned to use washes and glazes. I don’t quite know how such an art supply fiend like me has managed to miss ink as a medium all these years. I’m pleased I finally found it.

Categories: Art Ink Pen Watercolor

Tags: ampersand, claybord, faber Castell, India ink, markers, mineral paper, Terraskin

Claybord Ponies

November 1, 2019 horsenettle No Comments

Like the bunnies I drew last week, I spent all my art time this week working on another Ampersand Claybord. This time, ponies!

I’m fascinated with Claybord and how both the Golden High Flow Acrylics and the Derwent Drawing Pencils work on the surface. What seems far too vivid and strong with the acrylic paint at first, mellows into a rich and earthy palette once I add the Derwent pencils. Adding the scratching gives it an old-fashioned look, something I didn’t even know I wanted.

I start with a rough sketch on paper, sample it again on mineral paper and add in some scratching to see how it works, create a background in the Claybord panel (6″x6″) with acrylics, and then lightly draw in the subject, swapping back and forth between pencils and scratching until it feels done. I didn’t plan any background with this one but let it develop from the colors, lights and darks. I had no idea these two little ones would be in a meadow when I started out.

Categories: Acrylics Art Ink Pencil Uncategorized

Tags: ampersand Claybord, art, Derwent Drawing Pencils, drawing, equine, golden High Flow Acrylics, horse, mineral paper, pony, Terraskin

Ampersand Claybord

October 28, 2019 horsenettle No Comments

My husband said to call this one “Up to No Good.”

Claybord is an excellent surface for many mediums including graphite and colored pencil, which is how I discovered it while searching for a surface other than paper to experiment with. The surface is smooth and feels like porcelain, but it’s actually a layer of clay over a hardboard. If you finish your work with varnish, it doesn’t have to be displayed under glass. Claybord is also a great scratchboard surface.

The longer I play with art, the more my mediums combine. With the bunnies, I used Golden High Flow Acrylics as a background with Derwent Drawing Pencils for the foreground. I scratched in some highlights and then put in another layer of pencil. I felt like I could keep swapping back and forth as long as I wanted to. I probably stopped after three layers.

I’ve discovered one of my all-time favorite surfaces, mineral paper, is a great scratchboard surface, too. What luck that I happen to have a huge supply of the thick, 16 pt Terraskin paper. Here, I practiced on it using my new favorite colored pencils, Derwent Drawing Pencils.

I used graphite and the Derwent pencils to draw this barn picture:

In one of my mixed media moods, I started this sparrow drawing with acrylic, put in the autumn leaves with Inktense (and salt for the mottled effect), and then finally finished it a month or two later with the Derwent Drawing Pencils: