Wednesday 10 November 2010

Sketchbook Tidbits

After a bit of a delayed absence, I thought I'd start by posting a few sketches from the past week (also posted at the "Drawn Today" blog.)

Cinderella-- digital color wash over a pencil sketch


Clock from the local bakery (which seems oddly suited to Cinderella, un-intendedly so!)

And some equine-related game card sketches.



In addition, in the past couple of weeks I've learned some lessons about being very, very careful with masking fluid. Very careful indeed. I've always used Winsor & Newton masking fluid and never had any problems, but recently I switched to Utrecht masking fluid, and became aware that using it too thinly results in *permanently* masked areas which are impossible to scrape, rub, coerce, or peel off the paper. Not good. Not good at all. Fortunately, I discovered this on a little experimental watercolor landscape rather than a huge masterpiece, however, I was growing rather fond of it and wish it hadn't been quite so irrevocably ruined. I'm definitely switching back to Winsor & Newton, or one of the other brands which have since been recommended to me by sympathetic friends!




I had masked some of the foreground grasses and about half of the flowers, so that I could come back and paint them in some more vibrant hues of greens and purples later. Now some of them are forever destined to be the sickly-pale yellow color of masking fluid -- which isn't really what I had in mind at all.

Needless to say I have thrown away my Utrecht masking fluid, and will probably stay away from it completely for as long as I can help it. I think the exercise will do me good!


Detail. I was working from a reference photo that my father took, some years ago, on a walk in the Clee Hills of Shropshire.


1 comment:

  1. "The degree of skill and talent has been portrayed in each brushstroke. Splendid!"

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