Watercolour pencils and the iPad and "cheating".

I recently got hold of a brilliant book on Portraits,but I noticed a lot of them were enhanced using an iPad.I initially thought, well this is cheating..a bit.Then I suppose if you are a commercial artist its got to look right for the client or the publisher, after all David Hockney uses an iPad so why shouldn't I.You make up your mind.

The original Aquarelle pencil

The original Aquarelle pencil

The original Aquarelle pencil.

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If you've got "artist block" then what do you do?.

Make a cigar box guitar of course.It was a winter project that went on a bit, having just finished it.It is now July.

Ive built cigar box guitars before, but using cigar boxes.This time I wanted to do some thing different.So I've used aluminium plate for the body and fitted a humbucker,ally knobs for tone and volume,and bolts for the bridge and nut. 

To my surprise it sounds good and plays well, that,s the guitar not me!.

Got to think of another project now .Ive been told no more guitars...Ive only got 4 plus a Uke and a Banjolelee.Cant play any of them very well, but thats never stopped me.

This is a pen and ink drawing with a Watercolour wash.The two below are digitally enhanced using Enlight on an iPad. 

Another watercolour, but using Caran d'Ache Neoart Aquarelle.I drew it in pen and ink and then used the Neoart as a crayon,then wetted the paper using a fine spray and finally filling in the detail by brush.

This is a pen and ink drawing from a photograph with a Watercolour wash applied afterwards.

Top.A pencil drawing digitally enhanced using Enlight on an iPad.By the way its supposed to be Steven Tyler of Aerosmith.







Left.A pen and ink drawing enhanced using Enlight on an iPad.

Quick draw animation

Nowadays, animation is relatively easy due to new animation programmes, but a few years ago it was pretty hard going and took some time to animate a few seconds,I tried it and both animation and stop frame were a real chore to get out some thing that resembled a half decent result.

You can see the result here https://youtu.be/xrdWppU7cUQ?t=8.If you are offended by bad language this might not be for you, may also contain nuts.

I started off with a sketch on my iPad using "PAPER"

I tidied it up a bit for animation.Then used "CRAZYTALK" for the animation  and finally used iMovie.

             Here's a new painting it,s Acrylic on canvas apron 60cm x 45cm.

Both are Acrylic on canvas aprox 24 x 24 inches

Here are a couple of new paintings. My partners daughter Michelle, wanted a painting for her birthday.She was pretty specific about it.It had to have a Buddha based on a previous painting, be simple and calming. So no challenge then !. Thats the top painting.The second painting is obviously the same theme which I painted for my partner June for Christmas.Beats petrol station flowers.

This is how I do it

Here's how I start to paint,I don't know how you do it, but I seem to paint better if I have a proper work flow. It takes me a longtime to workout what I want to paint so I rely heavily on Google for " inspiration ", or I have an idea and search Google for images that might be of use. That way I generally make up a rough story board showing images and colours. With Acrylic I don't like using too many colours, things can get muddy very easily, so I decide which colours will work and are going to mix well and stay vibrant. I use an old canvas that I re-use by painting it white to start with and experiment with colours and mixes until I see whether they work together. In the above photo you can see the sample colours for this painting, plus in this case a digital sketch that I,ve done on my iPad. Below are the colours I've decided on.

I generally paint the canvas initially to take away the whiteness of the canvas  then sketch the main subject to get an idea of proportion, composition and perspective, because as I block it in I will loose the sketch I take a photo on my iPhone to remind     me of what goes where. Van Gogh would have been so much better if he had an iPhone !. Having said that David Hockney has embraced the iPad and uses it a lot ..... just sayin.

I then 'Block' in the main colours.In the case of the boat I used white because I wanted the hull to be particularly vibrant so the orange has a bit of a glow.I always paint the sky first if its a landscape, if the sky,s rubbish the painting never works, so its best to start again, and its a lot easier with Acrylic. 

In this painting I really wanted to create a feeling of light and sunshine on a Summer,s day. It is a very limited composition and the boat isn't great, but I have tried to capture the light and reflections and it,s finished ...I think !.

Ginger and the dog

Here are some older cartoons which I have moved from another blog. I really want to do some new
" Gingers " and they will in future be here instead of my other blog which I,m closing. Thanks to all who have looked at that blog in the past,and I will do some more...honest!.

A watercolour sketch on ledger paper

I read that some Urban sketchers favour old ie more than 10years old accounting ledger paper because of the quality of the paper.Well, yes the paper is good to sketch on,but as soon as it gets a sniff of water it buckles. Worth the try though.

Here,s another one

Water colour on Aguarelle paper 24 x 32 cm using Schmincke watercolours. I preference these over Windsor and Newton the colours are more vibrant I think. The Lightning not as easy as I thought it would be leaving it plain white by masking the area didn't have much impact,so I used white Gouash and softened the outlines. Might be back to the drawing board with this one.

Minnie for my God son

Watercolour a copy of a Disney image. I know it's copyright but hey ............

A bit of an experiment with water colour.

A few recent sketches.

Here,s a selection of some recent paintings

This is the Maude Foster Windmill in Boston Lincolnshire at dusk.Its in Acrylic and is 20" x 16'.

Here,s a watercolour of Daisies.I,ve tried to paint it in the style of Janet Whittle a Lincolnshire artist.It,s quite small 5" x 7".

This is a bit of an experiment I,ve tried to capture a cold windy day.Dont know if it works let me know.It,s Acrylic and is 16" x 12".

I took a photograph of this when on holiday in Spain and have painted it several times,but wasnt happy with it, so I took a different tack and made the hulls more vivid and interesting.It,s a watercolour and is 8" x 12".