paintings prints and stuff

 detail from step by step Well ..... secret project is secret no more  : > ) Derwent Artbars Last summer I was asked to take part in testing Derwent's newest baby - Artbars , then in the lab under development.   They will be available in the next couple of weeks and are now on the Derwent website.   Rocks near Porthgwarra, Derwent Artbars, on A2 cartridge paper, Vivien Blackburn It was really interesting being involved in trying them out from the short-stumps-of-colour-and-varied-composition/shape etc at the beginning and following their progression.   I still have a little container of these stumps. In this one, that they commissioned after the initial testing, the only other medium used is a little white gouache for those areas where I didn't retain the white of the paper for the incoming waves.   In other places it is simply the white paper. In the one above,  I was wanting to build an intensity of col...

A series of tiny (2 inches and less) studies for possible large canvasses.  Derwent Coloursoft on Fisher 400 paper, underpainting in watercolours.   Vivien Blackburn  Tiny Abstracts with Derwent Coloursoft pencils  and watercolour on Fisher 400 paper: I had some tiny left over scraps of the Fisher 400 and decided to experiment with water colour washes, overlaid with Derwent Coloursoft pencils (which work beautifully over this paper, so intense and rich). As I'm not getting out to work plein air at the moment, due to the cold not being great for arthritis, I thought I might work on some canvasses where I'm simply using luscious colours to create space, mood and lovely interactions of colour. The Coloursoft on the Fisher paper allow me to throw in those unexpected intense bits of colour, over deeper washes beneath, like those touches of vivid red that float over the underlying colours.   Mixing media like this allows me to do this - to let the...

  Winter  I'm still working my way through the lovely items that Derwent sent me to try out : > ) and have been adding things to the review I did of their lightweight, hardback sketchbook at the end of last year, as I've continued to doodle and see what things can do.    This first one is a view of the winter fields - the tin of tinted charcoal pencils was ideal for this and gave a lovely limited colour range of warm and cool that play against each other perfectly.   I can see me using these frequently for wintry days.  They are fast to work with which is a bonus in our current weather when plein air.  They would combine interestingly with other media.   Something I've yet to try out.  (edit:  I have now mixed them with inktense here   and will add more links as I try them with other media) Then I tried out their Academy Tame and Wild Set - also limited colours - whilst waiting for a family member visiting the GP....

Feathers, Derwent Studio pencils, approximately 7 inches square  detail   Derwent have given me some of their products to experiment with and review, so I'm like a child in a sweetie shop.  : > ) Some I have used for a long time but some are new to me.   I remember as a very small child visiting their pencil museum and my father explaining how 'lead' pencils were actually graphite - and owning coloured pencils made by them.  In those days obviously just the basic range - not the artists ones I choose now.   I can't remember a time when I didn't draw.   One of my earliest memories is posting scribbled 'letters' to my father when I was 18 months old and he was away in Gibraltar with the RAF. Here I've been taking a look at their Studio coloured pencils      The above study of feathers was done with a limited range of colours - unfortunately scanners and cameras find pale colo...

Winter trees, approaching rain, Graphitints I was experimenting with water soluble Graphitints, which I've never used before.  The colours were perfect for the wintry weather we have at the moment.   This is looking out across the fields in that wonderful light you get when it's sunny where you are - but ahead is a deep dark threatening sky - such a wonderful mix. I liked the ability to create washes with these and also use them dry and the colours mixed well.  Drawing through a wet wash created stronger marks.   I want to get out more with these during the winter.

A quick sketch of the rocks and sea in Cornwall (from previous plein air work) to experiment with the Derwent Aquatones.  In A4 sketchbook. Derwent Aquatones: An early Christmas gift :>)  - I wanted to experiment with the Aquatones and see what was possible as I hadn't used these before.   They are a pencil made of solid pigment with a coating of paint to keep hands clean   They feel harder in use than the watercolour pencils and don't provide such a strong colour whilst dry  but colour still washes richly out when they are wet.   I found that the same scribble and pressure gave richer colour on the 110lb paper - the 75lb needing more pencil application or layers built up to achieve rich colour  ( the sketchbook reviewed in the previous post ). Colours mix well on the paper - something I need them to do.   Drawing back into wet washes made nice marks.   It is easy to wash out marks entirely (on heavier paper) o...

edited 4.1.11   additional work in carbon pencil, ink, watersoluble graphite and more ........  Water soluble graphite and graphite pencil Near Porthgwarra , Derwent Aquatone pencils in Derwent 75lb A4 sketchbook  Back to painting and sketching - and testing out some early Christmas gifts.   First of all is an A4 75lb hardback using  a set of 24  Aquatone pencils and a waterbrush .   I'll do a review of the pencils and brush another day. I revisited my plein air sketchbooks and previous subjects of paintings, so that I could compare the variety of marks possible with work already existing, the depth of colour achievable, the ability to glaze colour and to achieve the translucency of water and colour mixing that happens in the painting, that I want. Sorry if you are tired, seeing Porthgwarra again!  - it's just a very suitable subject for the problem solving that I wanted to test these items against.  The changing col...

  First Snow, finished and cropped I decided to add a few more marks, a little white gouache to add more direction to the snow and  to create a rising moon.   Then I cropped it. One of the advantages of the inktense is that no colour at all lifted to contaminate the white of the gouache.  I miss the ability to crop when I work on canvas. Better?   That's it anyway.  

First Snow - detail I've had a play with inktense blocks on A3 watercolour paper, working loosely from a previous sketch in coloured pencil in a sketchbook. First Snow, A3, inktense detail detail I really enjoyed drawing with them then swishing water over, leaving some of the lines to show through washes, then work on in glazes of colour, some dry marks left dry, some splattering, drawing on wet paper as well as dry.   So many potential marks :>) I had some of the holders but ended up working too fast to use them - so have multicoloured hands :>) A friend tells me she uses them on material in quilts and fixes them with a Delta medium - I need to look this medium up :>)   her quilts are gorgeous and well worth looking up