paintings prints and stuff

The Bend. Coloured pencil and white gouache This one was once a loud abstracted landscape, where I'd simply played with colour and the composition was frankly bad!  There was only a small distant patch of water in it, a lot more high foreground, looking downhill and the composition, viewpoint and subject were very different.  It wasn't something I wanted to keep but sat there - luridly - in my sketchbook.   The original and this were both just totally imaginary landscapes, based on a mix of visual memories.  I can't find a photo of the original - but you aren't missing anything! It's in that sketchbook with a deep buff coloured paper, a gift from a friend in the US.  Luckily the paper is strong and can take a lot of rough treatment. I used a mix of Jakar and Derwent electric erasers to 'draw' back into it, creating those paler trees, against a dark background, darkening the background further and simplifying,  taking out the distant dry reeds/hay...

 Detail 1   detail 2 progress so far .... Still a little way to go but here is a quick update.  I'm waiting for the paint to dry before working on it further. You can see a bit of pentimenti* - the copper shape shining through in the trees at the back - some will remain but the unnatural shapes, like the circle and almost triangle,  will be lost/adjusted in subsequent layers and glazes. *Isn't that a nice word for an altered underpainting showing through?

Groby Pool, Evening Light. phographs by Vivien Blackburn My much loved Fuji camera is big and fairly heavy, like an SLR, and for ages I've toyed with the idea of a pocket camera for times when I wouldn't carry the Fuji. Last week I bought a little Panasonic Lumix from a friend who had upgraded and this is it's first outing - some very very quickly snatched photos on the way back from a family visit. I have to say I'm really pleased with it. There was a scary bit when my computer wouldn't talk to its HDSC disk - but that was solved when I dug out the card reader that I don't normally need. Phew! relief. The light was very low, subtle colours in the sunset and I haven't had time to absorb all of its possibilities. These were taken with aperture priority and a wide aperture, flash switched off. No tripod, just hand held - so I'm quite pleased with how they came out. The sheen of the water was beautiful. This is an old flooded slate quarry with a...

January Snow. Vivien Blackburn A painting that started out as a monoprint demo and ended as a mixed media piece. About 10/11 inches tall. The monoprint was done using oil paint on acetate, printed onto paper wet with turps. I then worked into it with a colour shaper and a brush, using more oil paint and then a graphite stick to draw through the wet paint. The graphite stick worked beautifully on the turpsy surface, gliding across it and making intense oily marks.

Sketch of a water feature in the pool at the University Botanical Gardens, 10 ins approx Today I was sketching with my class at the University Botanical Gardens - I don't normally 'do' gardens/manicured/tidy so decided to just look at texture and reflections. This isn't a finished painting - just a study, a practice piece, so the composition isn't great. The subject wasn't one I'd want to do a 'finished' work of, I couldn't see a composition that really appealed to me. The water was very murky and the fish (koi carp) had to swim near the surface to be seen! Depending on the light - which changed by the minute from sunlit and warm to overcast and chilly and back - the water was deep khaki/peaty brown or amber. detail of painting above The surface of the bronze bell interested me as it contained so many subtle nuances of colour and texture - at the bottom (due to an unseen patterned structure underneath?) the water trickled at regular interva...

Detail of the finished painting below: Mixed media, a still overcast day, dulling colours. Vivien Blackburn I arrived in bright sunshine but it almost immediately turned overcast and soon started to rain - a misty soft rain. Colour dulled and contrast softened, except for the strong contrast of the block of trees with heavy summer foliage, and their reflection, against the pale bright clouded sky. Whole painting: Swithland Reservoir, overcast day, summer. Watercolour and coloured pencil. 10x9 ins approx. Vivien Blackburn A very very still subject, as different from the rough seas of Cornwall as possible but an equal challenge. There was a very limited colour range because of the light and the dense foliage of summer. I may try an oil paint version to see which works best - I have a suspicion that water colour may win. other posts in the series can be seen here

Photographs of Swithland Reservoir: Vivien Blackburn Yesterday morning was sunny with long shadows, clouds and a lovely light. I wanted to go out to take some photos and sketch in the morning - my husband decided to come but wouldn't go until the afternoon. So, of course, the sun went in! I wanted particularly to look at this local reservoir - which for some reason I'd never been round. I'd checked the maps and a single track road went round one side of it. The overcast skies actually made for some lovely light on the water that I think I can definitely get some work out of - minimalist and using that lovely limited colour range and sheen on the water. It started to rain and then we had a thunderstorm, so sketching was out of the question - for me anyway! and he-who-moans-when-bored wouldn't have been a happybunny sitting in the car watching the rain on the water. (when new to driving, I ran the car battery flat by painting in pouring rain with the windscreen w...

Willow by the canal, Frog Island. Charcoal sketch in A3 sketchbook, Vivien Blackburn OK - it's time to post the links to people who joined in the trees-from-life challenge :>) - and there is some lovely work. Just follow the links below to see a wide variety of media, ways of looking, different geographical areas and types of tree and ways of looking. I'm not going to comment on them individually as there is too much to say! - just leave you to enjoy a series of really beautiful images without any waffling words, just those of the artists themselves :>) I'm really happy with how many people joined in, and how they feel they got a lot out of it, including some members of the new-ish Plein Air Forum. the links, in no particular order, just added as they arrived: Harry Bell Jeanette Jeanette 2 Jeanette3 Jeanette 4 Jeanette 5 Robyn Robyn Ronelle Jean Pat Cathy Lindsay Lindsay 2 Charlene Maree EH Katherine Plein Air group blog trees challenge Maris Maris2 Kathryn Clark 1...

Frog Island Factories and Canal, Pitt pen and coloured pencil on brown wrapping paper, Vivien Blackburn (crop 1) I wanted to have another play with that brown wrapping paper sketchbook, so I worked from an old sketch that I'd done plein air. I'd decided to limit the colours to browns - using the lovely Lyra skintones selection, along with a brown Pitt pen. At the last minute I decided to add a little icy blue in the sky, canal and reflecting slightly on the corrugated roofs - the coldness works well against the warmer colours I feel. This is an area that is full of higgledy piggledy old factories and little overgrown branches off the canal to their old wharves - one is off under that cast iron bridge. Sadly it's ripe for development and further along there are new flats in place of the old mills. I don't suppose this quirky building has a long future. Frog Island Factories and Canal, Vivien Blackburn (crop 2) which crop works best do you think?

Swans nesting amongst plastic bags and floating rubbish. photograph: Vivien Blackburn It's sad how uncaring people can be of our environment. The canal and river wind their way through the city with a footpath enabling you to walk the entire length, a green lung for the city. Unfortunately parts are spoilt by sights like this. There is a wealth of wildlife including kingfishers in quiet spots - but swans here are nesting amongst floating plastic bags and rubbish. :>( This is at the shallow edge of the water just beneath where I sat to draw the scene below. The recent move by supermarkets to persuade people to stop using plastic carrier bags can only be a good thing :>) Why don't they go back to the paper carriers for those who come without a bag of their own? from sustainable sources of course, they are much more environmentally friendly - and look much nicer too. previous work done here and more and more and go and read Sue's post today about the 4 P's ...

Flooded slate quarry, Swithland Woods, Watercolour/mixed media, 11x14 ins approx, Vivien Blackburn The pale colours here in the ground are a little bleached out - they should have a pale pink/amber colour. Old flooded slate quarry, coloured pencil, approx 11x14 ins, Vivien Blackburn I've been looking at the old flooded quarry near Swithland woods in watercolour and coloured pencil. The slate that was quarried there is very ancient pre-Cambrian rock - the oldest rocks in Britain. Until recently it was thought that no fossils were preserved in this ancient rock - but recently fossils of ferns have been found (details of this and the geology and history of the area are in the links below). It's thought that the woods are the remains of primeval forest, having been there from at least 5,000BC. Links: The history of Swithland Woods, which may be the remains of primeval forest from 5,000 years BC Geology/History/walks in the area Photo of a larger pit nearby

Reeds and winter branches, Groby Pool. Mixed media. Vivien Blackburn A quick sketch of that filigree of tangled branches and reeds against the water, done in acrylic paint, ink, biro and pencils. It was COLD!

Groby Pool, photo,Vivien Blackburn Today was beautifully sunny but very cold. Small leaves are coming out on the trees and spring flowers are coming out. I managed to get some photographs of another flooded quarry that I want to sketch. I like the calligraphic lines in this image and may get back there to sketch these reeds before spring foliage makes them thicker. This old quarry has been dammed but across the narrow road is a working quarry, invisible at ground level, hidden behind the trees but cutting deep into the ground. You can see it below. I wonder if they have to pump water out? or because the land is high here maybe it drains ok? This pool is far bigger than the one in the previous sketch, with a small island in the middle. An aerial view and a view across the pool. I want to revisit this and do some sketching. There are lots of birds and the water was sparkling in the sunlight today with rippling waves lapping the shore - lots of movement unlike the still canal wa...

Old, very deep, flooded slate quarry, Swithland Woods, carbon pencil on a rich cream paper, size A4, Vivien Blackburn The Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire is very very ancient rock and the woods in this part are pitted with these old slate quarries - very deep and quite dangerous. I've meant to draw here for a long time and thought it would make a nice change from the canals and river in my waterways project with it's woods and steep hillside - the rocky side is hidden in shadow. I may try to get there at a different time of day when it's lit up. I also plan to visit other flooded quarries, bigger and deeper - though I do like this little one. I've mislaid my little battery operated eraser, which would have been perfect to draw those light branches back in through charcoal - so I had to carefully(ish) leave them unshaded. I think this might make it onto canvas as I like the composition - what do you think?

Ancient flooded slate quarry, near Swithland Woods. photo: Vivien Blackburn I went a run out to test out the sat nav on routes I knew before I trust it on longer unknown runs - gosh that woman does nag if you take a shortcut! 'make a u turn as soon as possible' repeated 10 times before a sulky silence while she thinks where to take you next :>) I wanted to go and check out how suitable the view of this old slate quarry would be to sketch and park - and it's ideal. I can park right next to it and get an ok view over the old drystone walls, which I can lean my sketchbook on. It's on private land so I don't get much choice on view. I like the reflections of the trees and the way the colour is different - the banks are the dried leaves from last autumn, bleached but with a hint of pinkness against the greens of the ivy. The reflection of the bank though is deep murky greeny colours - interesting. The tangle of trees will be an interesting element to draw. And...

Experimenting with those lino prints: Winter Light, Vivien Blackburn, lino and coloured pencil A lino print on left hand page of sketchbook, printed onto tissue paper and then worked on with Polychromos pencils and continued across the double page spread. Trying to catch a cold winter light - the kind that bleaches the colour out of the landscape. Moonrise, Vivien Blackburn, linoprint and coloured pencil, Vivien Blackburn This one was printed onto tracing paper and I then worked on the back of it with Polychromos pencils and again, continued the image onto the facing page. This one makes me think of the mood in Samuel Palmer paintings - does it for you? I've put some of the lino prints on my Etsy shop if anyone is interested - here

I decided to frame the pollarded willows with a little more of the work showing - this is it popped into a frame, showing the new crop. Sorry about the reflection from the window/door! Framed it's just over 2 feet (guesstimate) you can see the previous crop here I think I'll change the mat to a slightly deeper wheat colour to match the field beyond the water. I think it looks better larger - how about you?

Time is a bit short at the moment so I haven't had chance to get on with paintings - these are a couple of digital variations on the lino prints, playing with colours and time of day. Tomorrow I'm off to the Private View of an exhbition in the Cotswolds of an artist new to me - so hopefully an interesting day.

Lino monoprints, variations on a theme, Vivien Blackburn These aren't simply linoprints now as they are all unique - I've used monoprinting techniques with them, 'inking' them up with oil paint and working into them with coloured pencils and oil pastel. So I'm calling them lino monoprints as the best description I can come up with. I've included one straight, rolled lino print to show how it prints with lino ink applied with a roller in the traditional way. Monoprints are unique prints that contain a repeatable element - like the linocut in these - but with utterly different results due to colour and inking up differences and work done after printing. Monotypes are absolute one-offs with no repeatable element. Working with my lino prints this way suits my way of thinking better than the clean cut lino print that's included in the line up above. If anyone is interested in owning one, I'm going to put them in my Etsy shop I haven't sussed out ...

Misty morning, snow, Aylestone Meadows. Linoprint plus coloured pencil and oil pastel on brown paper. Vivien Blackburn First an apology - Ainesse left a really interesting and informative comment about linoprinting - and I somehow lost it :>( Ainesse could you possibly leave one again? and I'd love to read about the caustic soda process - and yes I have tried intaglio lino but wasn't very good at it! I don't have access to a printing press at the moment. Then - these are 2 of the 10 experiments worked into with coloured pencils and touches of oil pastel. The first print is an attempt to catch that thin mist, that often goes with snow, that softens and lightens colour, turning the world into gentle pastels. Evening, getting dark, snow, Aylestone Meadows, linoprint plus coloured pencils and oil pastel on black paper, Vivien Blackburn This one is an attempt to catch that cold bright light from the snow as the light goes. Are you fed up with this tree yet? :>D