Idle Minutes

I’m reading a new book called “Watercolor Plus…” which has a good section in it on pen and ink with watercolor washes.

The artist, John Hoar, drew and painted this scene as a demo. I’ve not adhered to the demo at all really. I was simply experimenting with the looser style he uses.

I like looseness but it has been a bit elusive for me to “get it” in my mind’s eye. So, I’ll concentrate on it for a while. It’s faster and I’ve always liked the idea of letting the viewer’s mind complete that which is but a suggestion of reality. It makes it more interesting for them I think.

One unusual thing John does is use a whittled match stick shoved into a bamboo stick for his “pen”. He dips it in Indian Ink and draws the image with it. It forces a loose drawing.

Think about it…It’s pretty dang hard to draw a “tight” drawing with a whittled match stick shoved into a piece of bamboo and dipped into a bottle of ink. It’s sort of like painting your toenails with a whisk broom. (Not that I paint my toenails mind you.) I think this is a big key to his style. (BTW, if I did paint my toenails, which I don’t, they wouldn’t be black. But that’s a subject for a future post.)

I try to steer clear of utilizing cumbersome means toward achieving a drawing or painting or sketch, so I used a Micron “brush” pen instead. It’s a trade-off. Convenience for a slightly less “loosy” drawing. I just don’t want to become attached to some technique that isn’t practical for sketching or drawing in the car or in the field. Think spilled Indian Ink on automobile seats of Fine Corinthian Leather.

So, I’m hoping to coerce the Micron brush pen to achieve similar results with some practice.

John also uses half size watercolor sheets for his paintings…which for me is another “not so practical for the field” choice…though he does do “in the field” paintings with these tools.

Some folk like to tote along a bunch of stuff like that and do their painting thing. The attention doesn’t bother them. I like to tote as little as possible. I like it all in a fanny pack. I like being discreet when sketching in the field. When at home, hey, I may sketch in my underwear. But when in public, I’d just as soon not be noticed when I sketch. So I wear clothes…and use tools and media that are inconspicuous.

I did this on an 8×10 watercolor block I made up from Canson Montval watercolor paper. That’s about as big a sketch as I tend to tackle.

Which begs the question to my artist readers out there, have you noticed there are no 8×10 watercolor blocks or pads or sketchbooks on the market? What’s with that? Zillions of 8×10 frames in North America, no 8×10 watercolor media. Go figure. So I have to make my own.

But I digress…the book is great and the other artists in the book are top notch as is John Hoar. I’ll be re-reading and experimenting more with this style for a while now.