Author: -N-

Mountain Hut: A Study in Warm and Cool Greens

If you have been following along here, besides Inktober 2019, I am also working my way through Rick Surowicz’s online class “Abandoned.”  Here I am trying to apply some of the points learned in his class about greens, how to mix them, and how to create warm and cool greens to demonstrate environmental temperature and distance.

To mix a cool green, Surowicz used Cerulean Blue (to give coolness), Sap Green at times tempered with Pyrrol Red, Raw and Burnt Siennas.  Varying the mixture in strength and dilution determines if it is light or dark.  Here I applied the mixture to the hills behind the hut, as well as put a few streaks into the foreground.

Warm greens hold the same formula as cool greens except the Cerulean Blue is not used.  The result is a warmer green, and depending on need, the Pyrrol Red is added, creating a darker green while keeping it in the warm arena.  The Raw Sienna creates a warmer, yellower green, and the Burnt Sienna creates a more autumnal tinge to the grasses in the foreground.

In addition to creating warm and cool greens, I also worked on lines to demonstrate direction and texture, as well as to break up horizontal and vertical.

As a study, this has been successful.  Critiquing it, I would say that the right lower portion of the stone hut should be lighter so as to contrast much better with the middle ground.  Right now it recedes and gets lost.

Practice is important in all we wish to master – here, a practice study to apply some lessons.

Painted on Fluid 100 CP 140# paper.

Inktober 2019: #6 Husky

In American English, “Husky” can also mean big and strong.  Sumo is full of husky men, trained in the traditional art of Sumo, a form of wrestling or martial art with a long history in Japan.  While I don’t really know anything about Sumo, I’ve always rather enjoyed watching it.

Inktober 2019: Days 1-6

This year for Inktober 2019 I decided to work only with iron gall ink, which I made earlier this year.  I am using pen nibs and brush to create the drawings, always done directly with the pen and no preliminary pencil drawing.  The first two pictures are not exclusively iron gall ink, but may be a mix of permanent ink and iron gall.

#1:  Ring 

Tomato cages – I saw these when I was out on the patio trying to figure what to use for rings.

#2:  Mindless

Mindless = Brainless – been watching zombies on TV!  How mindless is that?


#3: Bait

All kinds of bait – jail bait, take the bait, etc.  I chose a fish lure and a mouse trap.  Still warming up at this point for Inktober and getting the groove back, as they say.  This is when the pure iron gall ink begins.  And I decided to do away with the frames I usually use for my photographs.

#4: Freeze 

Again, still warming up.  This one had me stumped.


#5: Build  

Here is when the brain began to work and imagination started warming up.  Heavy equipment for building.  I think it would be a lot of fun to drive one of these things!

#6: Husky  

For those of you who speak English, but may not be aware of the term, “husky” can be big and strong, at least in American English. I like Sumo wrestlers, and though I don’t know much about the sport, I like to watch it now and again.

Out Back Outside

I’ve been so busy playing with my scanned negatives of late that I have not followed up on posting more photos – digital this time – from our trip to Monterey last month.  I finally took another look at some of them, and sorted them out.  Yesterday’s “On the Roof” was the first one.

Here, the back side of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  The tide comes in and out here, and as you can see, you can stand above to look at the shoals below.  Sea life, both plant and animal, can be observed here.  From where I took this picture, docents have spotting scopes and binoculars so you can look out into the bay.  There, seals and otters can be found on rocks or scooting around..

The Aquarium is one of those places that is always worth a visit.  Some people like Disneyland – me, I prefer places like this, just because I find the natural world more satisfying than an expensive and crowded playground.

Inktober 2019: #5 Build

Today’s post #5 for Inktober 2019 – Build – is a lot easier than yesterday’s was, for whatever reason.  In keeping with my promise to myself, this was drawn with homemade iron gall ink.  I created different shades with diluting the ink with water, letting it dry, and then adding more ink to layer it into darker shades.  It seems to work pretty well.  I also used two different pen nibs for the line work – in iron gall with a dip pen – along with an old paint brush I am willing to sacrifice as iron gall is a higlhy corrosive ink over time.

And, if you operate this critter, please excuse my inaccuracies!