Author: -N-

Bee & Borage – The Sketch

I am trying to do something everyday when it comes to drawing or painting. Some days only allow for morning time, and that is when I did this drawing of a bee in a borage plant. Today, I used a dip pen, my ca. 1810 pewter ink well, and iron gall ink. I have never drawn a bee before, and using a dip pen and focusing on the shapes, rather than what I think I see (thank you, Sharon, for that great advice!), produced fairly decent results. I’m rather afraid to draw anything that requires a bit of realism as I really doubt my abilities to do this. Practice is needed here!

Borage is a lovely plant, covered in fur, with beautiful blue flowers. If I recall, it is an invasive plant, and one best kept contained in a pot. I had some in my dog free zone (DFZ) this summer amongst the lilies.

As an aside, I’m getting used to using a dip pen, which is really a rather nice skill to have as I don’t have the big blobs I used to get; I know when to refill the well and dilute the ink with water. Something we don’t think about in this day and age of non-dip pens.

Sunrise, Mesa

I’ve been sitting on this picture, doing some research before finishing it.  By research, I mean watching videos on painting the red rocks of the American West to figure out colors, practicing with colors and washes, and finally, practicing with blues over the colors. as this mesa has a lot of shadow areas.

Above, color practice.  I used Pyrrol Orange, Organic Vermilion, Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna for most of the reds and oranges.  The grey-green is a combo of Sap Green, Cobalt Green, and Payne’s Grey.  The blues are Ultramarine and Cobalt.  And below, the final result.

This is perhaps the first “researched” or “practiced” painting I’ve done.  I usually just go-with-the-flow.  The pay off is pretty good.  I’m still not really sure if this sketchbook is good for anything “serious” but it did a good job in the end.  It is really curly paper when it dries!

Monoprinting Magic

In my dotage, I am working toward art in my life on a regular basis.  While I haven’t pulled out my ink brushes and done sumi-e in a while, I have pulled out the watercolor brushes.  And the other day, I went to a class on monoprinting, which I knew about in theory, but had never done nor seen.  In reading, monoprinting is essentially a painting turned into a print using a variety of techniques.  Different surfaces can be used upon which to place the paint, and then different papers or materials can receive it.  The way monoprinting can be done is endless.  To read more about monoprinting, here is the link to the Wikipedia explanation.

There were two things I needed to buy for this class, which came through a Meetup group near me.  I got a gelatin plate from Amazon, and a roller / brayer.  Instructions including a mandate to wear old clothes and prepare to get messy.  We did!  It took a few good scrubbings to clean my hands off . . .

So, plate in hand, and brayer, I showed up.  Before each person’s seat was a lovely package, not in brown paper, but it was tied up with string.  Inside were stencils and silhouettes of objects, and all sorts of weird things (methought), including Q-tips and wine corks, to name a few.  And paper.  And a big plastic menu cover, which was later used as a surface to hold the paint for the monoprint, as was the gelatin plate.  The hard plastic released the paint less readily than the gelatin plate, and as a result more prints could be made, but the paint transfer was not as rich.

To my mind, which tends to want total control, I was in a land of chaos.  I remember wandering between my prints, wondering what the heck to do, and befuddles and confused about the whole thing.  I know this is how my mind works.  I also know that as I progress in my knowledge and experience in doing things, order is created out of the seeming chaos, and that is when imagination and creativity can begin.  Practice leads to understanding of what it is I do, and how to do it, and opens doors along the pathway of experience.  The creative process is its own reality.

Monoprinting needs space, supplies, and imagination, and a willingness to let things happen.  One layer of the print can lead to another layer.  Each layer creates its own universe.  While you may have an idea about what you want to do – the final product – it is also a world that creates itself.  I enjoyed it, especially the creative potential of it.  Did I create works of art?  Hell no, but I had fun – and that is a great reinforcement for future playtime with the gel plate and roller.