Category: Cityscape

Four sketches while the sun set

Yesterday the rain came with the evening.  I painted indoors.

I had a set of four paper samples from The Vintage Paper Company. Below are my four sketches.

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Each sheet is of “J Green & Sons” paper, in different weights. The one in the top left is “NOT” and the other sheets are “Rough”. Each sample sheet is about 8 inches by 6 inches.

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Here is a view towards Peregrine House, to show the satellite dishes on the roof. I also drew Peregrine House last week, see this link: Peregrine House from the King’s Square Estate

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The hole in the top left corner is where the sheets were fastened together, with a neat little screw fastener.

 

Paper fastener – 1cm in diameter
Paper fastener unfastened

This was the only paper in the same pack with a ‘NOT’ (smoother) surface. Here is a close up view of the satellite dishes. On the NOT surface I can use pen easily. Pen and ink doesn’t work so well on the “Rough” surface. Here’s a close-up, showing Peregrine House and the satellite dishes on the building in front of it.

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Below is a sketch out of the window in the rain: watercolour only, on the “Rough” surface 300gsm paper. Blake Tower is on the right, Post office Tower on the horizon, Barbican terrace block visible behind Blake Tower.

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Forty-five minutes later, the sun was setting. I enjoyed using heavier paper (400gsm) to try to capture the shimmering light on the buildings. Painted directly in watercolour, no pen, no pencil.

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Below is the final sketch, done quickly after the sun has set. This is on the heaviest paper, a magnificent 615gsm. It was stable, like card, so it didn’t curl or misbehave,  and was not soft or absorbent, but took the watercolour brilliantly.  It was very handy for such a quick sketch.

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It’s fun to experiment with papers, and surprising what a difference the paper makes. Thankyou to the Vintage Paper Co for the samples.

 

 

 

 

From Godfrey House

Here are etchings based on a drawing I did from outside Godfrey House, in the St Luke’s estate, Bath St, EC1V.

This one is done in the new brown ink I bought: “Terre d’Ombre Brulée”

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This is aquatint.

Here’s what the hard ground etch was like, before the aquatint.

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Here’s the work in progress:

Painting the stop-out varnish on the aquatint plate
before the final dip in acid
My work area at East London Printmakers

 

Monoprints: Braithwaite House

Here are some prints from last week’s session at East London Printmakers.

This was an experiment using drypoint on transparent acrylic plates.

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Braithwaite House and Chequer Court, monoprint

 

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Braithwaite House and Chequer Court, monoprint

These pictures are done with two plates.

(1) Dry point to make the black lines.

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The acrylic plate used for printing, marks scratched with a metal point – “drypoint”

(2) Painting directly onto a blank acrylic plate and then printing that on top.

The resulting pictures are “mono prints” because they are one-off. I can reproduce the black lines, but the coloured parts are unique on each plate.

I had another go on 8th March.

Here are further attempts:

Monoprint – Braithwaite and Chequer Court (sold)
Carborundum attempt! The carborundum didn’t stick to the plastic.
Monoprint out-take.

Update:

Here’s a one-colour mono print I did 15th November 2018. It was done all on one plate.

On Khadi handmade paper, with Intaglio Printmaker Bone Black ink. Plate selectively wiped.
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